Final answer:
The consistent underestimation of the time needed to complete a research paper at the end of the semester is an example of the Planning fallacy—a cognitive bias where people underestimate the time required to complete tasks.
Step-by-step explanation:
The behavior described in the scenario is known as the d) Planning fallacy. The Planning fallacy is a cognitive bias where people tend to underestimate the time required to complete a future task, despite knowing that similar past tasks have taken longer to complete than planned.
This bias is different from the Availability Heuristic, Representative Bias, Overconfidence Bias, and other cognitive biases that can shape our judgment in various situations. In the case of completing a research paper, the consistent underestimation of the required time illustrates an optimistic bias towards one's own performance, which is a classic example of the Planning fallacy.