Self-study
A survey taken ten years ago of residents of area L showed that although living conditions were slightly below their country's average, most residents of L reported general satisfaction with their living conditions. ████████ ████ ████ ███ ████ ██████ █████ ████ █████ ██████ ██████████ ███ ███ █████ ███ ████ ██ ███ ████████ ████████ ████ █████████ ██ █ ██████ ███████ ███████████████ ████ █████ ██████ ███████████
"Surprising" Phenomenon
Residents of area L have become less satisfied with their living conditions in the last ten years, despite their living conditions improving relative to the national average.
Objective
The correct answer will be a hypothesis that explains why residents of L were more satisfied when their living conditions were below the national average than they are now. The explanation must account for some change in the population's preferences over the period in question, or give us a reason that coming closer to the national average does not amount to an improvement.
17.
Which one of the following, ██ █████ █████ ████ ████ ██ ███████ ███ ████████ ████████ ███████ ███ ███████ ██ ███ ███████ █████████ ██████
a
Residents of area █ █████████ █████ ███████ ██ ██████ ██████████ █████████ ████ ███ ███████ ██ ██████ ██████████ ████ ███ ██████ ██ █████████ ██ ████████ ██████
This doesn’t explain why the residents have grown less satisfied with their living conditions. We have to assume residents are judging on the same criteria as before, and we still don't know what's made them less happy.
b
Between the times ████ ███ ███ ███████ ████ ██████████ ███ ███████ ██████ ██████████ ██ ███ ███████ ███ █████████████ █████████
True, living conditions are closer to the national average than before. But the national average is much worse than it was ten years ago, so living conditions have in fact declined. This resolves the conflict.
c
Optimal living conditions ████ ███████████ ██ ███ ██████ ██ ██████ ████ ███████ ████████████ ████████ ███ ██████ ███████ ██ █████ ███████████
We don't know from the stimulus how "optimal" conditions are involved, or how the conditions in area L compare. We still don't know why residents are less satisfied with their living conditions since ten years ago.
d
Living conditions in ██ ████ █████████ ███████ ████ ██ █████████ ████████ █████ █████████ ██ ███████ ██ ████ ██ ████████████
Residents were mostly satisfied ten years ago, but that didn’t mean they weren’t ready to make improvements. Besides, this doesn’t explain why they’ve become less satisfied, whether or not they made improvements.
e
Ten years ago ███ █████████ ██ ████ █ ████ ███ █████ ████ █████ ██████ ██████████ ████ █████ ███ ████████ ████████
This doesn’t say that the residents have become aware of the national average in the last ten years. And either way, living conditions now align with the national average, so we still don't know wht residents are dissatisfied.