Catherine Case Has Recently Landed Her First Position as a Clinical

Catherine Case has recently landed her first position as a clinical psychologist trainee. She was one of four simultaneously hired trainees at an outpatient family treatment center. The other three were all Afro-American, as was the supervising psychologist, Dr. Blackwell. The office manager was Afro-American as well. Dr. Case was the only white worker of the bunch. When it came time for Dr. Blackwell to give his four new trainees their first formal evaluations, he gave two of the three black trainees the highest rating, 5, in every category of performance, and both Dr. Case and the remaining black trainee no rating in any category higher than 3. Dr. Case complained to the office manager that the ratings were racially biased. In the absence of any further information, what would be your conclusion?

A) The fact that one of the Afro-American workers also did not receive superior ratings is proof that Dr. Case was rated fairly and that her argument is without merit.
B) Dr. Blackwell is reluctant to give those workers who are Afro-American, like himself, less than stellar ratings regardless of their performance.
C) Dr. Blackwell may have rated Dr. Case unfairly if the one black trainee who got the unfavorable rating was really doing marginal work and Dr. Case was doing superior work.
D) Dr. Case was rated unfairly because she was the only trainee who was white.