Hugh buys a new calculator for $125 from the PaperMills stationery store. A week later, he sees an ad from another stationery store, StationMax, selling the same calculator for $65. Hugh feels guilty about having wasted so much money on the calculator but justifies his action by saying that StationMax items are always of poor quality. In the context of attitudes, Hugh's statement reflects an attempt to reduce his

Hugh's statement is an attempt to reduce his frustration about buying the product at a more expensive price.

Explanation:

Human beings always try to find a reason to justify their actions, even if that particular action was a bad one.

Hugh bought a calculator for $125 from one store and the next week, he saw the same calculator being advertised for a significantly lower amount. He felt cheated and he immediately blamed himself for being cheated when there was a better deal out there. As a way to make himself feel better about the ordeal, he tells himself that the product quality from the second store is always known to be of an inferior quality.

This is a defence mechanism to cover or try to hide our frustrations and anger at things not going our way so we invent something that will make us immediately feel better about ourselves and our decision.