When their company downsized due to poor economic conditions, both joanne and trish were laid off. when discussing her situation with some acquaintances, joanne said, "trish lost her job because she was incompetent and lazy, but i got fired because the boss couldn't handle an assertive woman like me." this example illustrates a social psychological principle called: ?

Attribution theory
Theory which supposes that people attempt to understand the behavior of others by attributing feelings, beliefs, and intentions to them.Joanne attributes Trish sacking to a number of intentions while using believes and feelings to understand why she was laid off.

The correct answer is the actor-observer discrepancy bias.

The actor-observer discrepancy bias refers to phenomenon where we attribute our own behavior and actions to external factors outside our control, and others's behavior to internal causes. In this instance, Joanne claims that external factors (her boss's bias) led to her dismissal,, whereas factors internal to Trish (incompetency and laziness) led to her being laid off.