Logical reasoning PrepTest 146 · Section 3 · Question 9

Incorrect. This might explain why word-of-mouth campaigns are more successful for certain products than traditional campaigns, but it doesn't explain why someone admitting they're a part of one of these campaigns would make them more effective at marketing the product.

Incorrect. Similar to (A), this answer might help resolve a paradox comparing the impact of mass-media campaigns to word-of-mouth ones, but it doesn't address the paradoxical comparison in the stimulus between two different word-of-mouth advertisers.

Incorrect. We still don't know why admitting that they're a product booster improves their ability to influence people! This only explains how they became boosters in the first place—it doesn't explain anything about their interactions with consumers.

Incorrect. First, the cost wouldn't explain why the boosters are more successful when they admit their affiliation. Second, this is still a comparison between word-of-mouth campaigns and mass-media ads, the latter of which weren't related to the paradox.

Correct. Argument or Facts:
Facts

Question Type:
Paradox

Stimulus Summary:
Organized product boosters who admit they're part of a marketing campaign are more successful than those who hide it, which is surprising considering the benefit of word-of-mouth campaigns is that people trust the messengers more.

Answer Anticipation:
The stimulus here highlights a counterintuitive outcome—word-of-mouth influencers who admit that they're part of a marketing campaign do a better job of convincing people of the merits of a product than those who don't. There must be some impact of admitting that one is with an organized campaign that allows for the pitch to be more successful.

While we don't want to spend too much time trying to anticipate a specific answer, one thought does jump out—admitting that you're part of a campaign might make you seem honest, and that you're not trying to hide that affiliation, thus making people trust you. While we don't want to get too locked into this anticipation in case the correct answer brings up a different reason, it's not bad to have a starting point.

Answer Explanation:
While this doesn't match our specific anticipation, it does match the general one. This answer highlights a reason that admitting the affiliation could lead to more success in boosting a product—doing so results in a better conversation, making it easier to sell the product.

Key Takeaway:
Make sure you're crystal clear on the paradox, as Paradox questions love to throw elements into the stimulus that are unrelated to the paradox just to bring them up in answers. The paradox here was a comparison between word-of-mouth advertising where the booster admits their affiliation and where they don't—mass-media ads didn't have anything to do with it. And yet three of the answers dealt with mass-media ads. Knowing they were out of scope of the paradox would have allowed some quick eliminations.