If a person's tardiness is blamed on traffic, this is an example of which explanatory style?

• A. Internal
• B. Stereotyping
• C. External
• D. Confirmation Bias

Answer: (C)

The main idea here is attribution style: where a person places the cause of an event. Blaming tardiness on traffic shows an outside factor as the reason, which is an external attribution. This contrasts with internal attribution, where the cause would be something about the person themselves (their decisions, habits, or character). Stereotyping and confirmation bias describe different cognitive processes and don’t capture where the cause of this specific event is located. Since traffic is outside the person and can vary day by day, this example fits external attribution.