A patient who experiences low self-esteem seeks the help of a therapist. The therapist finds that the patient's self-esteem problems started after his current relationship began. The patient describes his current partner as being highly successful and competent and reports feeling inferior to his partner. He reports that he "hates feeling that way." He has stopped attending social events with his partner because such events elevate his feelings of inferiority. However, despite his feelings of inferiority and envy, the patient also reports having extreme admiration and love for his partner. When researching for the case, the therapist reads a study on interpersonal attraction. The researchers asked participants to rate their actual self and their ideal self on 50 personality dimensions. These ratings were then used to develop two scores as proxy measures of actual and ideal self. Then, the participants were told that they were going to be paired with potential dates and were given information on their potential dates' scores on the same personality dimensions. The dates' scores were made up by the researchers to be either similar to or different from each participant's actual self or ideal scores. The study showed that participants reported greater interest in dates who were similar to their ideal selves than in dates who were similar to their actual selves. The therapist finds the study relevant to the patient's case but is reluctant to make direct inferences because she suspects that the participants' ratings of actual self may have been influenced by social desirability. The therapist decides that the self-evaluation maintenance model (SEM) may help explain the patient's case. The model posits that upward comparison (comparing oneself with a more successful other) can lead to negative self-evaluation, which causes psychological distress. The individual is motivated to eliminate this distress, either by downplaying the relevance of the dimension of comparison (for example, if the patient's partner is a successful mathematician, the patient can state that mathematical skills are not that important) or by weakening the social bonds with the successful other. The patient described in the passage is most likely using which defense mechanism? O A. Projection O B. Rationalization O C. Reaction formation O D. Emotional displacement Was the independent variable in the study manipulated by the researchers? O A. Yes; the researchers obtained specific measures of the actual self and the ideal self from the participants. OB. Yes, the researchers controlled the similarity of the potential date to the participant's ratings of themselves. O c. No; the researchers have no control over whether or not the participants prefer dates who are similar to them. OD. No; the researchers cannot manipulate the difference between the participants' actual selves and their ideal selves. Which statement best explains the patient's behavior in terms of operant conditioning? O A. Feelings of inferiority function as a positive reinforcer for attending social events with partner. O B. Feelings of inferiority function as a negative reinforcer for attending social events with partner. O C. Feelings of inferiority function as a positive punisher for attending social events with partner. O D. Feelings of inferiority function as a negative punisher for attending social events with partner.