All Biases

Availability Heuristic

We judge probability by how easily examples come to mind. Vivid, emotional, heavily-covered events feel common; mundane but frequent events feel rare. The media shapes our mental landscape more than statistics do.

Toggle between how dangers FEEL (media perception) vs what they ACTUALLY are (statistical reality).

In media perception, rare but dramatic events dominate. Shark attacks get 1000x the coverage per death compared to heart disease.