Question 80·Medium·Inferences
At four supermarkets in one city, researchers tested whether making reusable-bag use conspicuous would prompt more shoppers to bring their own bags. At two stores, cashiers clipped a bright 'Thank you for bringing your bag' tag onto the carts of customers who arrived with reusable bags; at two comparable stores, no tags were used. Over six weeks, the researchers recorded the percentage of customers who arrived with a reusable bag. After the tags were introduced, the percentage increased at all stores but rose significantly more at the stores with tags, especially during the busiest hours when lines were longest. Because visible social cues can make a behavior seem expected, the finding suggests that _____
Which choice most logically completes the text?
For logical-completion questions, first read the sentence with the blank and identify what kind of idea is needed (cause, effect, explanation, or contrast). Then restate the key evidence from the passage in your own words and ask what that evidence shows. Test each answer against the passage: eliminate any choice that (1) introduces new, unsupported information, (2) contradicts details in the text, or (3) does not logically follow from the described results. The correct answer will be a concise, text-based inference that directly completes the author’s reasoning.
Hints
Focus on the phrase before the blank
Look carefully at the part that says, "Because visible social cues can make a behavior seem expected". Think about how that idea should connect to what the study found about shoppers bringing bags.
Summarize the experiment in your own words
Can you restate what happened at the stores with tags versus those without tags, and what change was observed in the percentage of shoppers bringing reusable bags?
Watch for answers that add new information
Eliminate any choice that introduces causes or details (like discounts, reminders, or prior attitudes) that are not mentioned in the passage.
Connect the result to shopper behavior
Ask yourself: if seeing other people visibly recognized for bringing reusable bags makes that behavior seem normal or expected, what might that lead other shoppers to do over time?
Step-by-step Explanation
Identify what the blank must explain
Focus on the final sentence: "Because visible social cues can make a behavior seem expected, the finding suggests that ____".
The blank must explain what the finding (the results of the study) shows about how visible social cues (the bright tags) affected shopper behavior.
Summarize the key result of the experiment
The study compared two kinds of stores:
- At two stores: cashiers used bright tags on carts of customers who already brought reusable bags.
- At two comparable stores: no tags were used.
Over six weeks, the percentage of customers bringing reusable bags:
- Increased at all stores.
- But it rose significantly more at the stores with tags, especially when the stores were busiest.
So, the visibility of reusable-bag use (through tags) is connected with a larger increase in bag use.
Eliminate choices that add new, unsupported causes
Ask: Does the passage mention this cause or support it?
- Choice A mentions a store discount advertised with the tags. The passage never mentions any discount.
- Choice C says cashiers reminded every customer to bring a bag later. The passage only says they clipped tags onto carts of customers who already brought bags; no reminders are mentioned.
Both A and C invent extra explanations that are not in the text, so they cannot be what the finding "suggests."
Eliminate the choice that contradicts the study design and select the supported inference
Choice B claims that customers at the tagged stores were already more environmentally concerned before the study than those at the untagged stores. But the passage describes the stores as "comparable" and focuses on what happened after introducing the tags, so B conflicts with the idea that the result is due to the visible social cue.
Choice D directly matches the pattern: because making reusable-bag use visible is a social cue that can make the behavior seem expected, it likely led some shoppers who had not previously brought bags to start bringing them. This uses only information from the passage and logically explains the larger increase at the tagged stores.
Therefore, the correct answer is: D) Making reusable-bag use visible likely encouraged some shoppers who had not previously brought bags to start doing so.