# PTE Reading FIB #31: Cognitive Biases in...

Reading: Fill in the Blanks #31 - Level 3 - Feeds Reading

> In the text below some words are missing. Drag word from the box below to the appropriate place in the text. To undo an answer choice, drag the word back to the box below the text.

Very intelligent people often make the ____ of assuming that other people's minds work in the same way as theirs do. Economists, for example, create mathematically-based models on the ____ that people act rationally as far as their own economic ____ are concerned. You don't have to look much further than family and friends to see how off the ____ this idea is. The problem with a lot of such scientifically-based theories is that they are not friendly to facts that don't ____ the case.

## Answer

Very intelligent people often make the **mistake** of assuming that other people's minds work in the same way as theirs do. Economists, for example, create mathematically-based models on the **notion** that people act rationally as far as their own economic **interests** are concerned. You don't have to look much further than family and friends to see how off the **mark** this idea is. The problem with a lot of such scientifically-based theories is that they are not friendly to facts that don't **fit** the case.

## Explanation

Blank 1 follows "make the," and the collocation "make the mistake of" fits the sentence. The word "make" in the bank is a trap, since "make" already comes before the gap. Blank 4 completes the idiom "off the mark," meaning wrong. Blank 5 follows "don't," so you need a verb. "Fit the case" means match the theory.

## Hints

- Focus on the surrounding words to identify if you need a noun to complete a phrase or a verb to describe an action.
- Consider the author's skeptical perspective on how theoretical models often fail to account for real-world human behavior.

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