#5 - Studies reveal that most people select the foods they

[abrowngirl]

Hi,
I recently completed the PT and am a little confused about the difference between B and E. I ultimately chose E, but even when I reviewed the test I still don't fully understand why Bis incorrect. Could someone better explain why B is incorrect?

Thanks - A

[George George]

Good Q. I can think of a few ways of seeing answer (B) as incorrect.

First, (B) does not strengthen the argument. To strengthen this argument, you need an answer that says people can be persuaded to eat nutritious foods because they're "flavorful." But answer (B) discusses nutritious food that is "not flavorful," so (B) does not really apply to the argument at all. In other words, to help the argument, (B) would have to say that people choose "nutritious and flavorful" food when given the chance.

Second, (B) actually implies the opposite of what kind of answer we're looking for here. It says "few people... will choose foods that are nutritious." So, (B) is giving a reason to doubt people could be persuaded to eat some nutritious food (albeit non-flavorful, so not exactly a match). If anything, I read (B) as an opposite answer.

On the other hand (E) stays on-topic and helps the argument by giving a new fact suggesting people could be persuaded to eat flavorful nutritious food.

[Jenmstearns]

I narrowed this to C and E and chose poorly. What am I missing that made E the better pick?

[Claire Horan]

Hi Jen,

We are looking for an answer choice that strengthens the conclusion that emphasizing flavor rather than nutritiousness would be a more successful strategy for encouraging people to eat wholesome foods.

E contributes evidence from a study in which telling people that a food was flavorful was more effective at getting them to try and enjoy the food than telling them that the food was nutritious. Although we don't know if the given food was wholesome or not, this study supports the conclusion by showing that the "flavorful" strategy worked at least once.

You didn't say what drew you to C as a contender, but I'm guessing that maybe you read too quickly or not carefully enough. C says that emphasizing nutritiousness has been "moderately successful." This doesn't strengthen the conclusion because it doesn't help compare the two strategies to evaluate which is better. Also, it discusses the wrong strategy. Knowing that the "nutritiousness" strategy was somewhat effective doesn't tell us anything about whether experts should switch to the "flavorful" strategy.

Good luck with your studies!