Vikas, who averages two touchdowns a game for his football team, did not score a touchdown in today’s game. The other players believe that he was “slacking off,” but in reality he was playing despite an injury. Vikas’ teammates have committed

Question

BlackTom AI · Accepted Answer

The question presents a scenario where a high-performing player does not score in a game due to playing through an injury, yet teammates attribute this to slacking off. 
Option a: an attitude. An attitude refers to a predisposed orientation toward a person, object, or idea, typically influencing behavior and evaluations. This choice would misattribute the behavior to Vikas's internal stance or disposition, which does not directly explain the specific misperception by teammates in this scenario. 
Option b: the foot-in-the-door phenomenon. This is a compliance technique where agreeing to a small request increases the likelihood of agreeing to a larger one later. It is not relevant to explaining why teammates misjudge his effort in a single game. 
Option c: cognitive dissonance. This describes the psychological discomfort someone feels when holding two or more contradictory beliefs, values, or attitudes. While it could be involved in rationalizing behavior, it does not specifically capture the tendency to explain others’ actions through internal, dispositional causes in this context. 
Option d: the fundamental attribution error. This concept refers to the common bias of emphasizing personal (dispositional) traits to explain others’ actions while underestimating situational factors. Here, teammates attribute the lack of scoring to slacking off (an internal cause) rather than recognizing the injury (a situational constraint). This best matches the described bias. 
In summary, the scenario illustrates a classic example of the fundamental attribution error by attributing behavior to personal characteristics instead of situational factors, whereas the other options describe different psychological phenomena that do not fit the given context as precisely.

PSY 200 (003) Fall 2025 Introduction to Psychology (TR, 1:30pm)

Vikas, who averages two touchdowns a game for his football team, did not score a touchdown in today’s game. The other players believe that he was “slacking off,” but in reality he was playing despite an injury. Vikas’ teammates have committed

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PSY 200 (003) Fall 2025 Introduction to Psychology (TR, 1:30pm)

Vikas, who averages two touchdowns a game for his football team, did not score a touchdown in today’s game. The other players believe that he was “slacking off,” but in reality he was playing despite an injury. Vikas’ teammates have committed

View Explanation

Log in for full answers

Similar Questions

You hear that your neighbor's eight-year old son, Billy, was involved in a fight at recess. You don't know Billy very well, and, as you try to explain his behavior, you commit the Fundamental Attribution Error when you say __________________________________.

When people commit the Fundamental Attribution Error when judging the behavior of others, they tend to overemphasize ____ and underemphasize ___.

Luke sees Gary sleeping at his desk in their 8am class and immediately thinks, "That guy must be lazy." Assuming that Luke is mistaken and doesn't realize that Gary has noisy neighbors keeping him awake all night, which bias is Luke most likely showing here?

The tendency for people to overemphasize personality and underestimate the situation when making attributions about others is referred to as

When a manager makes the attribution that an employee's lack of effort or ability is the reason for poor performance, they are probably making an error called:

Tim's new roommate Jaxon leaves dirty laundry all over his room, and Tim assumes Jaxon must be a slob. Tim ignores the fact that Jaxon is currently studying for finals and working 30 hours per week. Tim is demonstrating:

While driving down the freeway, Lucille assumes that the driver who cut her off while switching lanes is an inconsiderate person, without considering that the driver may have been rushing to the hospital after learning of a family member’s emergency. What has Lucille engaged in?

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