A recent poll revealed that most students

Answer choices

1. A

   Deepens Paradox, if anything4% picked this

   Because several of the candidates listed in the poll had extensive experience as university presidents, not all of the candidates could be

   If we had been told that none of the candidates listed in the poll had extensive experience, then we could have said, "Even though students would prefer someone with experience, since no one on this list really has any, they picked whichever inexperienced person was their favorite." But this answer reveals that there were people on the list with extensive experience, so we'd be right back in our confusing Paradox.

   4%
2. B

   Deepens Paradox2% picked this

   Most of the candidates listed in the poll had extensive experiences

   Like (A), this tells us that the students absolutely had the option to pick someone who has the extensive experience they prefer in a candidate. And yet, their favorite person on the list had no experience. So we're still confused about why they preferred an inexperienced candidate.

   2%
3. C

   Unclear Impact4% picked this

   Students taking the poll had fewer candidates to choose from than were currently being considered

   The fact that the list had fewer candidates than all being considered creates a potential storyline like, "The students picked Candidate X as their favorite from the list, despite her lack of experience, because the experienced candidate they actually would most like to see hired was not on the list". But we are inventing a lot of story there at the end. The correct answer doesn't require that we add in so many of our own idea.

   4%
4. D

   Correct87% picked this

   Most of the students taking the poll did not know whether any of the leading candidates listed in the poll had ever

   Why this is right

   This best explains why students, who prefer a candidate with experience, picked as their favorite option a candidate with no experience: the students had no idea whether the candidates on the list did / didn't have experience They weren't consciously going against their preference for experienced candidates. They just didn't know enough about the candidates to factor in the candidate's experience level.

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

   87%
5. E

   Cheats Background Condition4% picked this

   Often a person can be well suited to a position even though they have relatively little experience

   This answer might be tempting if we were thinking, "The students picked candidate X, despite her lack of experience, because they know that a person can be great for a position even though they have relatively little experience in that position." But this answer is just saying often a candidate with no experience can still be well suited. And in the case of picking a new university president (a pretty specific job), the students polled said that they wanted someone with extensive experience. So even if the students think that experience isn't always needed in order for someone to be a good fit for a job, in the case of picking a new university president, they indicated that the candidate should have experience. In short, for us to pick this answer and say, "They favored the inexperienced candidate because they know that you don't need experience to be good", we would be cheating the background condition which was that "these students cared about whether this candidate had extensive experience!"

   4%