Sal meets Petunia for the first time. She is outgoing and funny. He walks away with the opinion that Peturnia is a fun person, whereas in actuality Petunia is temporarily gleeful because she just won the lottery. Sal’s opinion that Petunia is funny i

(D) the fundamental attribution error.

Sal’s conclusion that Petunia is a funny person after their brief meeting is best explained by the fundamental attribution error, the tendency for people to underestimate the role of the situation in explaining the behavior of others. The mere-exposure effect would hold that the more time Sal spent with Petunia, the more he would like her; it says that exposure to a person or thing increases liking. Self-serving bias is the tendency to take more credit for positive outcomes than negative ones. Equipotentiality is a learning principle, the belief that we have an equal opportunity to teach all organisms all things. Cognitive dissonance is the mental tension that arises from holding two contradictory thoughts or when people’s thoughts don’t mesh with their behavior.