Athletes often attribute their losses to bad officiating. This best illustrates which of the following attributional biases?

• A. Self-serving bias
• B. Actor-observer bias
• C. Just-world hypothesis
• D. Fundamental attribution error

Answer: (A)

Verified step by step guidance

1. Step 1: Understand the concept of attributional biases, which are systematic errors people make when trying to explain the causes of behavior or events.
2. Step 2: Define the self-serving bias as the tendency to attribute one's successes to internal factors (like ability or effort) and failures to external factors (such as bad luck or unfair treatment).
3. Step 3: Recognize that athletes blaming losses on bad officiating is an example of attributing failure to an external cause, protecting their self-esteem.
4. Step 4: Contrast this with other biases: actor-observer bias involves different attributions for self versus others; just-world hypothesis is the belief that people get what they deserve; fundamental attribution error is overemphasizing internal causes for others' behavior.
5. Step 5: Conclude that the scenario best illustrates the self-serving bias because the athletes are protecting their self-image by blaming external factors for their losses.