Have you ever noticed how quickly certain events—plane crashes, shark attacks, dramatic crimes—can ignite widespread fear, even though they're extraordinarily rare? Meanwhile, more common yet less dramatic risks—like heart disease, diabetes, or car accidents—barely register on our radar. This isn't mere coincidence; it’s driven by a cognitive bias known as the availability heuristic.

The availability heuristic is a mental shortcut our brains use to judge how likely an event is based on how easily we can recall examples. Essentially, if something is vivid, emotional, recent, or frequently covered by the media, our minds mistakenly assume it's more common or probable than it really is.