Psychologists observing a shopping mall parking lot found that, on average, drivers spent 39 seconds leaving a parkin...

Irina on September 16, 2019

@Samir-Ghani,

The argument concludes that the drivers feel possessive of their parking spaces, and the possessiveness increases in reaction to indications that another driver wants the space based on the evidence that it takes the longest to leave a parking spot when someone is honking impatiently.

Answer choice A tells us that the more pressure drivers feel because others are waiting for them, the less quickly they are able to perform maneuvers with their car, hence the reason for a longer time it takes to leave the parking space when someone is honking is because it puts more pressure on the driver not because one feels possessive of their parking spot. If you are a driver, you can probably relate that is is always harder to parallel park when the spot is in the middle of a busy street and you are blocking the traffic. Since this fact provides an alternative explanation for the evidence cited in support of the conclusion, it weakens the argument.

Let me know if this makes sense and if you have any further questions.

tomgbean on November 6, 2019

Does C not also provide an alternative cause?

shunhe on December 31, 2019

Hi @tomgbean,

(C) can't fully explain the results of the study, and so can't be correct. Let's assume that (C) is true. If so, it still doesn't explain the discrepancy between the care quietly waiting and the car honking impatiently, since in both those cases, another car is waiting to enter the nearby space. Something that would undermine the argument has to explain the honking between the 51 second and the 39 second scenarios, since that is the only difference between the two. Hope this helps.