While you are sitting with your friends in the cafeteria at lunchtime, someone who is walking past your table splashes some juice on your shoulder. You get angry because you figure that he was trying to embarrass you in front of your friends. This is an example of
A) egocentric thinking.
B) recursive thinking.
C) a faulty theory of mind.
D) a hostile attribution bias.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

This situation exemplifies a hostile attribution bias, which is the tendency to interpret ambiguous behaviors of others as deliberate and hostile. In this case, the person splashing juice on you may have just been clumsy or accidental, but you assumed they intended to embarrass you. This bias can lead to negative outcomes such as conflict and aggression.

While You Are Sitting with Your Friends in the Cafeteria