Availability heuristic
Etymology
"Heuristic" is from Greek heuriskein, "to find" (the same root as "eureka") — a rule of thumb for finding an answer quickly. "Available" here means available to memory. Psychologists Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman named the shortcut in 1973: we estimate probability by what’s mentally handy.
noun · /uh-VAY-luh-bil-ih-tee hyoo-RIS-tik/
Judging how likely something is by how easily examples come to mind.
What it names
Why vivid, recent, or heavily reported events feel more common than they are — we mistake ease of recall for frequency.
Example
After the plane crash dominated the news, the availability heuristic made everyone overestimate the danger of flying.
Related idea
The recency effect feeds it; base rate neglect is the underlying statistical error.