Our explanations of our own admirable actions are ________ likely to involve situational attributions than our explanations of our own shameful actions. Our explanations of our own actions performed long ago are ________ likely to involve dispositional attributions than our explanations of our own very recent actions.

A) less; less
B) more; more
C) less; more
D) more; less

When explaining our own admirable actions, we are more likely to attribute them to our own character or disposition (dispositional attributions) rather than to the situation. Conversely, we are more inclined to attribute our own shameful actions to the situation (situational attributions) to mitigate personal responsibility. Over time, we are more likely to view our past actions (especially the distant ones) as reflections of our character (dispositional attributions) rather than being influenced by the specific circumstances of the moment.