Obviously there are a lot of psychological perspectives one could take when considering this tragedy, but I'm struggling with availability and representativeness and was wondering if the recent shootings might provide an example of them both (sorry if that sounds callous). If I'm right, availability would occur if, because of the large amount of media coverage this event has garnered, people began to think that school shootings occur very frequently. Correct?
Representativeness would be indicated if someone thought that this particular school shooting is just like all the others: let's say if someone thought to themselves, "These things are always carried out by some crazy video-game obsessed intellectual kid. People should have seen the signs and been able to prevent this." instead of going through the time consuming and harder thought process in which they would learn that each of these events is unique and difficult to predict. Am I right here? Michael Michael A. Britt, Ph.D. [email protected] http://www.ThePsychFiles.com Twitter: mbritt --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=22436 or send a blank email to leave-22436-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
