# Availability Heuristic

*Behavioral Finance — Finicade finance glossary*

The availability heuristic judges probability by how easily examples come to mind, so vivid and recent events feel more likely than they are. It's why people fear plane crashes more than driving, and why flood insurance uptake spikes after a flood and lapses over the following years. In markets it produces systematic overpricing of risks that have just been in the news.

**Also known as:** availability bias, recall bias

**Related terms:** [Recency Bias](https://finicade.com/glossary/recency-bias), [Behavioral Biases](https://finicade.com/glossary/behavioral-biases), [Base Rate Fallacy](https://finicade.com/glossary/base-rate-fallacy), [Tail Risk](https://finicade.com/glossary/tail-risk), [Narrative Fallacy](https://finicade.com/glossary/narrative-fallacy)

**Taught in:** Mind Over Markets — The Availability Heuristic

Source: https://finicade.com/glossary/availability-heuristic