Availability Heuristic

#CognitiveBias

We are scared of things we are most aware of. For example, we are more scared of sharks because of Jaws and other shark films, whereas the actual risk is very low indeed.

As such we overestimate the risk for things that are vivid and intense.

Kind of twisted version of the Negativity Bias, this is a way our brain makes shortcuts by focusing the immediate and the emotional.

A way to combat this is to use Red Teaming although it is often difficult to completely overcome it.

It’s similar to Proximity Bias but more focused on the outcome rather than the inciting incident.