#10 - Megan: People pursue wealth beyond what their basic

[Administrator]

Complete Question Explanation

Point At Issue. The correct answer choice is (E)

Megan believes that the only reason people ever pursue wealth beyond what their basic needs require is to achieve high status or prestige. Channen disagrees, stating that people sometimes pursue wealth beyond what their basic needs require for other reasons. So the disagreement is about the motivation for pursuing wealth beyond what one’s basic needs require (only for status/prestige, or for other reasons).

Answer choice (A): The disagreement is not over whether people ever pursue a certain amount of wealth, but why they pursue that wealth.

Answer choice (B): Neither speaker discusses the idea of what is rational or not.

Answer choice (C): Again, neither speaker discusses the idea of rationality.

Answer choice (D): Like answers (B) and (C), the concept of what is rational or irrational is never mentioned.

Answer choice (E): This is the correct answer choice. As stated above, this answer choice addresses the disagreement between the two speakers: Megan would disagree with this answer (say “no”), while Channen would agree (say “yes”).

[Oakenshield]

Hi staff,
I am not sure what the meaning of "anything other than" is. Could you explain it to me, please? I think it refers to "anything but", but apparently, Clannen doesn't deny that high status or prestige can be the motive. So I guess Clannen may disagree with E).

[Adam Tyson]

Hey Oakenshield, good to hear from you. Your paraphrase is good "anything other than" could be "anything but". It could also be "something other than".

The goal in this question is to determine what Megan and Channen would say in response to the various statements in the answers, and to pick the one where their answers directly conflict with one another. One says true, the other says false; one says up, the other says down; one says never, the other says sometimes (or always).

So what would Megan say to answer E? She would say "nope, it is never anything other than that. That is all it ever is." Channen would say "yes, sometimes it is something other than that." Channen doesn't have to think that it is NEVER about prestige, just that it isn't ALWAYS about prestige.

With these two opposing answers from Megan and Channen, we have found the thing that they disagree about, and we have our winner.

I hope that cleared things up for you, and gives you some new tools with which to approach future "point at issue" questions like this one. Keep at it!

[sakfi]

Hello,

Could someone explain what it means in the stimulus where it says "even if you are indifferent to what others think of you." I don't seem to get the right meaning.

Thank you.

Fei Fei

[Jay Donnell]

Hi Fei Fei!

The expression "even if you are indifferent to what others think of you" refers to not being concerned about the opinions of others. Or like the kids seem to say today, it refers to someone who doesn't let the haters get them down

Channen uses that type of person as a way of disagreeing with Megan's assertion that "people pursue wealth beyond what their basic needs require only if they see it as a way of achieving high status or prestige."

If someone is making more money than they need, but doing it without caring what others think of them, then they are not doing it from a desire of status or prestige. That presents a situation outside of what Megan said was the only reason to make excess money, and presents the point at issue that is eventually represented in the correct response.

Hope that helps!

[sakfi]

Thank you Jay for the clarification!