Q7 - Of all the photographs taken

[skapur777]

This is another question that I got correct just because I eliminated the other ones and not because I actually understood the correct answer. For some reason I found this question enjoyable and interesting. What exactly is John's reasoning that it was the only photograph that resembles him? Is it because it is a photo of someone taking a photo of a person in the mirror who resembles John (because it is John?)?

No idea what the hell they are on about here! But the other choices seem to make no sense and be similar to other choices that I arrived at D and moved on.

[yjj-1010]

This question drives me crazy and I really cannot figure it out.. Please tell me how to crack this question

[bbirdwell]

Let's take a look. First, we'll isolate the two specific points that seem to contradict:

1. friends say photo looks nothing like John
2. John says it's the only photo that looks like him

We're looking for a choice that sort of validates both sides -- gives them each a reason to be true.

(A) Does nothing to explain why John and his friends have different opinions.

(B) Same as (A). So what? Does John always see himself in a flash? Probly not

(C) May explain why friends don't think it looks like him (they see in color), but does nothing to say why John thinks it does look like him.

(D) Yes! When John looks at his face in a mirror, he sees his mirror image (just like the rest of us). That's why it's the *only* photo that he thinks actually looks like him. When his friends look at him, this is not what they see -- they see him as he is, without the reversal of a mirror. That's why they don't like the photo.

Next time you look in a mirror, raise your right arm. In the mirror image, it will appear to be your left. This is not how the rest of the world sees you!
[if you want to see what you look like to your friends, you must look through two mirrors, or get a special "double mirror"]

Fun question, eh?

[skapur777]

I'm still confused. Why would John think it's the ONLY picture that looks like him? And even though his friends don't see him with the reversal of the mirror, why would they think it looks NOTHING like him?

Are his friends complete idiots?

[bbirdwell]

Maybe. All we're looking for is a plausible explanation for why that one photo stands out to John and also to his friends, for opposite reasons.

[kimhyungjoon]

Stem: this is an "explain a disagreement" question, which means the stimulus will contain two competing viewpoints about some issue that one of the answer choices will explain. The answer choice will apply to both viewpoints but in opposite ways.

Stimulus
Friends: One picture did not look like John
John: That picture is the only one that looks like me

Prephrase
The only thing that comes to mind is, clearly, John's physical self-image must be vastly different from his friends' image of him.

Answer choices
A: This is about what John was wearing, not John himself.
B: Why would flash cause a divergent reaction between John and his friends?
C: Same logic as B
D: The image one sees in the mirror is seen mostly by the person himself, and should evoke a different reaction from John versus his friends or anybody else. But this answer choice appears outdated in an age of mirror selfies + Instagram. If this was in the year 2017, all of John's friends may have been familiar with John's mirror selfie as shared repeatedly on some social networking site.
E: Not sure how individual picture can evoke a different reaction.