In Discussing the Results of Their Study on Self-Esteem and Cheating

In discussing the results of their study on self-esteem and cheating, Aronson and Mettee acknowledge that alternative explanations of their findings are possible. In their view, the major rival explanation is:

A) anger and aggressiveness directed toward the experimenter by subjects in the low self-esteem condition.
B) cognitive consistency theory.
C) compensation-that is, low self-esteem subjects cheated to make sure they won some money, thus "compensating" for not having done well on the bogus personality test.
D) reward-reinforcement theory-"It pays to cheat."