Q2 - When salesperson thanks a customer

[mshinners]

Question Type:
Explain a Result

Stimulus Breakdown:
Person to customer: "Thank you"; "Thank you"
Person to friend: "Thank you"; "You're welcome"

Answer Anticipation:
Let's rephrase this to find the discrepancy:
Expected: People respond to "Thank you" the same way
Unexpected: People respond to "Thank you" differently depending on context

The correct answer will explain why the context changes the response to "Thank you".

Correct answer:
(E)

Answer choice analysis:
(A) Half scope/opposite. First, this answer only deals with the salesperson/customer interaction, not the friend/friend one. Second, this answer seems to suggest the customer should say, "You're welcome", which is the opposite of what was stated.

(B) Half scope. This answer only deals with the salesperson/customer relationship. Also, it doesn't explain why the response from a customer is, "Thank you" instead of something else.

(C) Out of scope. The discrepancy is in the response, not the initial thanking.

(D) Aligns, but doesn't resolve. Tempting! This answer says that responses are dictated by custom and not thought. While this aligns with the response being different depending on context, it doesn't explain why this specific pattern has developed. Short of that, we can't say it explains the situation.

(E) Bingo. This answer deals with both the salesperson/customer interaction (commercial transaction) and friend/friend ("as opposed to a favor"). The former is explained because the benefits are mutual, so a rseponse of thanks makes sense. The latter is explained because it specifically states the favor is opposed to the commercial transaction, meaning the benefits aren't felt as mutual. This difference accounts for the different response of, "You're welcome."

Takeaway/Pattern:
Clearly define the discrepancy by finding out what is unexpected about the situation. Also, when the discrepancy involves two situations, the correct answer generally says something about both situations (as in this example), or at least gives information about the weird situation that can be compared to something the stimulus has already stated about the "normal" situation (not seen here).

#officialexplanation

[kjsmit02]

This question really ruined my mojo, as I was caught between two answers the whole time and chose (D) over (E). After reviewing, I see why answer choice (E) is correct.

As for (D) "The way people respond to being thanked is generally determined by habit rather than conscious decision." I initially thought that this would make sense for why customers respond to "thank you" with "thank you". But we aren't given anything that necessarily supports this answer outright (how many people have gotten into this habit? did these people always do this in the past?). In fact, we are given evidence to that counters (D). If "Jeneta" is just now noticing that people are doing this, and if she's only just started doing this herself, it can be implied that she was responding in a different manner before, thus destroying the argument that these responses are out of habit.

(E) tripped me up in that if it's correct, and the customer feels that the benefit is mutual, how do we know that they will definitively respond with "thank you". But looking at the stem, this criticism is flawed, as it ask for what "most helps to explain the discrepancy." While (E), and not much anything else for that matter, would 100% ensure the explanation of the discrepancy, it makes a highly probable step in reasoning for the response of "thank you" to salespeople.

[maryadkins]

Your breakdown is so good I want to do a little dance. Yes, yes, yes. Great on understanding, on processing, on articulating. Your mojo is back.