My employer, an electrical equipment supply company, has decided to purchase company cars for all of its sales staff. I was asked to select the line of cars to purchase. I have decided that, for economic and longevity reasons, it is in the best interest of the company to purchase a Volvo. As a prudent and sensible buyer, I researched the web and found that experts agree that Volvo is the most mechanically superior and safe automobile for my company's needs. Before the meeting with the Volvo sales people I discussed the decision with my boss who reacted with disbelief and alarm. He states that "A Volvo! You're kidding. My brother-in-law had a Volvo and the first thing that needed replacing was the fancy fuel injection computer that failed. Then the transmission and clutch broke and he had to be replaced and eventually had to sell it like junk within three years." I will explain two parts to you. The first part will be identifying and explaining the heuristics in my boss's reaction that caused his biased reaction. In the second part I will tell you about how I intend to influence him on the merits of buying a Volvo. I will then conclude with my thoughts and views. The Heuristic My boss's reaction is a great example of the availability heuristic. He only had information from one Volvo owner. He never said anything about knowing anyone else had owned one before. The facts about this Volvo were very negative, which creates a negative bias against all Volvos. What happened is that he was influenced by vivid information and created a biased decision from that information that he can easily remember (Plous, 1993). My boss's reaction is also an example of the representational heuristic. As previously stated, he only knows of one bad experience of owning a Volvo and is classifying all Volvos as bad vehicles because of that bad one. He was only presented with negative information and made a decision based on that without ever considering any research. This created a situation where he made a quick judgment by representation (Plous, 1993).