Carol is restless during class because her professor's distressed facial expressions lead her to believe that he dislikes teaching. The professor, on the other hand, is distressed because he sees Carol's restlessness as an indication that she lacks any motivation to learn. At this point, both student and professor should be informed of the dangers of .
a. group polarization. b. deindividuation. c. the fundamental attribution error. d. the mere exposure effect

C. The Fundamental Attribution Error

Explanation:

The Attribution theory states that "we have a tendency to explain someone's behavior by attributing a cause to his/her behavior". That is to say that In a bid to understand the behavior of others, we either explain their behavior in terms of their personality and disposition (internal) In terms of the situation that led to the behavior (external). For instance, one might explain a professor's harsh words about the performance of his class as being the result of his angry personality type, or one might attribute it to his disappointment with the overall class performance.

You will make the fundamental attribution error if you attribute his harsh words to his angry personality type,

The FUNDAMENTAL ATTRIBUTION ERROR simply put, is our tendency to explain someone's behavior based on internal factor. factors like, personality or disposition, and to underestimate the influence that external factors, such as situational influences, have on another person's behavior.

For instance, we might explain the fact that someone is not employed because of his character, and thus blame him for his plight, whereas he was just recently laid off due to a sluggish economy.

From the question, this is what Carol and the Professor are doing.