Many governments that regularly transfer money to individuals—to provide supplemental incomes for senior citizens, for example—have long done so elect...
GMAT Information and Ideas : (Ideas) Questions
Many governments that regularly transfer money to individuals—to provide supplemental incomes for senior citizens, for example—have long done so electronically, but other countries typically have distributed physical money and have only recently developed electronic transfer infrastructure. Researchers studied the introduction of an electronic transfer system in one such location and found that recipients of electronic transfers consumed a different array of foods than recipients of physical transfers of the same amount did. One potential explanation for this result is that individuals conceive of and allocate funds in physical money differently than they conceive of and allocate funds in electronic form.
Which finding from the study, if true, would most directly weaken the potential explanation?
Recipients of electronic transfers typically spent their funds at a slower rate than recipients of physical transfers did.
Nearly every recipient of an electronic transfer withdrew the entire amount in physical money shortly after receiving the transfer.
Recipients of physical transfers tended to purchase food about as frequently as recipients of electronic transfers did.
Some recipients of physical transfers received small amounts of money relatively frequently, while others received large amounts relatively infrequently.
Step 1: Decode and Map the Passage
Part A: Create Passage Analysis Table
| Text from Passage | Analysis |
|---|---|
| "Many governments that regularly transfer money to individuals—to provide supplemental incomes for senior citizens, for example—have long done so electronically" |
|
| "but other countries typically have distributed physical money and have only recently developed electronic transfer infrastructure" |
|
| "Researchers studied the introduction of an electronic transfer system in one such location" |
|
| "and found that recipients of electronic transfers consumed a different array of foods than recipients of physical transfers of the same amount did" |
|
| "One potential explanation for this result is that individuals conceive of and allocate funds in physical money differently than they conceive of and allocate funds in electronic form" |
|
Part B: Provide Passage Architecture & Core Elements
Main Point: A study found that people who receive money electronically buy different foods than those who receive physical money, possibly because they think about electronic and physical money differently.
Step 2: Interpret the Question Precisely
What's being asked? Which research finding would most directly weaken the potential explanation
What type of answer do we need? Evidence that undermines the idea that people conceive of electronic and physical money differently
Any limiting keywords? most directly weaken
Step 3: Prethink the Answer
- To weaken this explanation, we need evidence showing that the different food consumption patterns are not actually due to different mental processes about electronic vs physical money
- The right answer should show that people are not actually thinking about electronic money differently from physical money
Recipients of electronic transfers typically spent their funds at a slower rate than recipients of physical transfers did.
- This shows electronic recipients spend money more slowly than physical recipients
- This actually supports the explanation by showing another behavioral difference between the groups
Nearly every recipient of an electronic transfer withdrew the entire amount in physical money shortly after receiving the transfer.
- This shows that electronic transfer recipients immediately converted their money to physical cash
- If people withdrew all their electronic money as physical cash right away, both groups would effectively be dealing with physical money
- This directly undermines the explanation since there would be no real difference in money format being used
Recipients of physical transfers tended to purchase food about as frequently as recipients of electronic transfers did.
- This shows both groups purchased food with similar frequency
- This does not address whether they think about the money differently - you could conceive of money differently but still shop with similar frequency
Some recipients of physical transfers received small amounts of money relatively frequently, while others received large amounts relatively infrequently.
- This describes variation within the physical transfer group only
- This does not compare electronic vs physical transfers or address mental conception differences