Summary
The purpose of journalism is to inform people about things that are relevant to their choices. Newspapers and TV news programs often have sensationalistic gossip, which isn’t relevant to people.
Strongly Supported Conclusions
The blank should be filled with a statement about the sensationalistic gossip in newspapers and TV news programs. Since we know that this gossip isn’t relevant to people, and we know that the purpose of journalism is to provide relevant information, we can conclude that sensationalistic gossip doesn’t serve journalism’s purpose.
A
is at least sometimes included for nonjournalistic reasons
Strongly supported. The gossip is about people who aren’t relevant to news readers/watchers. So, it doesn’t serve journalism’s purpose. This is evidence that the gossip is included in newspapers and TV news programs for some other reason besides serving journalism’s purpose.
B
prevents those news media from achieving their purpose
Unsupported. Most other news stories might serve journalism’s purpose. There’s no evidence that the inclusion of some gossip stories is a significant part of news programs or otherwise represents a significant part of what news media does.
C
is more relevant to people’s lives now than it used to be
Unsupported. The stimulus never compares the present to the past. We have no basis to reach a conclusion about whether gossip is more relevant now compared to the past.
D
should not be thought of as a way of keeping an audience entertained
Unsupported. The gossip might be included to keep the audience entertained. There’s nothing in the stimulus suggesting the gossip doesn’t entertain audiences.
E
is of no value to people who are interested in journalism
Unsupported. We don’t know what people who are interested in journalism find valuable. Maybe gossip stories are valuable to read in journalism classes to give students a better understanding of the media industry and the competitive pressures that lead to gossip stories.
Summary
Some politicians who strongly supported free trade among Canada, the United States, and Mexico now refuse to publicly support the idea that free trade should be extended to other Latin American countries.
Notable Valid Inferences
Not all politicians who supported free trade among Canada, the United States, and Mexico support the idea that free trade should be extended to other Latin American countries.
A
Some of the politicians who now publicly support extending free trade to other Latin American countries did not support free trade among Canada, the United States, and Mexico.
Could be false. The stimulus is restricted to politicians who do not support extending free trade to other Latin American countries. We do not have any information about politicians who do support this idea.
B
Not all politicians who now publicly support extending free trade to other Latin American countries strongly supported free trade among Canada, the United States, and Mexico.
Could be false. The stimulus is restricted to politicians who do not support extending free trade to other Latin American countries. We do not have any information about politicians who do support this idea.
C
Some of the politicians who strongly supported free trade among Canada, the United States, and Mexico have changed their position on free trade.
Could be false. We don’t have any information to infer whether these politicians have changed their position. It is possible that these politicians have never supported the idea of extending free trade to Latin American countries.
D
Not all politicians who strongly supported free trade among Canada, the United States, and Mexico now publicly support extending free trade to other Latin American countries.
Must be true. “Not all politicians” is equivalent to claiming that some politicians do not.
E
Some of the politicians who strongly supported free trade among Canada, the United States, and Mexico now publicly oppose extending free trade to other Latin American countries.
Could be false. Refusing to publicly support an idea is not equivalent to publicly opposing an idea.
Summarize Argument
The author concludes that ginkgo did not directly enhance the mice’s memories. This is because ginkgo lowers stress levels, and memory is enhanced when very high stress levels are reduced.
Notable Assumptions
The author assumes that the mice in the experiment had very high stress levels. If this wasn’t the case, then the mice wouldn’t have benefited from the memory enhancement that stress reduction brings. The author also assumes that the two groups of mice who navigated the maze were in all respects equal. Some quirk in one of the groups could weaken the connection between ginkgo and memory.
A
The doses of ginkgo in the diet of the mice in the experiment were significantly higher than the doses that have been shown to reduce stress in mice.
If the doses were higher, then the mice surely would’ve gotten the stress-reducing benefits of ginkgo. In turn, this would’ve helped their recall.
B
Neither the mice who received the ginkgo nor the other mice in the experiment exhibited physiological signs of higher-than-normal stress.
Since none of the mice had higher-than-normal stress levels, the stress-relieving effects of ginkgo wouldn’t have improved recall. According to the author, those effects happen when stress levels are high.
C
Some chemical substances that reduce stress in mice also at least temporarily impair their memory.
Is ginkgo one of those substances? We don’t know.
D
Scientists have not yet determined which substances in ginkgo are responsible for reducing stress in mice.
We don’t care which substance in ginkgo is responsible for reducing stress. We simply care about the effects ginkgo has on mice.
E
The mice who received the ginkgo took just as long as the other mice to learn to navigate the maze.
We don’t care how long it took them to learn. We’re concerned with memory, so we care about how well they navigated the maze the second time.
"Surprising" Phenomenon
Why did Styron hammers outsell Maxlast hammers at the hardware store last week, even though both brands usually sell equally, and Maxlast hammers were on sale and displayed at the store entrance last week, while Styron hammers stayed at their regular spot and price?
Objective
The correct answer will be a hypothesis that explains a key difference in customers’ interest in the hammer brands before and after last week’s changes. It must either result in customers being more likely to buy Styron hammers, or less likely to buy Maxlast hammers.
A
For the first several seconds after shoppers enter a store, they do not take detailed notice of the store’s merchandise.
This explains the shift in customer interest in the hammer brands after last week's changes. Since customers don’t pay close attention in the first few seconds after entering a store, they were less likely to notice the Maxlast hammers displayed at the entrance.
B
Most of the hardware store’s customers are attracted by quality and service rather than low prices.
Just because customers prefer quality over low prices doesn’t mean they see lower-priced items as lower quality. Also, we don’t know which hammer brand is higher quality, or if they’re the same quality. So, we still can’t explain why Styron hammers outsold Maxlast last week.
C
Customers who bought the Maxlast hammers last week commonly mentioned the sale as their reason for buying a hammer at that time.
This makes the sale results even more surprising. If some customers bought Maxlast hammers because of the sale, why didn’t more customers do the same? We still don’t know why Styron hammers outsold Maxlast hammers during the week of the Maxlast sale.
D
The hardware store circulated flyers that publicized the sale prices on Maxlast hammers.
Again, this makes the sale results even more surprising. If the hardware store advertised the Maxlast sale, why did Styron hammers still outsell Maxlast hammers?
E
In general, a single item that is on sale will not motivate shoppers to make a special trip to a store.
Even if shoppers didn’t make a special trip to the hardware store to buy the discounted Maxlast hammers, it’s still surprising that Styron outsold Maxlast, especially because both brands usually sell equally.