A graph question about a claim tests whether you can use numbers to support every part of that claim. Start with the claim, and ask whether it concerns a score or a change between settings. Then read the title, axes, and key so you know which bars to compare. To compare effects, measure the gap within each group and check every group the claim covers. True numbers can still miss the claim.
Hints
- Hint 1
Look at what the claim means by peer effect. Which scores would you compare to measure what changes when peers watch?
- Hint 2
Find the difference between the two bars at each age. How do those differences change across the full age range?
Step-by-step
Compare the peer effect at every age
Step 1Identify what the peer effect measures
Participants completed the same computerized decision-making task in two settings, which lets us measure what changes when peers watch. What does the claim’s peer effect on risk-taking mean? It’s the increase over the alone score at the same age. A high peer score can include risk-taking that also happens alone, so comparing peer scores on their own won’t show the size of the effect.
- Step 2
Calculate the increase at each age
The axes show age and risk-taking index, and the key labels the two bars at each age as alone and peers watching. How much does the score increase within each pair? The age-16 increase is 62 − 34 = 28, while the other increases are 5 at age 10, 16 at age 13, 7 at age 19, and 2 at age 22. The effect rises to age 16 and then falls, supporting strongest in mid-adolescence rather than a steady increase with age.
- Step 3
Choose the full comparison
Which choice compares the effects across the full age range? The option about the risk-taking score in the peer condition compares scores without the alone scores, while larger at age 13 leaves out age 16, where the effect is strongest. The option about the oldest age shown checks only one other age. The choice about the increase from the alone condition to the peer condition compares the age-16 increase with every other age’s increase, so it shows the effect is strongest in mid-adolescence. Choice A.