Information and IdeasVery hardInference from a subtle result
Information and Ideas practice question
In a trial, patients were told that a new painkiller had 'no known side effects'. A second group received the identical pill but were read a list of possible side effects, as regulations require. The second group reported those side effects at three times the rate of the first, though the pills were the same. The most reasonable interpretation is that ____
Which choice most logically completes the text?
- A. expecting side effects makes people more likely to notice or report them, even when the pill is unchanged.Correct
- B. the second group received a stronger pill.
- C. the painkiller has no side effects at all.
- D. the first group did not take the pill.
Answer: A. expecting side effects makes people more likely to notice or report them, even when the pill is unchanged.
Same pill, different warning, three times the reports: expectation drives reporting.
Why the other answers are wrong
- B. the second group received a stronger pill.
- The pills were identical.
- C. the painkiller has no side effects at all.
- The first group may have had side effects they didn't attribute to the pill; the text supports expectation, not absence.
- D. the first group did not take the pill.
- Nothing suggests that.
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