One recognized social norm of gift giving is that the time spent obtaining a gift will be viewed as a...
GMAT Information and Ideas : (Ideas) Questions
One recognized social norm of gift giving is that the time spent obtaining a gift will be viewed as a reflection of the gift's thoughtfulness. Marketing experts Farnoush Reshadi, Julian Givi, and Gopal Das addressed this view in their studies of norms specifically surrounding the giving of gift cards, noting that while recipients tend to view digital gift cards (which can be purchased online from anywhere and often can be redeemed online as well) as superior to physical gift cards (which sometimes must be purchased in person and may only be redeemable in person) in terms of usage, 94.8 percent of participants surveyed indicated that it is more socially acceptable to give a physical gift card to a recipient. This finding suggests that ______
Which choice most logically completes the text?
gift givers likely overestimate the amount of effort required to use digital gift cards and thus mistakenly assume gift recipients will view them as less desirable than physical gift cards.
physical gift cards are likely preferred by gift recipients because the tangible nature of those cards offers a greater psychological sense of ownership than digital gift cards do.
physical gift cards are likely less desirable to gift recipients than digital gift cards are because of the perception that physical gift cards require unnecessary effort to obtain.
gift givers likely perceive digital gift cards as requiring relatively low effort to obtain and thus wrongly assume gift recipients will appreciate them less than they do physical gift cards.
Step 1: Decode and Map the Passage
Create Passage Analysis Table
| Text from Passage | Analysis |
|---|---|
| 'One recognized social norm of gift giving is that the time spent obtaining a gift will be viewed as a reflection of the gift's thoughtfulness.' |
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| 'Marketing experts Farnoush Reshadi, Julian Givi, and Gopal Das addressed this view in their studies of norms specifically surrounding the giving of gift cards,' |
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| 'noting that while recipients tend to view digital gift cards (which can be purchased online from anywhere and often can be redeemed online as well) as superior to physical gift cards (which sometimes must be purchased in person and may only be redeemable in person) in terms of usage,' |
|
| '94.8 percent of participants surveyed indicated that it is more socially acceptable to give a physical gift card to a recipient.' |
|
Passage Architecture & Core Elements
Main Point: There's a contradiction between what recipients prefer (digital gift cards for usage) and what people think is socially acceptable to give (physical gift cards).
Argument Flow: The passage establishes that gift-giving effort reflects thoughtfulness, then presents research showing recipients prefer digital gift cards for practical reasons, but people overwhelmingly believe physical gift cards are more socially acceptable to give, creating a paradox that needs explanation.
Step 2: Interpret the Question Precisely
This is a fill-in-the-blank question asking us to choose the best logical connector. The answer must create the right relationship between what comes before and after the blank.
Step 3: Prethink the Answer
- The key insight is that givers are making assumptions about recipients based on the effort principle
- Digital cards seem too easy to obtain, so givers assume recipients won't value them as much - but this assumption is wrong since recipients actually prefer digital cards
- So the right answer should explain that givers wrongly assume recipients will appreciate digital cards less because they perceive them as requiring little effort to obtain
gift givers likely overestimate the amount of effort required to use digital gift cards and thus mistakenly assume gift recipients will view them as less desirable than physical gift cards.
- Claims givers overestimate difficulty of using digital cards
- This is about usage difficulty, not the effort to obtain cards
- Doesn't connect to the established principle about obtaining effort reflecting thoughtfulness
physical gift cards are likely preferred by gift recipients because the tangible nature of those cards offers a greater psychological sense of ownership than digital gift cards do.
- Focuses on psychological ownership feelings from tangible cards
- Doesn't address the obtaining effort principle from the passage opening
- Misses the core issue about giver perceptions vs recipient reality
physical gift cards are likely less desirable to gift recipients than digital gift cards are because of the perception that physical gift cards require unnecessary effort to obtain.
- Claims physical cards are less desirable to recipients due to obtaining effort
- Actually contradicts the passage - recipients prefer digital cards for usage reasons, not because physical cards require effort to obtain
- Gets the direction of the preference wrong
gift givers likely perceive digital gift cards as requiring relatively low effort to obtain and thus wrongly assume gift recipients will appreciate them less than they do physical gift cards.
- Explains that givers perceive digital cards as low-effort to obtain
- Connects this to the wrong assumption that recipients will appreciate them less
- Perfectly matches the opening principle about obtaining effort reflecting thoughtfulness
- Resolves the paradox by showing the disconnect between giver assumptions and recipient reality