State lottery officials send residents a facsimile of a contest-winning check for over $5 million to encourage them to imagine themselves as possible winners. the lottery promoters are most clearly exploiting the influence of

select one:
a. confirmation bias.
b. the availability heuristic.
c. an algorithm.
d. belief perseverance.

B. the availability heuristic.                                                

Explanation:

The availability heuristic: In psychology, the availability heuristic is defined as a mental shortcut that depends on the alternatives that comes to an individual's mind while evaluating particular method, decision, concept, or topic. A person often uses readily available facts to hold beliefs about several distant concepts.

In the question above, the lottery promoters are most clearly exploiting the influence of the availability heuristic.