People who receive unsolicited advice from someone whose advantage wou

Question

People who receive unsolicited advice from someone whose advantage would be served if that advice is taken should regard the proffered advice with skepticism unless there is good reason to think that their interests substantially coincide with those of the advice giver in the circumstance in question.

This principle, if accepted, would justify which one of the following judgments?

(A) After learning by chance that Harriet is looking for a secure investment for her retirement savings, Floyd writes to her recommending the R&M Company as an especially secure investment. But since Floyd is the sole owner of R&M, Harrier should reject his advice out of hand and invest the savings elsewhere.

(B) While shopping for a refrigerator, Ramon is approached by a salesperson who, on the basis of her personal experience, warns him against the least expensive model. However, the salesperson’s commission increases with the price of the refrigerator sold, so Ramon should not reject the least expensive model on the salesperson’s advice alone.

(C) Mario wants to bring pastry to Yvette’s party, and when he consults her Yvette suggests that he bring his favorite chocolate fudge brownies from the local bakery. However, since Yvette also prefers those brownies to any other pastry, Mario would be wise to check with others before following her recommendation.

(D) Sara overhears Ron talking about a course he will be teaching and interrupts to recommend a textbook for his course. However, even though Sara and Ron each wrote a chapter of’ this textbook, since the book’s editor is a personal friend of Sara’s, Ron should investigate further before deciding whether it is the best textbook for his course.

(E) Mel is buying fish for soup. Joel, who owns the fish market where Mel is a regular and valued customer, suggests a much less expensive fish than the fish Mel herself prefers. Since if Mel follows Joel’s advice, Joel will make less profit on the sale than he would have otherwise, Mel should follow his recommendation.

IanStewart · Accepted Answer

This is a subtle question, because in most answer choices, someone is receiving advice to do something that would benefit the advice-giver, and in most answers the person getting the advice is viewing it with scepticism. So we need to carefully identify the answer which most closely parallels the original argument.

Answer A is wrong, because the original argument does not say such advice should be 'rejected out of hand'. It says instead that the advice should sometimes be followed, if the interests of the two people coincide.

Answer C is wrong because the argument is about "unsolicited advice", and in C, Mario is actively soliciting Yvette's opinion.

Answer D is wrong because the argument says the advice should not be viewed sceptically when the interests of the two people do coincide, which is the case with Ron and Sara.

Answer E is wrong because Joel is not giving advice that would benefit him personally, which is the type of advice the argument describes.

That leaves B as the right answer: Ramon in B is receiving unsolicited advice to do something that would benefit the salesperson, and is then treating that advice with the scepticism the argument describes.

vishu48 · Answer

Answer D is wrong because the argument says the advice should not be viewed sceptically when the interests of the two people do coincide, which is the case with Ron and Sara .

"Ron should investigate further before deciding whether it is the best textbook for his course".

Isn't this a sceptical view ?

IanStewart · Answer

Yes, it is. But if you read the principle outlined in the question, it says people should view advice with scepticism when it is not true that their "interests substantially coincide" with those of the advice-giver. The principle doesn't say anything about how to view advice when the advice-giver's and advice-receiver's interests do coincide. In the situation answer D describes, Ron and Sara share the same interest -- they co-authored the book, so they would both benefit if it were used for a course. So the principle in the stem doesn't apply to Ron and Sara's situation.

carouselambra · Answer

Hi experts  Bunuel   GMATinsight   nightblade354   VeritasKarishma

The argument clearly states   unless there is good reason to think that their interests substantially coincide with those of the advice giver  
Had a clash between B and C. Chose 'C' because of the : "However, since Yvette also prefers those brownies to any other pastry, Mario would be wise to check with others before following her recommendation."
Clearly in Option C, the interests co-incide but it is wise to check with others if they really do. What is the flaw in my thought process? Please help.

nightblade354 · Answer

Hi, let me try and break this down for you:

The standard logic is: X --> Y UNLESS Z. This translates into  Z  --> X --> Y 
 
X: Receive Unsolicited Advice
Y: Should be Skeptical 
Z: Unless there is good reason to think that their interests substantially coincide with those of the advice giver in the circumstance in question.

So what we want to see if something akin to: No coinciding of interests of your own --> Unsolicited advice --> Skeptical

(C) Mario wants to bring pastry to Yvette’s party, and when he consults her Yvette suggests that he bring his favorite chocolate fudge brownies from the local bakery. However, since Yvette also prefers those brownies to any other pastry, Mario would be wise to check with others before following her recommendation.

-- For this one, the issue is that we do AGREE with the person (the motive is the same), so the entire argument then falls apart because there is no reason to be skeptical, per our original argument.

swim2109 · Answer

\

Dont you think in B the interests coincide?

IanStewart · Answer

The salesperson benefits when the customer buys a more expensive refrigerator. There's no reason, from the information we have, to think that the customer benefits when she buys a more expensive refrigerator. Maybe she does, maybe she doesn't, depending on the quality of the fridge, but she clearly doesn't share the interest of the salesperson, who gets a commission on the sale, so their interests are not aligned.

unraveled · Answer

People who receive unsolicited advice from someone whose advantage would be served if that advice is taken should regard the proffered advice with  skepticism  unless there is good reason to think that their interests substantially  coincide  with those of the advice giver in the circumstance in question.

This principle, if accepted, would justify which one of the following judgments?

The question stem is unique to me. I chose B but had apprehensions. One reason being that i thought it is asking some form conclusion that can be advanced based on the structure of passage. Two, the way the options are given, most importantly if someone(as i) doesn't understands them properly.

Two pillars of the passage are 'skepticism' and 'coincide'.

(A) After learning by chance that Harriet is looking for a secure investment for her retirement savings, Floyd writes to her recommending the R&M Company as an especially secure investment. But since Floyd is the sole owner of R&M, Harrier  should reject  his advice out of hand and invest the savings elsewhere. - WRONG. The BIG word was 'reject'. Why it says reject when passage only refers about being skeptical.

(B) While shopping for a refrigerator, Ramon is approached by a salesperson who, on the basis of her personal experience, warns him against the least expensive model. However, the salesperson’s commission increases with the price of the refrigerator sold, so Ramon should not reject the least expensive model on the salesperson’s advice alone. - CORRECT. Only this makes sense among them all. It is parallel in build-up to the passage's. Both pillars secured.

(C) Mario wants to bring pastry to Yvette’s party, and when he consults her Yvette suggests that  he bring his favorite chocolate fudge brownies  from the local bakery. However, since Yvette also prefers those brownies to any other pastry, Mario would be wise to check with others before following her recommendation. - WRONG. There's no skepticism aspect in this option.

(D) Sara overhears Ron talking about a course he will be teaching and interrupts to recommend a textbook for his course. However, even though Sara and Ron each wrote a chapter of’ this textbook, since the book’s editor is a personal friend of Sara’s, Ron  should investigate further before deciding  whether it is the best textbook for his course. - WRONG. This presents an opposite logic on the 'skepticism' pillar. Even though Ron and Sara's interests coincide, why Ron should investigate(being skeptical).

(E) Mel is buying fish for soup. Joel, who owns the fish market where Mel is a regular and valued customer, suggests a much less expensive fish than the fish Mel herself prefers.  Since if Mel follows Joel’s advice, Joel will make less profit on the sale than he would have otherwise , Mel should follow his recommendation. - WRONG. Has an opposing logic on the 'coincide' pillar. Nonetheless, it made a wreck out of the passage.

Answer B.

arushi118 · Answer

But Sara has a friend who actually had a much bigger part in the book. So interest of Sara overpowers the interest of Ron. So, he should investigate -> I used this reasoning to arrive at " D is correct". Can you please guide as to where I am going wrong?

IanStewart · Answer

I think D is the second-best answer here. The question, reading D, is whether Ron and Sara's interests "substantially coincide" (they need not have identical interests). And it appears their interests do meaningfully coincide -- they both wrote part of the book, and would both presumably profit from sales of the book. Sara does, perhaps, have another reason to promote the book, because her friend was its editor, but it's hard to judge from the information how important that interest is.

The bigger problem with answer D is that answer B is present among the choices, and answer B is unambiguously a good answer to the question, whereas we would need to assume some things to justify D.

People who receive unsolicited advice from someone whose advantage wou

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