Zeke sees someone at the grocery store who looks like a famous movie actor. He assumes it really is the actor and overlooks the fact that about 1% of all adult men look a little like that actor. What error has Zeke made?

A) failure to rely on the availability heuristic
B) failure to use a cognitive map
C) failure to consider base-rate information
D) the Stroop effect

Question

Malia Walsh · Accepted Answer

Final Answer : C, Explanation :  Zeke has failed to consider base-rate information, which is the statistical probability of the occurrence of an event based on prior knowledge or experience. In this case, the base-rate information would be the fact that only about 1% of adult men look a little like the famous movie actor. Instead, Zeke relied on the representativeness heuristic, which refers to making judgments based on how much something resembles a typical case, rather than considering statistical probabilities.

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