Naomi Fisher, a sales manager at Pure, a water purifier company, had a new member, Leah Marshall, join her team. Though during Leah's interview, Naomi felt she would be a productive sales executive, her performance has often been below the mark. Consistently in the past three months, Leah has been unable to reach her targets and is falling substantially behind on her annual targets. Naomi assumes that Leah is not determined and motivated enough to do what it takes. Which of the following, if true, weakens Naomi's assumption?
A) Leah has often arrived late for team meetings conducted in the morning.
B) Leah has been assigned a sales territory where consumers are from low income groups.
C) Leah has good interpersonal skills and gets along well with her customers.
D) Research showed that the company's largest competitor had a lower turnover than they did.
E) Naomi recently received feedback from other team members that Leah is often uncooperative.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The tendency to underestimate the influence of external factors and overestimate the influence of internal factors when making judgments about the behavior of others refers to the fundamental attribution error. If Leah is assigned a sales territory where consumers are from low income groups, this shows that she does not necessarily lack the ability to perform and that external constraints are the reason for her underperformance. It thus weakens Naomi's assumption. If Leah often arrives late for meetings, it strengthens Naomi's assumption because it indicates that Leah is not motivated. Good interpersonal skills do not necessarily mean that a person is motivated, and hence, this does not weaken Naomi's assumption. Research showing that the company's largest competitor had a lower turnover than them is irrelevant to the assumption.

Naomi Fisher, a Sales Manager at Pure, a Water Purifier