Item — sat-dog

? Reading and Writing · None · None · MCQ Q18

Consumer psychologists have theorized that the likelihood that people who identify as ethical consumers—meaning that they strive to purchase goods and services with positive or neutral social and ecological effects—will purchase a given product positively correlates with their perception of that product’s effects. In a recent study of the attitudes of self-identified ethical consumers toward purchasing a specific mobile phone coming to market, researchers found that, on average, study participants in their twenties rated the phone’s social and ecological effects much less positively than did participants in other age groups. All other things being equal, if consumer psychologists’ theory is correct, this finding suggests that _______ Which choice most logically completes the text?

A
the phone is less appealing to ethical consumers in their twenties than other similar phones on the market are.
B
ethical consumers in their twenties are less likely to purchase the phone than ethical consumers in other age groups are.
C
there is not a meaningful difference in the likelihood of purchasing the phone among ethical consumers in different age groups.
D
ethical consumers in their twenties are more likely than ethical consumers in other age groups to consider a phone’s social and ecological effects when deciding whether to purchase that phone.

Correct answer: B (parsed from the explanation — this source omits an answer key for this item)

Explanation

Choice B is the best answer because it most logically completes the text’s discussion of a study involving ethical consumers. According to the text, ethical consumers are people who strive to purchase goods and services with positive or neutral effects on society and the environment. The text explains that consumer psychologists believe these consumers are more likely to purchase a product if its effects correspond better to their values. The text then introduces a study of ethical consumers’ attitudes toward a specific mobile phone, indicating that participants in their twenties had a less positive attitude toward the phone’s effects on society and the environment than participants in other age groups did. The text indicates that readers should assume there are no other differences between the participants in their twenties and those in other age groups. If the consumer psychologists’ theory is correct, as the text proposes, then the study’s finding suggests that ethical consumers in their twenties are less likely to purchase the phone than ethical consumers in other age groups are. Choice A is incorrect because the text mentions only the mobile phone used in the study and therefore provides no basis to compare participants’ attitudes toward that phone with their attitudes toward any other phone. Choice C is incorrect because the study’s finding suggests the contrary. The text indicates that study participants in their twenties had a less positive attitude toward the phone’s social and environmental effects than study participants in other age groups did. If the consumer psychologists’ theory is true, as the text proposes, then the study’s finding suggests that ethical consumers in their twenties are meaningfully less likely to purchase the phone than ethical consumers in other age groups are. Choice D is incorrect because there’s nothing in the text to suggest that ethical consumers in their twenties are more likely than ethical consumers in other age groups to consider a phone’s social and ecological effects when deciding whether to purchase it. Rather, the text’s discussion of people who identify as ethical consumers suggests that they all consider the social and ecological effects of products, regardless of age. 12 SAT PRACTICE TEST #6 ANSWER EXPLANATIONS SAT ANSWER EXPLANATIONS n READING AND WRITING: MODULE 1

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