#7 - Due to wider commercial availability of audio

[Administrator]

Complete Question Explanation

Parallel Reasoning-PR. The correct answer choice is (C)

The principle presented in the stimulus can be summarized as follows: when two similar products offer essentially the same commodity, an increase in the commercial availability of one of these products (audio recordings of books) leads to a decrease in the demand for the other (printed books). Because the same "zero-sum" causal argument appears in answer choice (C), this is the correct answer.

Answer choice (A): The rising cost of one product (farm labor) leads to an increase in the demand for another (machines). Neither cost is analogous to commercial availability, nor is increased demand analogous to decreased demand: in fact, the effect presented here is the exact opposite of the one contained in the stimulus.

Answer choice (B): Increased availability of one product leads to an increase in the demand for another, related product. Because this scenario is not analogous to the argument contained in the stimulus, this answer choice is incorrect.

Answer choice (C): This is the correct answer choice. See explanation above.

Answer choice (D): The effect of forbidding a child to play was beneficial to his ability to complete his homework, not detrimental to it. This answer choice is incorrect.

Answer choice (E): The conclusion test can quickly eliminate this answer choice, since "neither A nor B" is not the type of conclusion presented in the stimulus.

[Bruin96]

When reading the stimulus, I thought there was a causal relationship, and I wanted to know if that was a correct way of looking at this problem. I saw the causal relationship as:

C: Wider Availability of Audio Recording of Author
E: Sales of Printed Book Dropped

[James Finch]

Hi Bruin,

Yes, this is a causal relationship exactly as you described, which then needs to be abstracted out to a more general principle and then applied to the answer choices, as we're asked for an analogous situation. As illustrated by all of the answer choices beginning with the word "because," they are all also causal relationships as well.

Hope this helps!

[BryonNeu]

Hello, I am a little confused about what I am allowed to do during parallel reasoning questions or what exactly must match in every question.

My Powerscore class just finished lesson 8 with parallel reasoning and flaw - Robert has been great and we have talked about the right answer matching the certainty (should must match should, must, could etc.) but we specifically learned that just because we must match should the answer could include a should not-- in this question why must the answer match the decreasing effect and exclude 'increasing? Is it only specifically casual parallels or something that requires more understanding?

My prephrase going into the answer choices was something related to casual reasoning with the availability of something causing a reaction I did not specify decreasing in the prephrase. I chose B and was a little disheartened to see 5% and I do understand C being the answer, I called it a contender.

Could anyone help me hammer out when I must match the increasing decreasing part vs when I do not have to? Thanks!

[Beth Hayden]

Hi Bryon,

Well, these are tricky because as you said, every single element is not necessarily going to match perfectly. You want to look for the most distinctive features first. But you're completely right, I have absolutely seen parallel questions where you see the same element (change in sales) but the direction is changed (increasing vs. decreasing). Remember that this is not a must be true question, you are looking for the answer choice that conforms most closely to the general principle expressed in the stimulus.

Although here the fact that one thing increasing causes another to decrease is important because it explains the causal connection. Think of a scale, as one thing goes up the other goes down. Implicit in the stimulus is that people are picking one or the other. A customer wants to read a new book that just came out, and they have to choose whether to read a printed copy or listen to an audiobook. Because there are more audiobooks, and they are better quality, more people are choosing the audio book over the printed book.

Let's break down the stimulus into its key elements:

• 1. There are two options, where one is an alternative to the other
  2. Because the alternative is easier to get than in the past, sales of the original option have decreased (people are switching to the alternative)
  3. This first thing (wider commercial availability of audio books) caused the change in use of the original. We know there is a causal connection because it says the decline in sales happened "due to" wider availability of the audio books.

Now consider each element in relation to answer choice (B). There are not two options, there is a "wide variety" of computer games available. Also, one is not an alternative to another, people aren't choosing between a good computer screen and a new game, they are getting both. This might be a good answer choice if it said that a new game on the market is causing a decrease in sales of an older game.

Now consider answer choice (C). There are two options, the old soft drink and the new soft drink. Because there's a new drink on the market, some people are choosing it instead. It's like when a new iPhone comes out; people start buying the new model so sales of the old model decrease.

I hope that helps, but please let me know if you have any follow-up questions on that!

Beth