People who fail a task are most likely to become depressed if they attribute their failure to

A) distractions that prevented them from performing as well as they could have.
B) the great difficulty of the task.
C) their own laziness or stupidity.
D) the unfairness of the task.

When people attribute their failure to their own personal traits, such as laziness or stupidity, it can lead to feelings of hopelessness and defeat. This type of negative self-talk is typically associated with depression. Therefore, choice C is the best option. The other options, distractions (A), difficulty (B), and unfairness (D), may also contribute to negative emotions, but they are not as strongly linked to depression as self-blame.