Self-study
Advertisers are often criticized for their unscrupulous manipulation of people’s tastes and wants. █████ ██ █████████ ████████ ████ ████ ███████████ ███ █████████ ██ █████ ██ ████ ██ █████████ ███████████████ █ ██████████ ███████████ ███████ ██ ██████ ███ █████ ████ █████ █ ██████ █████████ ██ █████████████ ██ ███ ███ █████████ ████ █████████ ██ █ █████████ ███████████ ████ ███████████ ████████ █████ ██████████████ ████ ███ ████████████ ███ ████ ████ ████ ████ ███████ ████ ███████ ███████████ ██ ██████████ █████████ █████████
Sex, Violence, and Family Values
While the argument's main conclusion is technically the idea that "there is evidence…that some advertisers are motivated by moral…considerations," the important reasoning comes in how it supports its subsidiary conclusion. That reasoning follows the phenomenon-hypothesis structure:
Phenomenon: When a publication changed its image from family-friendly to sex and violence, some advertisers withdrew their ads.
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Hypothesis: The advertisers withdrew their ads because of moral considerations.
A keen focus on this argument's causal reasoning helps narrow our anticipation: we're looking for an answer choice that eliminates an alternate explanation or bolsters the plausibility of the argument's proposed explanation.
10.
Which one of the following, ██ █████ █████ ████ ██████████ ███ █████████
a
The advertisers switched █████ ██████████████ ██ █████ ██████ ███████████
(A) feels relevant because it paints a picture consistent with moral sensibility: the advertisers fled to wholesome alternatives. But the advertisers could have made that switch for purely financial reasons as well – perhaps they were selling baby formula and were just following their target market.
b
Some advertisers switched ████ ██████ ██████████ ██ █████████ ██ ███ ███████ ████████████
(B) is way off base – advertisers switching to the sex and violence magazine surely aren't doing so for moral reasons. Unless maybe they're satanists?
c
The advertisers expected █████ ███████ █████ ██ ████████ ██ ████ ██████ ████ ███ ███████ ████████████ ███ ██ ████████ ██ ████ █████████
(C) fully eliminates financial considerations as an alternate explanation for the advertisers leaving by explicating that they would make more money if they stayed. They could have gotten rich by staying with the sex and violence magazine, but they left anyway. Eliminating money as a potential cause increases the likelihood that moral considerations were the driving force behind their decisions.
d
People who generally ████ ██████ ██████████ ███ ███ ██████ ██ ███ ██████████ ████ ███████████ ██ ███ ███ █████████
(D) weakens the argument by suggesting an alternate explanation for the advertisers' departure – perhaps they were simply following their target market.
e
It was expected ████ ███ ███████ ███████████ █████ ██████ ███████████ ██ █████ ██ █ █████████ ██████ ██████
(E) weakens the argument by suggesting an alternate explanation for the advertisers' departure – perhaps they were simply following their target market.