- PowerScore Staff
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- Joined: Oct 19, 2022
- Mon Feb 03, 2025 1:20 pm
#111754
Hi benndur,
There are many situations in RC in which wrong answers will incorrectly mix different terms or ideas from the passage to state something that is not what is meant by the passage. In other cases, the correct answer (i.e. the best answer) will convey a general idea from the passage without using the exact words of the passage. Knowing the difference can be difficult at times.
While I generally recommend your strategy of eliminating answers that have anything wrong with them and erring on the side of being "too critical" of the answers, whenever you find that you've eliminated all five answers (like this question), you need to "loosen" your strict criteria and find which answer is the best of the group rather than the perfect answer.
While searching the passage for the uses of the words "instinct" or "instinctively" is a good place to start when testing Answer C, you don't want to just limit yourself to these sentences. The entire final paragraph is providing an explanation for the "instinctive" behaviors exhibited in the Ultimatum Game. As the passage states, "we instinctively feel the need to reject dismal offers" (lines 56-57). The instinctive behavior being described is the need to reject dismal offers. The purpose of this instinctive behavior is to keep our self-esteem, which in turn "helps us acquire a reputation that is beneficial in future encounters" (lines 58-59). The instinctive behavior is directly related to its purpose. There's no reason to reject Answer C because these ideas are linked.
Regarding the proposers who "seems to instinctively feel that they should offer 50 percent to the responder, because such a division is 'fair' and likely to be accepted" (lines 14-17)
You wrote:
1) Suggests that there is an instinct to make fair offers, but only because they are more likely to be accepted. Clearly this isn't "an instinctive urge to acquire a favorable reputation" but rather one to make offers that the other party has a high chance of undertaking.
This doesn't actually explain the instinct to make fair offers. Yes the participants have an instinct to make fair offers on the grounds that they are more likely to be accepted, but the real question is why are only "fair" offers accepted? As the passage explains, any offer "should" be accepted based on rational self-interest since rejecting any offer gets one nothing.
Instead, the final paragraph of the passage, which explains why participants would reject bad offers (the importance of reputation), also explains why the participants would be inclined to make "fair" offers by the same line of reasoning. This is why Answer C would logically follow the final sentence of the passage.
There are many situations in RC in which wrong answers will incorrectly mix different terms or ideas from the passage to state something that is not what is meant by the passage. In other cases, the correct answer (i.e. the best answer) will convey a general idea from the passage without using the exact words of the passage. Knowing the difference can be difficult at times.
While I generally recommend your strategy of eliminating answers that have anything wrong with them and erring on the side of being "too critical" of the answers, whenever you find that you've eliminated all five answers (like this question), you need to "loosen" your strict criteria and find which answer is the best of the group rather than the perfect answer.
While searching the passage for the uses of the words "instinct" or "instinctively" is a good place to start when testing Answer C, you don't want to just limit yourself to these sentences. The entire final paragraph is providing an explanation for the "instinctive" behaviors exhibited in the Ultimatum Game. As the passage states, "we instinctively feel the need to reject dismal offers" (lines 56-57). The instinctive behavior being described is the need to reject dismal offers. The purpose of this instinctive behavior is to keep our self-esteem, which in turn "helps us acquire a reputation that is beneficial in future encounters" (lines 58-59). The instinctive behavior is directly related to its purpose. There's no reason to reject Answer C because these ideas are linked.
Regarding the proposers who "seems to instinctively feel that they should offer 50 percent to the responder, because such a division is 'fair' and likely to be accepted" (lines 14-17)
You wrote:
1) Suggests that there is an instinct to make fair offers, but only because they are more likely to be accepted. Clearly this isn't "an instinctive urge to acquire a favorable reputation" but rather one to make offers that the other party has a high chance of undertaking.
This doesn't actually explain the instinct to make fair offers. Yes the participants have an instinct to make fair offers on the grounds that they are more likely to be accepted, but the real question is why are only "fair" offers accepted? As the passage explains, any offer "should" be accepted based on rational self-interest since rejecting any offer gets one nothing.
Instead, the final paragraph of the passage, which explains why participants would reject bad offers (the importance of reputation), also explains why the participants would be inclined to make "fair" offers by the same line of reasoning. This is why Answer C would logically follow the final sentence of the passage.