Day 26 of 150 Logic Difficulty 4/10
Availability heuristic: easy to recall feels more common
Quick answer
Availability heuristic: easy to recall feels more common. Today's question (Availability heuristic) asks about a finding from Tversky, A., & Kahneman, D. in 1973. The correct option is The availability heuristic — full explanation, primary source, and glossary cross-links below.
Today's question
People typically estimate that English words starting with the letter "K" are more common than words with "K" in the third position. This illustrates:
Reveal the answer and explanation
Correct: B — The availability heuristic
Words starting with K are easier to retrieve, so they *feel* more frequent than third-position-K words. In actual English text, third-position-K words outnumber initial-K words roughly two-to-one. Tversky & Kahneman (1973) named the heuristic — judging probability or frequency by how easily examples come to mind — and showed it inflates estimates for vivid risks (plane crashes, shark attacks) over statistical ones.
About the source
Tversky, A., & Kahneman, D. (1973). Availability: A heuristic for judging frequency and probability. Cognitive Psychology, 5(2), 207–232.
Every Cognition Bible question cites a primary source — a paper, book chapter, or monograph that exists, that we can point to on Google Scholar, and whose finding the question accurately summarizes. No fabricated authority strings, no name-drops without paper-level grounding.
More from the Cognition Bible
Done with today's question? Play the FOKIQ Daily — six puzzles across six cognitive domains, free, every day.