In a study, shoppers who shopped

Answer choices

1. A

   Irrelevant Distinction1% picked this

   Only the shoppers who used a list used a

   Irrelevant Distinction: "having / not having a cart" We couldn’t use having a cart / not having a cart to explain why group A spent more on 10 items 50% off than group B spend on 10 items at full price.

   1%
2. B

   Irrelevant Comparison: "many / not many items"35% picked this

   The shoppers who did not use lists bought many

   The total number of items is irrelevant, because the paradox we’re trying to explain involves a comparable number of items. This would only work if we thought it was common sense to say “unnecessary items tend to be way more expensive than necessary items”, but that’s too much of a stretch.

   35%
3. C

   Correct60% picked this

   Usually, only the most expensive items go on sale in

   Why this is right

   If the sale items were the most expensive items in the store, then we can make sense of how buying 10 of those items at 50% off could still end up being more money than buying 10 regularly priced (but far cheaper) items.

   Skill tested: Paradox · how this choice captures the argument's function is the move to repeat next time.

   60%
4. D

   Irrelevant Comparison: "other grocery stores"1% picked this

   The grocery store in the study carries many expensive items that few other

   We have no interest in what other grocery stores cover. We just care about differences between what the sale-buyers were buying and what the full-price buyers were buying.

   1%
5. E

   Irrelevant Distinction: "relatively few"3% picked this

   The grocery store in the study places relatively few items

   It doesn’t matter whether 5% or 25% or 75% of items go on sale. We still need a way to contrast the price of the sale items and the full-price items in order to explain how buying full-price items came out cheaper than buying sale items.

   3%