An online auction site conducted a study of auction techniques involving 8,000 used cars, divided into two equal groups. ████ █████ ███████ ██ ███ █████ █████ ████████ █ █████ ███████████ ██ ███ ██████████ ███ ███████████ ██ ████ ███ ██ ███ █████ ████ ████████████ ██████ ███████ ██ ███ ████ ████ ████ ██ ███ ██████ █████ █████ ███ ██ ██████████ ████ ██ ████ ██████ ████ █████ ███ ████ ██ ███ ██████ █████ ███████ ██████ ███████
Used cars sold more frequently and for higher prices when their defects were listed.
The correct answer will be a hypothesis that explains something about consumer behavior, where consumers respond more favorably to listings that report defects. One possible explanation is that consumers have more trust in listings that include defects.
Which one of the following, ██ █████ ████ █████ ██ ███████ ███ ███ ██████ █████ ██ ████ ███ ██████ █████ ███████ ████ ███ █████ ██████
Most people are █████████ ██ ███ ████████████ ████ █████████ █████ ████ ████ ███ ███ ██ ███ ███████ ███████
This tells us people are skeptical of descriptions overall, but we don’t know how they respond to lists of defects specifically. This lacks the comparative aspect that we need.
People are likely ██ ██████ ████ █ ███ ████ ██ ████████ ███████ ███ ████ ██████████ ████ ███████████ ███ ██ █████████ ██ ██████ ███████ ██████████
If this were true, people would presumably prefer to buy the cars without reported defects. However, the stimulus tells us the opposite is true. This doesn't offer an explanation, but just creates more confusion.
Prospective buyers are ██████ ██ ████████ ███████ ██ ███████ ██████ ██ █ ████████ ███████████ ██ ███ █████████ ██ ██ ██████ ████ ███ ███████████ ███████████
We need to identify some difference in consumers' response to descriptions that list defects, and saying that the defects are overlooked doesn't help us with that. The stimulus also isn't concerned with detailed descriptions.
Listing defects in █ ███████████ ██ ██ ████ █████ ██ ████ ██████ ██ ██████ ████ ██ █████ ██████ ███ ████ ████████████
So when defects are reported, people assume they’re getting the whole picture. When defects aren’t reported, people may assume there's a hidden problem, which makes them less inclined to make a purchase. This explains the difference.
With thousands of ████ ███ █████ ███████████ ██████ ███ ████████ ██ ████ ████████ ████████████ ██ ████ ████ █ █████ ████████ ██ █████
Like in (C), the stimulus is concerned with brief, not detailed, descriptions. Also like (C), we need to know what about a list of defects is appealing—and that requires consumers read the descriptions.
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