When you meet Joe,he tells you that he loves math and building computers and robots. You decide that Joe must be an engineering student and not a liberal arts student,even
Though there are more liberal arts students at your school.In making this decision,you
Have just used

A) the representativeness heuristic.
B) an algorithm.
C) the availability heuristic.
D) an analogy.

The representativeness heuristic is a mental shortcut that involves making a probability judgment by comparing an object or event to a prototype of the object or event. In this case, because Joe's interests in math and building computers and robots are more representative of the stereotype of an engineering student than a liberal arts student, you've concluded he must be an engineering student, despite the larger number of liberal arts students at your school. This is a classic example of using the representativeness heuristic to make a judgment.