Cognitive Abilities Test (CAT4) Practice Exam

The correct answer is grounded in the concept known as the availability heuristic. This cognitive bias leads individuals to judge the frequency or likelihood of an event based on how easily they can recall examples from memory. Tornados are often highly publicized events, with dramatic imagery and reports frequently covering their destructive impacts. This coverage makes such incidents more salient in our minds, which can lead to the overestimation of their prevalence compared to less sensationalized issues like asthma, which may contribute to more deaths yet receives less media attention.

In contrast, the other heuristics listed operate under different principles. The confirmation heuristic relates to the tendency to search for, interpret, and remember information in a way that confirms one’s pre-existing beliefs. The anchoring heuristic involves relying too heavily on the first piece of information encountered (the "anchor") when making decisions or estimating quantities. Finally, the representativeness heuristic occurs when people judge the probability of an event based on how closely it resembles a known category. Each of these heuristics differs from the availability heuristic, which specifically addresses the influence of memory recall on our perceptions of risk and frequency.