Define availability heuristic and provide an example of how this process can lead to increased prejudice.

A lawyers wife wants a divorce. She immediately looks to trial lawyers who already have given her husband great discomfort recently. Those will be the first in her mind.

bobpursley gave you an excellent example. Here's what it means:

http://heuristics.behaviouralfinance.net/availability/

The availability heuristic is a cognitive bias, or mental shortcut, that people often use when making judgments or decisions. It involves relying on how easily information comes to mind, or how readily available it is, in order to assess the likelihood or frequency of an event or the accuracy of a belief.

When it comes to prejudice, the availability heuristic can play a role in increasing biases or stereotypes. This occurs when we base our judgments or beliefs about a particular group of people on easily accessible and highly publicized instances or examples.

For example, let's say there is a widely covered news story about a terrorist attack committed by individuals who belong to a certain religious or ethnic group. The media's extensive coverage of this event may make it more salient and easily accessible in our minds. As a result, we might unconsciously overestimate the frequency or likelihood of terrorism being committed by individuals from the same religious or ethnic group.

This availability bias can lead to increased prejudice by reinforcing and perpetuating biased beliefs or stereotypes against that particular group. People may start generalizing and attributing the negative actions of a few individuals to the entire group, disregarding the fact that such incidents may be rare within the wider context.

To address this bias and minimize prejudice, it is essential to recognize that the availability heuristic can distort our judgments and that we need to seek out diverse information and perspectives to form a more accurate and unbiased understanding of a group or situation.