A number of college students were recruited by the psychology

Question

A number of college students were recruited by the psychology department to participate in a paid, unspecified experiment, which turned out to be a menial, monotonous counting exercise. Unbeknownst to the students, half of the participants were paid a meager rate for their participation, while half received a generous rate. After the counting exercise was complete, each student was asked questions on his or her perception of the counting exercise. Surprisingly, the participants who had been paid less reported higher levels of enjoyment in completing the exercise than the higher-paid participants did.

Which of the following hypotheses, if true, best accounts for the findings of the experiment?

A. In both groups, the portion of the brain activated by counting was disrupted by the exercise and distorted perceptions of financial quantities.

B. Those who counted faster in the experiment experienced more satisfaction than those who counted more slowly.

C. The participants who were paid less had more motivation, conscious or unconscious, to justify their participation in the menial exercise.

D. The energy expenditure of counting in the human mind was associated with the cognitive load of worrying about a quantity of money.

E. Counting is most capably performed by accountants, whose level of satisfaction is highest while they are at work.

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onlyPlanA · Answer

IMO, the answer is B.

Since the students had no information about the amount of payment each of them received, options A, C and D are out for me.
Option E is simply too generalized. So, only B states what could be the reason behind the findings.

Vivek1707 · Answer

A. This affects both groups equally, so it doesn't explain why the lower-paid group enjoyed the task more
B. This links speed to satisfaction, not pay to satisfaction.
C. Correct People who were paid less had more reason to convince themselves the task was worthwhile. That makes it more likely they'd report enjoying it.
D. This is too speculative. It never explains why lower pay would lead to more enjoyment.
E. Accountants have nothing to do with this experiment. Completely off-topic.

SS990 · Answer

A. In both groups, the portion of the brain activated by counting was disrupted by the exercise and distorted perceptions of financial quantities. - This is nothing to do with y one group enjoyed more than the other

B. Those who counted faster in the experiment experienced more satisfaction than those who counted more slowly. - but we dont know which group counted faster or slower, so out of scope

C. The participants who were paid less had more motivation, conscious or unconscious, to justify their participation in the menial exercise. - this says how the lesser paid reasoned their pay to the exercise and achieved satisfaction - so keep
 
D. The energy expenditure of counting in the human mind was associated with the cognitive load of worrying about a quantity of money. - Energy is not mentioned anywhere in the context of the passage, out of scope

E. Counting is most capably performed by accountants, whose level of satisfaction is highest while they are at work.- accountants are not in context, out of scope choice

Poonam0410 · Answer

ans is C,
 A.  Brain activity was disrupted and distorted perceptions of money.
 ❌ Doesn't explain why the  low-paid group specifically  reported greater enjoyment.
 B.  Faster counters experienced more satisfaction.
 ❌ Could explain satisfaction generally, but doesn't explain the difference between  low-paid and high-paid groups .
 C.  Low-paid participants had more motivation to justify their participation.
 ✅  Exactly explains the surprising finding. 
 D.  Counting required mental energy associated with worrying about money.
 ❌ Doesn't explain why low-paid people would therefore report  more enjoyment .
 E.  Accountants enjoy counting.
 ❌ Irrelevant—the participants were college students, not necessarily accountants.

Minka99 · Answer

The task is to select the hypothesis which best accounts for the  findings  of the experiment. What are the findings? The student participants that were paid  less money , reported feeling  more enjoyment in completing the exercise  that those student participants who were paid more money.
I believe  C ) to be correct because it delivers a direct reasoning as to why that might have been the case. My rationale is that since they, given the insignificant payment, the subconscious mind is looking for another stimuli to experience satisfaction, and thus, the participant develops a heightened sense of motivation to find this joy elsewhere. 
A) this answer does not mention any variance between the two groups of participants, therefore, it does not add any information we need.
B) Nowhere in the passage is the speed of counting mentioned. This is irrelevant.
D) This DOES showcase a difference between the two groups, but actually weakens the finding. If counting made participants stress about money, the lesser paid group would likely worry more and consequently, experience less joy during the experiment.
E) Like B) accountants are not mentioned in the passage, and are thus not relevant for our answer.
E)

counterclash1 · Answer

Correct Answer : C

Deconstructing the Paradox
 
 The Setup:  College students performed a menial, monotonous counting exercise.
 The Variable:  Group A received meager pay; Group B received generous pay.
 The Surprising Finding:  Group A (paid less) reported higher enjoyment than Group B (paid more).
 What We Need : A logical reason why receiving less money for a boring task causes people to report higher enjoyment of the task itself.

Option Analysis

(A) Incorrect: If brain disruption affected financial perceptions equally "in both groups," it fails to explain the direct difference in reported enjoyment between low-pay and high-pay participants.
(B) Incorrect: The passage makes no mention of counting speed differences between the low-paid and high-paid groups.
 (C) CORRECT:  Explains the psychological mechanism (cognitive dissonance). High-paid participants could easily justify doing a boring task:  "I did it for the money."  Low-paid participants lacked that financial justification, so to resolve the internal conflict of wasting time on a menial task for almost nothing, they unconsciously convinced themselves:  "I must have done it because I actually enjoyed the exercise." 
(D) Incorrect: Uses pseudo-scientific filler ("energy expenditure", "cognitive load") that fails to connect money amounts to task enjoyment levels.
(E) Incorrect: Out of scope. The participants were college students, not accountants.

Bunuel · Answer

Official Explanation

Reading the question: we read about the menial, monotonous counting exercise and learn that the participants who were paid less liked it more. How could this be possible? A prediction doesn't spring to mind. The key is that the correct answer will need to link 1) getting paid less with 2) higher levels of enjoyment. And it must do so without fighting any of the facts on the table.

Applying the filter: what answer choices do this? Most answer choices fail to connect to the first of the two parts, lower pay.In fact, (C) is the only answer choice that connects to points 1) and 2). Does it explain this situation? Yes: it gives a reason for unpaid individuals to state higher levels of enjoyment--exactly what we were looking for.

The correct answer is (C).

A number of college students were recruited by the psychology

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A number of college students were recruited by the psychology