Asked which city is larger, san antonio or san diego, german participants are more likely than americans to get the answer right. researchers hypothesize that this is because the germans--who were less likely to have heard of san antonio--used the following mental shortcut or rule of thumb to "if i have heard of a city, it must be larger." this kind of mental shortcut is known as?

The correct answer is a heuristic.

Explanation:

A heuristic refers to a mental shortcut, which permits individuals to solve the issues and make judgments briskly and effectively. These rule of thumb methods shorten the time of decision-making and permit the individuals to work without spontaneously stopping to think about their next course of activity.  

Heuristics are beneficial in many circumstances, however, they can also result in cognitive biases.