Imagine that you see a friend arguing with a sales clerk in a store.You have never seen your friend argue with anyone in public before.Therefore,you think that the clerk did something to cause the argument.The theory that most directly explains how you reached this conclusion is ________.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The theory of correspondent inference assumes that people's behavior corresponds to their beliefs, attitudes, and intentions. In this situation, the observer is inferring that their friend's behavior (arguing with the sales clerk) corresponds to the sales clerk doing something to cause the argument, based on the assumption that their friend wouldn't normally act this way in public. This is an example of correspondent inference, as the observer is inferring the cause of the friend's behavior based on the correspondence between the behavior and the situation.

Imagine That You See a Friend Arguing with a Sales