A study of 20,000 20- to 64-year-olds found that people 's satisfactio

Regarding choice (E), it does not say that some people's salaries will go up a lot (i.e. 50%) while some people's salaries will only go up a little (i.e. 5%). If that were the case then, yes, we would expect the people who enjoyed the larger increase to be more satisfied.

But choice (E) says "an increase in everyone's incomes." If my salary goes up, say, 10% but the salaries of my neighbors also go up by approximately the same amount, then I won't feel any richer RELATIVE to my neighbors. For example, if my salary was close to the average of that of my neighbors BEFORE the increase, then it would probably still be close to the average AFTER everyone's salaries go up. I'm now making more money, but compared to my neighbors, my position hasn't improved. According to the argument, my satisfaction will not increase in that case.

Sure, it is possible that some people's salaries increased by a lot while some people's salaries increased by only a little, but choice (E) does not give us enough detail to assume this very specific scenario. Without such detail, we can only analyze the general scenario in which everyone's salaries go up. True, we don't know whether everyone's salaries are going up by the same percentage, but if EVERYONE'S salaries are increasing, then it is UNLIKELY that my satisfaction is going to GREATLY increase.... it's possible but not likely.

As for choice (C), it talks about NEIGHBORHOODS, not neighbors. If this statement were true, it would suggest that people in some neighborhoods are more satisfied than people in other neighborhoods. According to the argument, the neighborhood you live in doesn't matter so much. No matter where you live, your neighbors are LIKELY to be people from the same economic class. So your satisfaction doesn't depend on WHICH neighborhood you live in but rather on how your salary compares to that of other people in your neighborhood.

Yes, it is true that you could theoretically move from neighborhood X to a poorer neighborhood (Y) to increase your satisfaction. But that doesn't mean that people in neighborhood Y are generally more satisfied than people in neighborhood X. According to the argument, average satisfaction should be about the same in both neighborhoods.

I hope that helps!