PrepTest 129, Section 3, Question 4
Two randomly selected groups of 30 adults each(80 more words not shown)
Which one of the following,(16 more words not shown)
- AThe cash prizes(19 more words not shown)
- BPeople writing to(16 more words not shown)
- CMost adults show(12 more words not shown)
- DThe team of(14 more words not shown)
- ENo one explained(13 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
Wouldn't a cash prize make people try harder? If I had a headache and was simply told to write a story, I might put little effort into it. Tell me that an excellent story could win money, and I might take the assignment more seriously.
But effort isn't the only thing the incentive could change. With no prize at stake, people might write whatever personally interests them. Different people could produce an interesting variety of stories. Someone trying to win might instead guess what the judges want and write to please them. Perhaps that attempt to appeal to everyone makes the story less interesting.
The judges did not know which group produced each story, yet they ranked the prize group's stories significantly lower on average. The puzzle is why an incentive that might encourage effort went along with worse stories. My prediction is that trying to win backfired in the writing itself.
What we’re looking for
We need an explanation of the difference between the groups. A fact that makes both groups' stories worse won't do that by itself, nor will a fact that merely explains why the prize had no effect.
Working the answers
- A
Suppose the prize was only $20 and did not motivate anyone to work harder. That could explain why the prize group did no better than the other group. But the prize group did significantly worse. A gives no reason for that additional drop in quality.
- BCorrect
Writing to win a prize makes people more likely than usual to produce stereotypical, uncreative stories. That supplies a way for the incentive to backfire: the prize changes the writing in a direction that reasonably leads to lower rankings. It fits our thought that trying to please the judges might produce generic stories rather than interesting ones.
- C
Both groups were assigned a topic. If that makes most adults less original, it could affect both groups. We still need to know why the people told about prizes wrote stories that ranked lower than the others.
- D
A preference for realistic stories does not distinguish the groups unless we also know that one group wrote more realistic stories. The answer never supplies that connection. The same judges evaluated both groups' work without knowing its group of origin.
- E
Neither group understood the judging standards clearly. That shared uncertainty might affect the stories, but it does not by itself explain why the prize group performed worse. B identifies a tendency specifically associated with writing to win.
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