Judging the likelihood of something by comparing it to a mental prototype or stereotype.

• A. Mental Set
• B. Availability Heuristic
• C. Representativeness Heuristic
• D. Heuristic

Answer: (C)

Representativeness heuristic is about judging how likely something is based on how closely it matches a mental prototype or stereotype. If an instance looks like a typical member of a category, you treat it as more probable, often ignoring actual base-rate information. That’s why this option fits: the description describes using a prototype to assess likelihood rather than relying on statistics or general problem-solving habits.

Mental set would involve sticking to a familiar approach to problem solving, not assessing likelihood by similarity to a category. Availability heuristic relies on how easily examples come to mind, not on how well something matches a stereotype. And a broad “heuristic” label would be too general for describing judging by a prototype.