XAT 2016 — VARC Question 5
Read the following poem and answer the question that follows:
I sought a soul in the sea
And found a coral there
Beneath the foam for me
An ocean was all laid bare.
Into my heart’s night
Along a narrow way
I groped; and lo! The light,
An infinite land of day.âââââââ
… there is a degree of convergence in the definition of trust which can be summarized as follows: Trust is a particular level of the subjective probability with which an agent assesses that another agent or group of agents will perform a particular action. When we say we trust someone or that someone is trustworthy, we implicitly mean that the probability that he will perform an action that is beneficial to us….
Which of the following statement BEST COMPLETES the passage above?
Answer & solution
- A
is high enough for us to find out if he will cheat us.
is high enough for us to consider engaging in some form of cooperation with him.
- C
is low enough for him not to engage in negative behavior against us.
- D
is high enough for us not to build defences against his possible aggression.
- E
is low enough for us to attack him.
The paragraph given elaborates on the concept of trust and says that trust is a measure with which people tend to evaluate each other's reactions. The last line elaborates on this idea by stating an example and says that by saying that we trust someone, we imply that we are rating that person's action high enough for us to respond with a cooperative intention. This is vindicated by option 2.
The beginning of the passage states that there is a degree of convergence in the definition of trust and option 1 with 'find out if he will cheat us' does not comply with this “convergence” part.
Option 3 talks in terms of third person while the passage talks about assessing others' actions and accordingly reacting.
Option 4 with “aggression” becomes too extreme on our part to judge the person based on his temper.
Option 5 with “attack” is illogical in the context of the passage.
Hence, the correct answer is option 2.