Which of the following is the best example of a correspondent inference?

Question

BlackTom AI · Accepted Answer

In this question, we’re evaluating which scenario best illustrates a correspondent inference, which is the tendency to attribute another person’s behavior to their internal dispositions or character rather than to external factors.
Option A: 'Kim was told that Marty was a prankster.' This is information about what someone said about Marty, not an observation of Marty’s behavior. There is no attribution about Marty’s behavior from observing his actions, so it doesn’t exemplify a correspondent inference.
Option B: 'Alex asked Mary out on a date and she said ‘yes.’' This is a social outcome involving Mary’s decision, not an assessment of another person’s stable trait based on their behavior. It doesn’t illustrate inferring disposition from an observed behavior of someone else.
Option C: 'Nicholas watched someone slip and fall and decided that that person was clumsy.' Here, Nicholas observes a concrete action (slipping) and attributes a stable trait (clumsiness) to the person. This matches the core idea of a correspondent inference: inferring the actor’s internal characteristics from their observable behavior.
Option D: 'Jim was running late for a meeting because he got stuck in traffic, but he assumed his associate wouldn’t mind.' This involves a guess about a situation or about another person’s reaction, but the attribution concerns the situation (traffic) and expectations about others’ tolerance, not attributing a personal trait to behavior observed in a target agent. It emphasizes situational factors more than a dispositional inference about the actor.
Overall, Option C is the clearest example of attributing a personal characteristic (clumsiness) to a person based on an observed behavior, which is the essence of a correspondent inference.

PSYC20009_2025_SM2 Lecture 7 Quiz

Which of the following is the best example of a correspondent inference?

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