Explanation
Correct answer: B.
Choice B is the best answer because it describes data from the graph that support the researchers' conclusion that the trend of admirable-trait candidates being rated as more likable than ignoble-trait candidates held true when participants' own personality-trait scores were factored in, except among participants with high ignobility scores. The values on the x-axis represent survey participants grouped by their own ignobility scores, from low ignobility (1) to high ignobility (7), while the values on the y-axis represent the likability scores given to the political candidates. The graph shows that the full range of participants (from least to most ignoble) gave the admirable-trait candidates (represented by the line with triangles) a likability rating of approximately 70 out of 100; that is, regardless of their own level of ignobility, participants generally found admirable-trait candidates quite likable. However, the graph shows that participants varied in their views of ignoble-trait candidates (represented by the line with squares); likability ratings increased as the participants' own ignobility scores increased. Participants with low to medium-high ignobility scores (1 to 5) still rated the ignoble-trait candidates as less likable than the admirable-trait candidates, with all ratings falling below approximately 70, but participants with high ignobility scores (6 and 7) gave ratings equal to or higher than approximately 70. In other words, the previously observed trend of ranking admirable-trait candidates as more likable than ignoble-trait candidates persisted for participants with low to medium-high ignobility but not for participants with high ignobility.
Why the other choices are wrong
Choice A
Choice A is incorrect because it describes the opposite of what the graph shows. The graph shows a positive correlation between participants' ignobility scores and ignoble-trait candidates' likability ratings (as participants' ignobility scores increased, so did their ratings for ignoble-trait candidates' likability) and no correlation between ignobility scores and admirable-trait candidates' likability ratings (all participants gave admirable-trait candidates a rating of approximately 70 out of 100).
Choice C
Choice C is incorrect. The graph does show that regardless of their own ignobility scores, participants rated admirable-trait candidates as quite likable (a rating of approximately 70 out of 100). However, this doesn't support the researchers' conclusion because the conclusion has to do with how participants rated both types of candidates, not just the admirable-trait ones; moreover, the conclusion is that relative ratings were actually affected by the participants' ignobility scores.
Choice D
Choice D is incorrect. The graph does show that only participants with an ignobility score of 6 gave the same likability score to both admirable- and ignoble-trait candidates while participants with other ignobility scores gave a different rating for each candidate, but this doesn't support the researchers' conclusion. The conclusion isn't just that participants gave different ratings to the two types of candidates—it's that participants with low to medium-high ignobility scores specifically gave higher likability ratings to admirable-trait candidates than to ignoble-trait candidates and that participants with high ignobility scores didn't.