What term describes the memory bias where officers remember unpleasant or traumatic incidents more readily than routine ones?

What term describes the memory bias where officers remember unpleasant or traumatic incidents more readily than routine ones?

• A. Selective memory
• B. Confirmation bias
• C. Availability heuristic
• D. Recency bias

Answer: (A)

The memory bias at play is driven by how memorable and emotionally charged events become easier to recall. Traumatic or unpleasant incidents stand out, so they come to mind more readily and influence judgments about how often such events occur. This is known as the availability heuristic: we judge the frequency or likelihood of events by how easily we can retrieve examples from memory, and vivid, traumatic memories have a disproportionate pull. In policing, this means traumatic calls can feel more common than routine ones because they’re more salient, even if routine incidents occur just as often or more often. This differs from recency bias (giving extra weight to very recent events), confirmation bias (seeking info that confirms preconceptions), or a vague notion of selective memory, which doesn’t capture the cognitive mechanism behind this recall pattern.

The memory bias at play is driven by how memorable and emotionally charged events become easier to recall. Traumatic or unpleasant incidents stand out, so they come to mind more readily and influence judgments about how often such events occur. This is known as the availability heuristic: we judge the frequency or likelihood of events by how easily we can retrieve examples from memory, and vivid, traumatic memories have a disproportionate pull. In policing, this means traumatic calls can feel more common than routine ones because they’re more salient, even if routine incidents occur just as often or more often. This differs from recency bias (giving extra weight to very recent events), confirmation bias (seeking info that confirms preconceptions), or a vague notion of selective memory, which doesn’t capture the cognitive mechanism behind this recall pattern.