Self-study
Of all the photographs taken of him at his wedding, there was one that John and his friends sharply disagreed about. ███ ███████ ███ ████ ████ ████ ██████████ ███████ ███ ███ ████ ████████ ████ ███ ████ ████ ████ ██ ███ ████████ ██ ███ ███ ████ ██████████ ████ ████
Same Photo, Opposite Verdicts
The setup is one photograph and two opposing reactions. John's friends say the photo doesn't much resemble him. John says it's the only one that does. Same image, opposite verdicts.
Whatever explains the disagreement has to affect John differently from how it affects his friends. A general feature of the photo (lighting, color, attire, framing) that would affect everyone the same way won't do the job. The explanation needs to be something that makes John see resemblance while making his friends see less of it.
Anticipation
For Resolve questions, we don't need to predict the exact answer. We just need to recognize what kind of explanation is needed: one that treats John and his friends asymmetrically. Anything that affects them symmetrically can be ruled out quickly.
7.
Which one of the following, ██ ████ █████ ███ ███████████ ████ █████ ██ ███████ ████████ ████████████ ████ ███ ████████
a
It, unlike the █████ ███████████ ██ █████ ██████ ███ ██ ███ █████ ██ █████ ██ ███ ███ ███████ ███████ ████ ██████ ████ ███ ██████ ███████ ██ ████ ██ ███ █████████
Casual clothes don't create the asymmetry we need. Both John and his friends are familiar with John in casual attire. If anything, both groups should agree that a casual-clothes photo resembles regular John more than the formal-attire wedding photos do. (A) gives John a reason to see resemblance, but it gives his friends the same reason. It doesn't explain why they'd disagree with him.
b
It was the ████ ██████████ █████ ██ ████ ██ ███ ███████ ███ █████ ███ ████████████ ███ ████ █ ██████
Flash use is a property of the photo that affects everyone's perception of it equally. It doesn't give John a reason to see resemblance while his friends see something different. That's a symmetric effect, not the asymmetric one we need.
c
It was a ███████████████ ███████████ ███████ ███ █████ ███████████ ████ ██████ ████ ████ ██████ █████ ████████████
Same problem as (B). Whether the photo is black-and-white or color affects how everyone sees it equally. There's no reason a B&W photo would make John and his friends form different impressions of who's in it.
d
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This is the answer, and it works because of how we see ourselves versus how others see us. The photo shows John's mirror image: the photographer shot over John's shoulder and captured the reflected face.
Here's the asymmetry. John sees himself in mirrors all day (getting ready, brushing his teeth, checking his hair). His mental picture of his own face is the mirror version. So a mirror-image photo matches what he's used to seeing as "John." His friends, on the other hand, see John's face directly, un-mirrored. Their mental picture is the real-world version. Faces aren't perfectly symmetrical, so the mirror version and the real version look different enough that John would recognize one as accurate and his friends would recognize the other. (D) gives John a reason to see resemblance and gives his friends a reason not to.
e
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A photo showing only John doesn't create asymmetric reactions. Both John and his friends would still be looking at the same image of John alone, with the same features. No reason for them to see it differently.