#8 - Because learned patterns of behavior, such as the

[tug59567]

Could someone explain how "E" is the correct answer/break down the answer choices? I eliminated "E" because I didn't see how a lack of uniformity among tape recorders' color indicators would constitute an "inefficient or dangerous" machine. I can see a weak argument being made that this impacts tape recorders' efficiency, but definitely not one for dangers that would arise.

[Adam Tyson]

Answer E is an example of a designer NOT making allowances for learned behavior, and the principle requires that they should make those allowances, tug59567. It would be potentially inefficient for the user of that tape recorder if they had to constantly think about which button did what, rather than following their standard learned pattern. But the result of either inefficiency or danger is not a part of the principle itself, but rather the motivation behind the principle. All we need to see in a good answer here is that a designer did not make allowances for learned behavior. Whether it actually makes things inefficient or dangerous is secondary - the rule has been broken.

Also, because the instructions tell us to select the best answer, rather than a perfect answer, there's not much point in arguing with the answer choice in that way. If it is the best answer - better than the other four (all of which DO very clearly follow the principle) - then it must be selected, even if you feel it could have been better. Process of elimination has to be a part of your process, because frequently you will not love the correct answer, but will just hate it less than you hate the others.

[Morgan2cats]

Hi PS,

I still can't see the violation of E.
If elimination method is a more efficient way to solve this question, could you please elaborate on other 4 options for me?
If E actually voilates the principle, it seems there is a assumption that a red "start" and a yellow "stop" is abnormal, which I can't read it from E. Could you explain it for me?
Thank you so much in advance!

[Adam Tyson]

In part, Morgan2cats, this is based on the information in the stimulus that green is associated with go, but mainly it's based on some outside knowledge. Yes, we are normally supposed to avoid outside knowledge, but the instructions do allow for you to rely on things that are commonsense general knowledge.

In our commonsense understanding of the world, we associate green with go/start/begin, and red with stop/end. Yellow is generally associated with slow/pause/caution. Think of traffic lights, the buttons on your phone for starting and ending calls, etc.

Interestingly, I think this question would not work as well today the way it did back in 1995, because nowadays we generally associate certain red buttons with "record," such as the video record feature on our phones and on many TV remote controls. But even so, yellow for stop? When do we ever see that? Color-coding the buttons this way does not fit with our deeply ingrained associations. Put another way, there's nothing intuitive about those choices, and that's why it violates the principle.