Practice Passage Test - 5 | Practice Passages for MCAT PDF Download

Businesspeople and politicians both face criticisms regarding their advertising practices. While businesspeople are often accused of taking advantage of consumers through dishonest advertising that appeals to emotions, politicians are known to promote themselves and their policies using biased and emotional tactics. Both groups deviate from honest practices when they believe the benefits outweigh the costs. The crucial question is: who is more likely to mislead customers with emotional statements, unrealistic promises, and biased information - businesspeople or politicians?

When it comes to swaying individuals with dishonesty and emotion, people are generally less influenced by business advertisements compared to political ads for two reasons. First, businesspeople target individuals who are typically spending their own money, while politicians try to persuade people who are deciding how to spend other people's money. The motivation to carefully evaluate claims about costs and benefits before making a decision is stronger when one bears all the costs, as opposed to when others bear most of the costs.

The second reason misleading claims are less effective in promoting commercial products than political products is due to the decisive impact of consumer choices. When individuals purchase a product, they receive the product they chose and take responsibility for their decision. In contrast, the probability of an individual voter's choice being decisive in an election is quite low, especially in state and federal elections or most local elections. Given the minimal chance of any one person's vote determining the outcome, voters are less concerned about the accuracy of political claims being made.

One might assume that professors would be more honest than businesspeople and politicians when promoting the value of their teaching and research. However, undergraduate students often show indifference to professors' words, allowing professors greater leeway to benefit from exaggerated and deceptive claims.

While professors have more restraint when publishing due to peer evaluation of their claims, their concern for truthfulness may not be as high as expected. Professors seeking publication and recognition are often more interested in whether the works they cite are accepted as correct by academics with similar views, rather than solely focusing on their accuracy.