Final answer:
The tendency to maintain the belief that someone is a good friend despite their contrary actions is known as confirmation bias, where individuals filter out information that contradicts their established beliefs and focus on information that supports them. Option a) is correct.
Step-by-step explanation:
The tendency to assume someone is still a good friend even after they display contrary behavior can be attributed to confirmation bias. Confirmation bias is a cognitive bias where individuals tend to search for, interpret, favor, and recall information in a way that confirms their pre-existing beliefs or hypotheses. This can often lead to overlooking contradictory information.
For example, if someone believes their friend is kind-hearted, they might overlook a few unkind actions and continue believing in the goodness of their friend, focusing only on the positive actions that reinforce their initial belief. This is different from cognitive dissonance, which refers to the psychological discomfort that arises from conflicting behaviors, attitudes, or beliefs.