Barbara fails a major exam in her economics class.She tells herself that she wouldn't have performed as poorly as she did if she hadn't gotten stuck in traffic on her way to the exam, which made her late.This makes her feel less upset and anxious about her exam performance.To deal with the anxiety created by her poor performance on the exam, Barbara appears to be using:

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Barbara is using rationalization by justifying her poor performance with external factors such as getting stuck in traffic. She is using this reasoning to make herself feel less upset and anxious, which is a defense mechanism commonly associated with rationalization.

Barbara Fails a Major Exam in Her Economics Class