Direct Measures of Availability and Judgments of Category Frequency

Abstract

Tversky and Kahneman (1973) have proposed that people judge the numerosity of categories by the availability of category instances. The present study tests this hypothesis using several direct measures of availability for lexicographically defined categories (e.g., 'How many countries are there beginning with the letter '). Although these availability measures were successful in predicting some estimates, including several judgment errors, the role of availability in frequency estimation appeared to be quite complex. A number of possible confounding factors are discussed.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Mar 01, 1977
Accession Number
ADA045770

Entities

People

  • Baruch Fischhoff
  • Ruth Beyth-marom

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  • Biomedical
  • Human Systems

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  • Applied Psychology
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Fields of Study

  • Psychology

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