"Shawn decides to reject invitations to parties that will be held at night because he reads in the newspaper about the large number of robberies that take place in his neighborhood. However, the crime rate at Shawn's neighborhood has actually reduced in the last two years. Shawn's decision is based on"

the availability heuristic.

Explanation:

"Shawn decides to reject invitations to parties that will be held at night because he reads in the newspaper about the large number of robberies that take place in his neighborhood. However, the crime rate at Shawn's neighborhood has actually reduced in the last two years. Shawn's decision is based on the availability heuristic.

The availability heuristic is a mental bias that occurs when an individual relies on the immediate information that comes to their mind in making decisions, The immediate information that comes to Shawn's mind when deciding about going to a night party is the newspaper publication about large numbers of robberies in the vicinity and he hinges his decisions based on this regardless of the fact that the crime rate has actually reduced since the publication of that newspaper. The newspaper publication presents an available heuristic.

The correct answer is: The availability heuristic.

Explanation:

The availability heuristic is a cognitive bias and a error in cognition in which a person uses the immediate information he/she has when evaluating an specific situation, topic or decision.

For example, Sophie is deciding how to name her son. She really likes the name Jules. One day she goes out to the dentist and in the dentist office she hears that her dentists son is named Jules. After the dentist she then goes to the pharmacy to buy some medicines and she notices that the clerk is also named Jules!

She then decides that Jules is a very common name and decides to name her son John.

This is an example of the Availability Heuristic.

In this particular case, Shawn's decision is based on the same error.