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- Sat Jun 11, 2016 10:05 am
#26421
Complete Question Explanation
Must Be True. The correct answer choice is (E)
In this Must Be True question, three different scenarios are presented, with each essentially yielding the same results: people overestimating the extent to which their actions or appearance are observed by those around them. Whether it involves telling lies, a poor athletic performance, or an unusual article of clothing, the consistent theme is that the person performing the action expects others to be much more conscious of that action than the other people actually are.
While this seems to establish a general trend, it is important to note that the stimulus is still somewhat vague in the information given. That is, to attempt to conclude an absolute type of statement here, such as “people do not observe the behavior of others” or “people are always unaware of how they are viewed by others,” would be incorrect. There is simply not enough absolute evidence to support such a strong conclusion. This can be an extremely useful concept to recognize in Must be True questions, as it provides a powerful tool for evaluating, and ultimately dismissing, answer choices that contain extreme, overqualified language.
As discussed above, because a clear pattern can be seen in each of the three situations described, a reasonable prephrase would simply be too summarize the events presented. So something along the lines of, “people sometimes believe that their behavior will be observed more closely by others than it actually is,” is sufficiently broad to be support (not too absolute), and yet still provides a solid framework for evaluating the answer choices.
Answer choice (A): This is an Opposite Answer. The stimulus tells us that people tend to be far more aware of their appearance or behavior than are other people, while this answer states that people are less aware of their own actions. An Opposite Answer like this can be tricky, since only one word makes this incorrect, so it is important to read closely and make frequent use of your prephrase as you go through the answers.
Answer choice (B): This answer choice is simply too strong/absolute to be properly concluded from the stimulus. While we know that people’s expectations of how observant others will be are not always correct, that does not mean that in general people do not notice the behavior of those around them. The scenarios in the stimulus are not an absolute representation of the world, but merely a comparison between expectations and reality.
Answer choice (C): While this answer is perhaps the most tempting answer thus far, it is actually a Shell Game type of choice. By rearranging the language slightly the test makers have constructed an answer that is close to what is presented in the stimulus, but still different enough to be incorrect. From the stimulus we know that people are sometimes less observant of the behavior of others than is expected; this answer choice alters that slightly to say that we are less observant of others than we think ourselves to be. Remember, the subjects in the stimulus were incorrect about how closely they would be observed, not about how observant they themselves actually are.
Answer choice (D): This is another strong/absolute answer choice, where a word like “only” should catch your eye and cause you to consider whether the stimulus is strong enough to support such a qualified statement. In this case, the stimulus is too broad to lead to a conclusion this narrow. We know that people tend not to notice the behavior of others as much as one might expect, but that is not enough to state that people will never notice how others behave unless that behavior is specifically highlighted in some way.
Answer choice (E): This is the correct answer choice. The statement here is supported by all three examples in the stimulus, and matches our prephrase very closely. Note too how this answer choice discusses the beliefs (or expectations) of people, as opposed to making a sweeping claim about how all people behave or the nature of how observant people actually are.
Must Be True. The correct answer choice is (E)
In this Must Be True question, three different scenarios are presented, with each essentially yielding the same results: people overestimating the extent to which their actions or appearance are observed by those around them. Whether it involves telling lies, a poor athletic performance, or an unusual article of clothing, the consistent theme is that the person performing the action expects others to be much more conscious of that action than the other people actually are.
While this seems to establish a general trend, it is important to note that the stimulus is still somewhat vague in the information given. That is, to attempt to conclude an absolute type of statement here, such as “people do not observe the behavior of others” or “people are always unaware of how they are viewed by others,” would be incorrect. There is simply not enough absolute evidence to support such a strong conclusion. This can be an extremely useful concept to recognize in Must be True questions, as it provides a powerful tool for evaluating, and ultimately dismissing, answer choices that contain extreme, overqualified language.
As discussed above, because a clear pattern can be seen in each of the three situations described, a reasonable prephrase would simply be too summarize the events presented. So something along the lines of, “people sometimes believe that their behavior will be observed more closely by others than it actually is,” is sufficiently broad to be support (not too absolute), and yet still provides a solid framework for evaluating the answer choices.
Answer choice (A): This is an Opposite Answer. The stimulus tells us that people tend to be far more aware of their appearance or behavior than are other people, while this answer states that people are less aware of their own actions. An Opposite Answer like this can be tricky, since only one word makes this incorrect, so it is important to read closely and make frequent use of your prephrase as you go through the answers.
Answer choice (B): This answer choice is simply too strong/absolute to be properly concluded from the stimulus. While we know that people’s expectations of how observant others will be are not always correct, that does not mean that in general people do not notice the behavior of those around them. The scenarios in the stimulus are not an absolute representation of the world, but merely a comparison between expectations and reality.
Answer choice (C): While this answer is perhaps the most tempting answer thus far, it is actually a Shell Game type of choice. By rearranging the language slightly the test makers have constructed an answer that is close to what is presented in the stimulus, but still different enough to be incorrect. From the stimulus we know that people are sometimes less observant of the behavior of others than is expected; this answer choice alters that slightly to say that we are less observant of others than we think ourselves to be. Remember, the subjects in the stimulus were incorrect about how closely they would be observed, not about how observant they themselves actually are.
Answer choice (D): This is another strong/absolute answer choice, where a word like “only” should catch your eye and cause you to consider whether the stimulus is strong enough to support such a qualified statement. In this case, the stimulus is too broad to lead to a conclusion this narrow. We know that people tend not to notice the behavior of others as much as one might expect, but that is not enough to state that people will never notice how others behave unless that behavior is specifically highlighted in some way.
Answer choice (E): This is the correct answer choice. The statement here is supported by all three examples in the stimulus, and matches our prephrase very closely. Note too how this answer choice discusses the beliefs (or expectations) of people, as opposed to making a sweeping claim about how all people behave or the nature of how observant people actually are.