Most people give substantial weight to anecdotal evidence, perhaps so much that it will cancel out positive recommendations found in consumer reports. People's tendency to give undue weight to some types of information is called the availability heuristic. A heuristic is a rule of thumb, a mental shortcut. Suppose someone asked you a question like what's more common in English, words that start with the letter to r words that have t as the third letter. You would have an easier time generating words that started with the letter t. Words starting with t would be more 'available'.
People often place significant importance on personal stories and testimonials, potentially overshadowing the more objective positive feedback found in consumer reports. This behavior reflects the availability heuristic, which is a mental shortcut where individuals rely on immediate examples that come to mind when evaluating information.
For instance, if asked whether words starting with the letter "T" or those with "T" as the third letter are more common, most people can quickly think of words starting with "T." This ease of recall influences their perception, demonstrating how certain types of information can be perceived as more prevalent or valid based on their availability in memory.
