Most jurors will be more inclined to reach a verdict favorable to one

Question

Most jurors will be more inclined to reach a verdict favorable to one side if that side’s case is based primarily on eyewitness testimony rather than on physical evidence backed by expert scientific testimony. Surprisingly, studies involving jurors in mock trials have found that this tendency survives even for those jurors who understand that eyewitness testimony is generally less reliable than is physical evidence backed by expert testimony.

Which of the following would, if true, most help to explain the surprising phenomenon described above?

A. Jurors in mock trials usually spend less time deliberating and worrying about reaching the right verdict than do jurors in actual trials.

B. Because expert testimony regarding physical evidence presented at trial is almost invariably given by witnesses testifying for one side or the other, many jurors regard such witnesses as biased.

C. The credibility that a particular juror will assign to a particular eyewitness will be profoundly influenced by personal characteristics of the eyewitness including age, gender, occupation, and appearance.

D. Even jurors who understand that eyewitnesses tend to be less reliable than physical evidence incorrectly believe they are better than the average juror at telling when an eyewitness’s testimony is reliable

E. The more complex the physical evidence presented at trial is, the less it will influence the jurors in reaching their verdict.

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MartyMurray · Accepted Answer

Most jurors will be more inclined to reach a verdict favorable to one side if that side’s case is based primarily on eyewitness testimony rather than on physical evidence backed by expert scientific testimony. Surprisingly, studies involving jurors in mock trials have found that this tendency survives even for those jurors who understand that eyewitness testimony is generally less reliable than is physical evidence backed by expert testimony.

Reading the passage, we see that it presents a surprising situation: Jurors will be more inclined to reach a verdict favorable to one side if that side’s case is based primarily on eyewitness testimony rather than on physical evidence backed by expert scientific testimony even if the jurors understand that eyewitness testimony is generally less reliable than physical evidence backed by expert testimony.

Which of the following would, if true, most help to explain the surprising phenomenon described above?

This is a Paradox or Best Explains question, and the correct answer will help to explain the surprising situation. In other words, it will make it less surprising.
 
 A. Jurors in mock trials usually spend less time deliberating and worrying about reaching the right verdict than do jurors in actual trials.

Notice that this choice shows how mock trials are DIFFERENT from actual trials.

In contrast, what we need to explain is, basically, why some jurors in mock trials do basically the SAME thing jurors in real trials do.

Bringing up a way in which the two types of trials are different would not explain why the jurors in the two types of trials do the same thing.

Eliminate.
 
 B. Because expert testimony regarding physical evidence presented at trial is almost invariably given by witnesses testifying for one side or the other, many jurors regard such witnesses as biased.

This choice seems potentially correct.

After all, if this choice is true, then we may have a reason why jurors tend to be more inclined to reach a verdict favorable to one side if that side’s case is based primarily on eyewitness testimony rather than on physical evidence backed by expert scientific testimony. That reason would be that jurors tend to believe that expert witnesses are biased. So, they prefer eyewitness testimony.

Keep.

C. The credibility that a particular juror will assign to a particular eyewitness will be profoundly influenced by personal characteristics of the eyewitness including age, gender, occupation, and appearance.

This choice is incorrect because it explains the wrong thing.

We need a choice that explains why jurors favor eyewitness testimony over physical evidence backed by scientific testimony.

This choice explains why jurors trust some eyewitnesses more than others.

Eliminate.

D. Even jurors who understand that eyewitnesses tend to be less reliable than physical evidence incorrectly believe they are better than the average juror at telling when an eyewitness’s testimony is reliable.

This choice is interesting.

If jurors who understand that eyewitnesses tend to be less reliable than physical evidence incorrectly believe they are better than the average juror at telling when an eyewitness’s testimony is reliable, then, even though eyewitness testimony is,  in general , less reliable than physical evidence, the jurors who understand that may still favor eyewitness testimony because they believe that they can discern which eyewitness testimony to rely on and therefore rely on  some  eyewitness testimony, the eyewitness testimony that they believe to be reliable, more than physical evidence.

So, this choice could explain why jurors who understand that eyewitness testimony is less reliable than physical evidence still favor the side that uses eyewitnesses.

Keep.

E. The more complex the physical evidence presented at trial is, the less it will influence the jurors in reaching their verdict.

This choice is incorrect because it provides the wrong information.

We need a choice that provides information on why jurors favor eyewitness testimony over physical evidence backed by scientific testimony.

This choice provides information on a characteristic of physical evidence that causes some physical evidence to influence jurors more than other physical evidence.

Eliminate.

So, we are left with (B) and (D), and initially, I thought that this question to be flawed with no clear correct answer.

However, looking more carefully, we can see the following reason why (D) is the better answer.

The surprising situation involves the following people:

jurors who understand that eyewitness testimony is generally less reliable than is physical evidence backed by expert testimony

Notice that they "understand that eyewitness testimony is generally less reliable than is physical evidence backed by expert testimony."

Now, let's consider what (B) says:

many jurors regard such witnesses (expert witnesses) as biased

So, (B) seems to mean that many people believe that expert testimony is less reliable than eyewitness testimony because expert testimony is biased.

Notice the issue with that. The people involved in the surprising situation DON'T BELIEVE THAT. The passage states as fact that they "understand that eyewitness testimony is generally less reliable than physical evidence backed by expert testimony."

So, regardless of how biased they or anyone else believes expert testimony to be, the jurors involved in the surprising situation still believe that physical evidence backed by expert testimony is more reliable than eyewitness testimony.

Thus, (B) cannot explain why these jurors favor eyewitness testimony because (B) does not change the fact that they understand that eyewitness testimony is less reliable.

In contrast, as we have seen in our above discussion of (D), (D) does explain why jurors favor the side that uses eyewitness testimony even though they understand that, in general, eyewitness testimony is less reliable than physical evidence backed by expert testimony.

So, we can choose (D) as the correct answer.

Correct answer:  D

GMATNinja · Answer

The problem with choice (B) is that it doesn't explain the discrepancy presented in the passage.

We are told that the jurors understand that  eyewitness testimony is generally less reliable than is physical evidence backed by expert testimony . So even though many jurors regard the witnesses presenting expert testimony as biased, the jurors still believe that eyewitness testimony is generally less reliable.

In other words, a juror can consider expert testimony to be biased but still believe that expert testimony is better (i.e. more reliable) than eyewitness testimony.

We need to resolve the discrepancy: given the fact in bold above, why are most jurors more inclined to reach a verdict favorable to one side if that side’s case is based primarily on eyewitness testimony?

Only choice (D) resolves that specific paradox. Yes, they generally consider eyewitness testimony to be less reliable than physical evidence backed by expert testimony, but they also believe that they can tell when eyewitnesses are reliable and when they are not!

The GENERAL belief -- that eyewitnesses are less reliable -- isn't an issue for those jurors because they think they can judge the reliability of the INDIVIDUAL eyewitness on the witness stand.

Choice (B) could help explain why jurors think eyewitnesses are more reliable than physical evidence with expert testimony -- but that would go against the passage and ELIMINATE the paradox, rather than EXPLAIN the paradox.

Only choice (D) explains the paradox, so that's our winner.

shukss · Answer

(A) This choice suggests a difference in the deliberation process between mock trials and actual trials but doesn't directly address the inclination to favor eyewitness testimony.

(B) This choice introduces bias in expert witnesses, but it doesn't directly explain why jurors would still prefer eyewitness testimony even when aware of its reliability issues.

(C) This choice introduces personal characteristics of the eyewitness, but it doesn't directly explain the tendency of jurors to favor eyewitness testimony despite knowing its general unreliability.

(D) This choice provides a possible explanation. If jurors believe they are better than average at discerning reliable eyewitness testimony, it could explain why they still favor it despite their understanding of its general unreliability.

(E) This choice suggests that the complexity of physical evidence reduces its influence on jurors, but it doesn't explain why jurors, even when aware of the reliability issues of eyewitness testimony, would still prefer it.

Haffun · Answer

Please help with the explanation.

WINIFREDWU1103 · Answer

I am very confused about Choose D: jurors believe they are better than the average juror at telling when an eyewitness’s testimony is reliable -> this doesn’t mean that they are more inclined to reach a verdict favorable to this side that has eyewitness’s testimony. It can be the opposite.

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MartyMurray · Answer

Exactly, (D) can go either way.

felipebravo · Answer

This question just appeared on one of my official mocks, so ignoring is probably not an option. However, agree 100% that this looks flawed.

MartyMurray · Answer

Interesting. Maybe I was too cavalier after seeing that its source is marked "Other," but it definitely doesn't seem well constructed.

Which official mock did you see it in?

Bunuel · Answer

Can you please post a screenshot? Thank you!

Lizshadehdg · Answer

I think the reason why B is wrong is that the answer is not focusing on the mock trial while the question seeks explanation for the Suprising phenomenon

Bunuel · Answer

This question is from GMAT Prep Focus Exam 4: https://gmatclub.com/forum/download/file.php?id=81621 GMAT-Club-Forum-yrjprest.png

samarpan.g28 · Answer

I agree, I chose B because I thought it was a situation of being biased.

Madhuryaaaa · Answer

@GMATNinja Could you please help here?

I believe both B and D provide enough justification for the phenomenon here. Option B states that jurors regard witnesses presenting physical evidence as biased - which in turn provides support as to why eyewitnesses are preferred.

Further, Option B mentions "trials" which can be both Mock as well as Actual trials. I'm not 100% convinced of the reasons for choosing B over D!

Thank you!

ashutosh_73 · Answer

GMATNinja   KarishmaB 
Please help with this question. I couldn't decide between B & D.
Only thing i had against (B) is  ''many jurors''.  
Who are those ' 'many jurors''?  Are they   who understand that eyewitness testimony is generally less reliable physical evidence OR the other ones?

mecapo21 · Answer

MartyMurray   Bunuel   ashutosh_73  I ended up choosing D because the of the use of the word "generally" when talking about mock trials.
If jurors believe an eyewitness testimony is generally less reliable, they believe in other cases that it is as reliable or more reliable than physical evidence.

Given option D, we have the best explanation to why that is, these jurors believe they are probably better at at discerning reliable eyewitness testimony.

Option B was my second best choice but I ended up not going with it because it does not provide any explanation why in some cases jurors believe an eyewitness testimony is as reliable or more reliable.

siddd30 · Answer

True, i went with choice B as part of my gmat focus mock, but for some weird reason that was wrong. The answer needs to be consistent- and I feel out of the two B) is more consistent than D)

Ram_2001 · Answer

Thanks Murray, Made my day.

SergejK · Answer

I got this question also wrong and chose B. However, I am noticing a specific pattern in other questions. When we compare 2 entities in the prompt, this comparison is needed in the answer choices. Could it be the cases that because choice D also uses a comparison between eye witnesses and physical evidence, whereas B simply makes a statement why eye witnesses are not reliable, choice B cannot be correct as it fails to compare? Even if eye witnesses are considered by those jurors as biased, we don't know if those same jurors actually believe more in eye witnesses than in physical evidence. It's just an absolute statement without providing any context if one is preferred over the other.

madkilla07 · Answer

I eliminated B because it says jurors think witnesses are biased and this deepens the paradox. Why are the jurors taking their side even though they regard them as biased? Also since it is the witness presenting the physical evidence the question still remains whether the jurors view is due to the evidence or the witness testimony. Does that make sense??

Most jurors will be more inclined to reach a verdict favorable to one

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