This is an EXCEPT resolve, reconcile, explain question: Each of the following, if true, contributes to an explanation of the difference in caloric intake EXCEPT:
Our discrepancy in need of an explanation in the stimulus is that people consume more non-alcoholic calories at meals they drink during than at meals they don’t. Put in more straightforward terms, people eat more overall at meals they drink alcohol with than at meals they don’t. Because this is an RRE EXCEPT question, we are going to get four answer choices that give us good reasons for why this difference exists, and one which does nothing to explain it; the correct answer choice will be the one that fails to give a good explanation. Let’s see what we get:
Answer Choice (A) If you are at the meal for a longer period of time it makes sense that you might end up eating more food!
Answer Choice (B) So later meals correlate with both more non-alcoholic calories (larger portions) and the presence of alcohol, that would explain why there is on average more calories consumed at meals with alcohol.
Answer Choice (C) Same deal as B, except instead of later meals it is meals with more people that correlates with both more eating and alcohol.
Answer Choice (D) If a meal is attractively served, then it seems reasonable you might eat more of it than otherwise.
Correct Answer Choice (E) The relative sizes of the subsets of calories does nothing to explain why the superset is on average larger for meals served with alcohol.