Availability heuristic

/əˌveɪ.ləˈbɪl.ɪ.ti hjʊˈɹɪs.tɪk/ noun

A mental shortcut where the likelihood of an event is judged by how easily examples come to mind.

From Latin 'habilis' (easily handled) + Greek 'heuriskein' (to find). Described by Tversky and Kahneman in 1973.

📖 Full word page — etymology, 47 translations, audio 🔑 Get Free API Key — 50 lookups/day 📚 Read the Docs — integrate Word Orb