Question

when minh and aaron are on the same team playing doubles tennis, minh credits herself for their successes and blames aaron for their losses. which of the following best explains minhs thinking?
a reaction formation
b a pessimistic explanatory style
c the fundamental attribution error
d self-serving bias

Explanation:

• Reaction formation is unconsciously replacing an unwanted urge with its opposite, which does not match Minh's behavior.
• A pessimistic explanatory style involves attributing negative events to stable, global, internal factors and positive events to unstable, specific, external factors, which is the reverse of Minh's actions.
• Fundamental attribution error is overemphasizing internal traits when explaining others' behavior, not taking credit for success and blaming others for failure.
• Self-serving bias is the tendency to credit oneself for positive outcomes and blame external factors/others for negative outcomes, which exactly describes Minh's thinking.

Answer:

D. Self-serving bias