Self-paced
When a chain of service stations began applying a surcharge of $0.25 per purchase on fuel paid for by credit card, the chain's owners found that this policy made their customers angry. ██ ████ ███████ ███████ ██ ██████ █████ ███ █████ ██ ████ █ ████████████ ██████ ███ ████ █ █████ ████████ ██ █████████ ██████ ████ █████ █████████ ████ ████ ███████ ████ ████ ███████
Summary
A chain of service stations charged a $0.25 fee for fuel purchased with a credit card, but their customers reacted with anger. The chain decided to instead raise the overall price of fuel and offer customers a $0.25 discount for paying with cash. Customers were happier with this policy.
Strongly Supported Conclusions
People may react differently to two equivalent situations which are framed differently.
17.
Which one of the following ███████████████ ████ ███ █████████ █████████ █████ ████ ███████ ███████████
a
People usually adopt ███████ ███████ █████████ █████████ ███ ████████ ███ ███ ███████ █████ ████████
This answer is unsupported. We don’t know from the stimulus under what circumstances people will usually adopt beliefs.
b
People's perceptions of ███ ████████ ██ █ ██████ █████████ ██████ ██ ███████ ████ ██████ ████████ ████ ███████████
This answer is unsupported. First, we don't know whether the customers think either policy is "fair." Second, the amount that particular customers benefit is the same under each policy.
c
People usually become █████████ ████ ███████████ █████████ ███████
This answer is unsupported. The stimulus only discusses one very narrow financial issue, so we can't say that people "usually" get emotional about finances.
d
People often change █████ █████ █████ ██████ ████ ██ ███ ████ ███████████ ███████████ ██ █████ ██████
This answer is unsupported. First, the customers didn't change their mind about the original policy—they were happier with the new policy instead. Second, we can't generalize from this narrow example to what "often" happens.
e
People's evaluations of █ █████████ █████████ ██████ ████ ██ ███ █████████ ██████ ████ ██ ███ ██ ██ █████████ ██ █████
This answer is strongly supported. The second policy was effectively the same as the first, but presented as an opportunity for savings instead of a surcharge. That presentation was more important to the customers' reactions.