Availability Cascades

social
availability
information-cascades

The more a story is repeated, the more important it appears, in a self-reinforcing process. This can be illustrated as follows:

  1. An event or idea becomes easy to recall (it is therefore more mentally “available”)
  2. Because it is easy to recall, it feels important
  3. People discuss it more
  4. Increased discussion makes it even more mentally available
  5. Back to step 1

Media cycles, social media virality, and market manias all follow this pattern.

NoteExample

Air fryer mania

Media hype surrounding air fryers made them seem more valuable and essential than they actually were.

“I keep hearing about air fryers, they must be worth it.”

Also relates to: Availability Heuristic · Information Cascades · Communal Reinforcement · Confirmation Bias · Greed and Fear