LSAT 155 – Section 4 – Question 05

LSAT 155 - Section 4 - Question 05

November 2019

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Question
QuickView		 Type Tags Answer
Choices		 Curve Question
Difficulty		 Psg/Game/S
Difficulty		 Explanation
PT155 S4 Q05
+LR
Resolve reconcile or explain +RRE
Causal Reasoning +CausR
A
1%
153
B
2%
149
C
3%
151
D
94%
160
E
1%
147
122
131
141
 +Easiest 147.589 +SubsectionMedium

An online auction site conducted a study of auction techniques involving 8,000 used cars, divided into two equal groups. Each car’s listing in the first group included a brief description of its condition. The description of each car in the other half additionally listed defects of the car. More cars in the second group sold, and of comparable cars in both groups that sold, the cars in the second group fetched higher prices.

"Surprising" Phenomenon
Cars sold more frequently and for higher prices when their defects were listed.

Objective
The correct answer will be a hypothesis that explains something about consumer behavior. The explanation must result in consumers responding more favorably to listings that report defects than to listings that only give brief descriptions. The explanation must also provide some rationale for why this is, which likely has to do with consumer trust.

A
Most people are skeptical of the descriptions that accompany items when they are put up for auction online.
We need a comparative aspect. This tells us people are skeptical of descriptions, but we don’t know how they respond to lists of defects.
B
People are likely to assume that a car with no reported defects has been maintained more attentively and is therefore in better overall condition.
If this were true, people would presumably prefer to buy the cars without reported defects. The stimulus tells us the opposite is true.
C
Prospective buyers are likely to overlook mention of defects buried in a detailed description of the condition of an object they are considering purchasing.
According to the stimulus, all the descriptions are brief. We don’t care about detailed descriptions.
D
Listing defects in a description of an item tends to lead people to assume that no major defect has gone unmentioned.
When defects are reported, people assume they’re getting the whole picture. When details aren’t reported, people may assume something about the car’s condition is being hidden, which makes them less inclined to make a purchase.
E
With thousands of cars for sale, prospective buyers are unlikely to read detailed descriptions of more than a small fraction of them.
Like (C), we don’t have detailed descriptions in the stimulus. We’re talking about brief descriptions and lists of defects.

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LSAT PrepTest 155 Explanations

Section 1 - Logical Reasoning

Section 2 - Logical Reasoning

Section 3 - Reading Comprehension

Section 4 - Logical Reasoning

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