When people repeatedly hear stories about crime, even the same incident over and over, they tend to conclude that the amount of crime must correspond with how often they hear about it. This is known as the availability heuristic cognitive bias at work. It illustrates how the frequency of exposure to crime-related news shapes public perception, causing many to believe that crime rates are higher than they actually are.
A person might hear about a few crimes on the news and then infer from this small sample that crime is more widespread than it really is. This reliance on limited information highlights a common problem in reasoning, where individuals draw conclusions from insufficient evidence, leading to misconceptions about crime trends.
The vividness of crimes can misleadingly influence perceptions of crime rates. This is the misleading vividness fallacy, occurring when dramatic accounts are taken more seriously than significant statistical evidence, skewing the perceived likelihood of such crimes happening.
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