AP Psychology Exam Prep

Answer: A - According to the availability heuristic, the Austin parents may exaggerate the likelihood that their daughter will become the victim of a stranger kidnapping.
Key Takeaway: The availability heuristic is a mental phenomenon that helps people predict the likelihood of some event happening. Since television give lots of coverage to incidents of stranger kidnapping of children even though it is a rare occurrence, it becomes something of which parents are scared. Since these events are over-reported in the media, it is readily available to parents’ heads and they exaggerate the likelihood of it happening.