Reading Comprehension · Social Science
PrepTest 113 · Section 1 · Passage 4
Questions 22–26
Before you start
Open PrepTest 113, Section 1 in your official copy from LSAC and read the passage for Questions 22–26, using the structure guide below. The passage is not reprinted here.
Structure guide
- P1: introduces new research that explains a puzzling kind of choice and states its key finding
- P2: describes the older view, poses a question to the reader, shows a case where the older view fits, then gives new findings that the older view misses
- P3: applies the findings to a different field, gives one example, and ends with the author's recommendation
Step 2 · The kid passage
Priya's Sticker Study
Priya studies how kids at Maple School make choices, to learn why classes make bets that look silly on paper. What a choice is worth and how it feels often differ. Mostly, the fear of losing something pushes harder than the hope of getting the same thing. So kids gamble more to protect what they own than to grab something new.
The old playground wisdom said smart kids play it safe, taking a risk only when the reward is big enough to pay them back for the danger. Try it: on a coin flip, you might lose 10 stickers. How many would you need to win to say yes? Losing stings far more than winning feels good, so kids demand a lot; in Priya's survey they wanted more than 30. Here the old wisdom holds up. But Priya also found that a kid facing a sure loss will often flip for a chance of an even bigger loss, as long as there is a small hope, however slim, of losing nothing.
This matters for Field Day. Classes usually avoid bold moves. Yet a class will stake nearly everything to win back something it thinks was snatched from it. Last spring Room 5 and Room 6 each believed the Golden Sneaker, a plastic trophy worth about two dollars, had been snatched by the other, so each bet all its Field Day points to get it back. Priya's advice: each class should grasp what the other feels is at stake.
Step 4 · The courtroom tale
The Case of the Lucky Bowling Pin
Two bowling clubs sued each other over one old wooden pin. "It is worth four dollars," the judge sighed. "You have each spent three thousand on this case." Mr. Whitfield stood and snapped his suspenders. "Your Honor, nobody here is doing math. Each club believes the pin was taken from it. People will risk a lot to win back what they think they lost, far more than to win something new." The other lawyer frowned. "Then why did my clients refuse a fair coin-toss bet last year, with a decent prize?" Whitfield smiled. "Because that was a chance to gain, and folks play it safe there. The trick, Your Honor, is to see what each side feels is at stake." The judge ordered both clubs to talk it out.