Editing Availability and Representativeness (section)

== <span style="color: #FFFFFF;">Understanding</span> ==
Availability and Representativeness are understood through '''Memory Recall''' and '''Pattern Matching'''.

'''1. The Availability Heuristic (Memory)''':
Your brain asks: "Can I think of an example of this?"
* If it's easy to remember (because it was on the news or it was scary), your brain thinks it happens all the time.
* '''Example''': People are often more afraid of shark attacks (vivid and scary) than falling out of bed (boring), even though falling out of bed is statistically much more dangerous.

'''2. The Representativeness Heuristic (Prototypes)''':
Your brain asks: "Does this look like what I expect?"
* We judge people and events based on how well they fit a "Stereotype" rather than looking at the actual math.
* '''Example''': If you meet a tall, athletic person, you might assume they play basketball. This is representativeness—they fit your "Prototype" of a basketball player.

'''3. Why We Use Them''':
* '''Speed''': Evolutionarily, it was better to run from a "Representatively Scary" bush than to do a statistical analysis of whether a tiger was actually there.
* '''Efficiency''': Our brains have limited energy. Heuristics save "Computing Power" for the most important tasks.

'''The Linda Problem''': This is the most famous experiment in representativeness. Participants are told "Linda" is interested in social justice and philosophy. They are then asked if it's more likely that (A) Linda is a bank teller, or (B) Linda is a bank teller AND active in the feminist movement. Most people pick B, even though B is statistically impossible to be more likely than A (since B is a subset of A).
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