The availability bias, is a mental shortcut that comes into play, in marriage and the markets, when we focus on specific examples when thinking about a specific topic, concept, method or decision.
Now those “immediate examples” are often driven by emotion. And what’s mentally available then anchors the narrative.
A couple have a reasonably solid relationship. But then her husband does something the wife doesn’t like, and she gets angry. Now in this mental state, the wife’s mind fills with previous examples of her husband’s bad behavior. Motivated by her anger, the wife can resurrect several examples of her spouse’s poor behavior, increasing her anger.
Faced with his wife’s rage, the husband now gets angry in response to his wife’s attacks. In this state he focuses on the times his wife has annoyed him with questionable behavior. This brings up memories of her hurtful comments and actions.
This escalation in the conflict is driven by the availability bias. In this state both partners are looking for, finding and exaggerating, their spouse’s “abusive” behavior. At this point, neither partner is naturally going to consider all the loving and kind things that each has done for the other. The narrative is all about harm and abuse.
If they’re not careful, this selective attention, perception and memory, can lead the couple on the road to a breakup. Availability obviously biases the narrative, often distorting it to a significant degree.
Consider the stock market. Two overnight stories suggest a significant downturn in the economy. The articles are widely repeated on different platforms, and seen numerous times by investors. The availability of this information is likely to distort its significance. It becomes the main narrative in the community and becomes disproportionately significant in the approach to the day’s trading. Other stories get less attention even though they have as much value and significance as the two “main” stories about economic downturn.
When we are reading material or studying information, it is the focus of our attention and, as Daniel Kahneman says, “Nothing in life is as important is as you think it is, while you are thinking about it.”
