Highlight the author’s conclusions:
Passage A:
Two phenomena–habituation and rivalry–push up the norm.
When our living standards increase, we love it initially but then we adjust and it makes little difference.
how people compare to their “reference group”–those most like them–is crucial for happiness.
Passage B:
earning more makes people happier because relative prosperity makes them feel that they are successful
What scholars often portray as an ignoble tendency–wanting to have more than others–is really evidence of a desire to create value.
***
Passage A:
Intros “two phenomena” to help explain why “societies have not grown happier as they have grown richer.” Then the author states a conclusion and gives support about the “habituation” phenomenon. And the rest is the support and conclusion about the “rivalry” phenomenon.
Passage B:
Starts with background about a “theory” the author is gonna disagree with. Then the author introduces “the explanation best supported by the evidence”, and gives a whole paragraph of support. The last paragraph follows up with a conclusion that pushes back against how “scholars” view “wanting to have more than others.”
Map the wording of the answers to the reference in the prompt, or to the author’s conclusions:
15. Both passages are primarily concerned with explaining which one of the following?
Map the answers to the authors’ conclusions.
(A) the human desire to create value
This is only mentioned in passage A.
(B) the relationship between income and happiness
This relationship is brought up in both authors’ conclusions. You should be good to pick this and keep going.
(C) the biological basis…
Nope, there’s biology in passage A’s argument.
(D) the human propensity to become habituated…
This isn’t part of the argument in passage B, only A.
(E) the concept of “required income”
This concept isn’t in any of the conclusions for either passage.
(B) is the correct answer.
16. The author of passage B would be most likely to agree with which one of the following statements?
Map the answers to the author’s conclusions.
(A) …is a remnant of human beings’ primeval past.
This doesn’t map to the conclusions, and is in fact the view the author explicitly disagrees with.
(B) Very few people would be willing to accept a lower standard of living…
Not at all. The study passage B is explaining found the exact opposite.
(C) …would not make one happier if one believed that one’s wealth was due merely to luck.
The author’s conclusion is that people are happy if they “feel that they are successful”. The test expects you to recognize that’s the opposite of “due merely to luck” in this context. It’s safe to say the author would agree that “would not make one happier”.
(D) …do not increase their job satisfaction.
Be careful here, you’re only being asked what the author of passage B would agree with. They never talked about job satisfaction, so we couldn’t say they’d agree with this.
(E) The overall level of happiness…
…never comes up in passage B.
(C) is the correct answer.
17. The author of passage B would be most likely to regard the conclusion that the Solnick and Hemenway study points to the existence of a “phenomenon of rivalry” As
Map the answers to the reference in the prompt. This may be tricky since you need info from both passages. But it’s actually pretty straight forward since the author of passage B addresses the “rivalry” directly in their conclusion: it’s not “ignoble”, just “evidence of a desire to create value”.
(A) …mistaken in its interpretation of the evidence.
The author is definitely pushing back against the rivalry idea, so I’m keeping this one until I find something clearly better.
(B) flattering…
Stop. That word just doesn’t map to anything passage B says. Just because the author doesn’t think it’s “ignoble” doesn’t mean they think it’s “flattering”.
(C) …based largely on ambiguous evidence
Where do you see passage B saying the evidence is “ambiguous”? There’s nothing like that in there. It’s only a conclusion based on the evidence that the author questions. If this wants to be right, the author would be criticizing Solnick and Hemenway’s study.
(D) …more or less valid…
Nope, the author disagrees that “rivalry” is the right explanation.
(E) …strongly supported…
Not even close. Take one more look at that conclusion. The author does not think “rivalry” is well supported.
(A) is the correct answer.
18. Which one of the following pairs most accurately describes why the authors of passage A and passage B, respectively, mention the study by Solnick and Hemenway?
Map the answers to the reference in the prompt. In passage A the study is used as support. In passage B it’s only mentioned as background.
(A) to present a view that will be argued against
(B) to present a view that will be argued against
Nope, passage A used it as support.
(C) …to present a view for which additional evidence will be provided
The passage A part is totally cool, but this part is wrong twice. A “view” is always someone’s argument, but the study was only used as background. And since there’s no view, there’s no “additional evidence” for it.
(D) to provide evidence…
…to introduce the main topic to be discussed
The first part says it was support in passage A, and the second part says it was just introductory background in passage B. Check, and check.
(E) to introduce…
Nope, introductions are background. Passage A used the study to support its conclusion.
(D) is the correct answer.
19. Which one of the following pairs of terms would mostlikely be used by the authors of passage A and passage B, respectively, to describe a person who wants to make more money than his or her neighbors?
Map the answers to the reference in the prompt. Passage A doesn’t seem to have as strong a take on these people, so the first term shouldn’t be too positive or negative. But passage B defends them in its conclusion, so the second term should definitely be a good thing.
(A) insular, cosmopolitan
This is a truly ridiculous answer. Neither of these terms comes close to mapping to any wording used by the authors. If you picked this, I bet you were tight on time, aaand maybe don’t really know what these words mean.
(B) altruistic…
Too positive. Out.
(C) happy…
Too positive. Out.
(D) misguided, admirable
Don’t worry too much about the exact fit of “misguided”. It’s close enough to being neutral not to get eliminated right away. And “admirable” maps perfectly to passage B’s conclusion.
(E) lucky…
Too positive. Out.
(D) is the correct answer.
20. In arguing for their respective positions, the author of passage A and the author of passage B both do which one of the following?
Map the answers to the author’s conclusions. It’s possible this one will rely on small details, but it’s unlikely. Map to the conclusion/s whenever you’re not sure where to look.
(A) …pointing to its biological origins
Passage A doesn’t have any biology in it, and B disagrees with the biological argument.
(B) endorse a claim simply because it is widely believed.
There isn’t one word of this that maps to either passage. For the record, both authors make their own claim, they don’t “endorse” someone else’s.
(C) accept a claim for the sake of argument
That would sound like, “Let’s just suppose the critics are right…” But that doesn’t map to any statement made by either author.
(D) attempt to resolve an apparent paradox
You may need a word search to be sure, but only A talks about a “paradox”.
(E) assert their positions are supported by data
This kind of right answer shows why you want to look through the whole list before you get too bogged down researching any one answer. Once you read this it should pretty obvious its correct. Basically every author of every passage is gonna do this. And they call this ⭐⭐⭐⭐ difficulty! 😀
(E) is the correct answer.
Elliot Hirsen / LSAT coach 
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