How Availability Bias Changes Our Perceptions of Risks

5 Minutes Podcast with Ricardo Vargas - A podcast by Ricardo Viana Vargas - Mondays

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In this week's episode, Ricardo talks about availability bias. He explains that when a risky event is repeatedly exposed on the news or by a group of people next to us, our perception is altered by that exposure, which often makes us lose rationality about the real probability or impact. One of the examples is the panic seized by the delay of flights all over the world. Of course, there is a delay, but there is at the same time a perception that 100% of flights are delayed or canceled, and all bags and luggage have been lost. This assessment is not necessarily correct. The reality is that we live in a world with abundant information and availability, and this amount of information can radically affect our perception. Ricardo also gives some tips on how to mitigate the effects of availability bias. Listen to this week's #5minpodcast to learn more.