Self-study
Editorial: Many critics of consumerism insist that advertising persuades people that they need certain consumer goods when they merely desire them. ████████ ████ ██████████ █████ ██ █ █████ ████████████ ████ ███████ █████ ███ ██████ ██ █████ ██ ██ █████ ██████████ ██ █████████ ███████ █████████ ██ ██████ █████████ ██ ███████ ██ ██ █████████ ██ █████ ██████████
Summarize Argument: Counter-Position
Critics complain that advertising tricks people into confusing wants with needs, but this complaint relies on making the difficult distinction between wants and needs. In reality, it can be nearly impossible to determine whether something is merely a want or a genuine need.
Identify Conclusion
Critics' complaints about advertising require making a distinction between wants and needs, which is almost impossible.
10.
Which one of the following ████ ██████████ █████████ ███ ██████████ █████ ██ ███ ███████████ █████████
a
The claim that ███████████ █████████ ██████ ████ ████ ████ ██████ ████ ████ ██████ ████ █████ ██ █ █████ ████████████
This is a good summary of the editorial’s argument. The editorial contends that the claim made by critics of consumerism—that advertising tricks people into confusing wants with needs—“rests on a fuzzy distinction” because wants and needs are almost impossible to distinguish.
b
Many critics of ███████████ ██████ ████ ███████████ ████████ ██ ████ ████████ ███████ ██ ███████████ ███████ █████ ███ ██████
This sentence provides context for the stimulus. It introduces the position that advertising causes confusion between wants and needs, setting the stage for the editorial’s counterargument that distinguishing between wants and needs is not as clear-cut as critics suggest.
c
There is nothing █████ ████ ███████████ ████ █████ ██ ████████ ██████ ████ ████ ████ ███████ ████████ ██████
The editorial does not make this argument because the editorial does not judge advertising itself. Instead, the editorial critiques the reasoning of consumerism’s critics, particularly the critics’ assumption that it is possible to distinguish between wants and needs clearly.
d
Many critics of ███████████ ████ ██ ███████ ████ ███████ ██████ ███ █████████ ██ █████ ██████████
This is not a flaw in the critics’ reasoning that the editorial addresses. The editorial challenges the assumption that it is possible to clearly distinguish between wants and needs, not whether critics recognize the existence of needs or things “essential to human happiness.”
e
Critics of consumerism █████ ███ █████ ████████████ ██ ███████ █████ ███████
The stimulus only offers one example of critics using fuzzy distinctions, so we cannot conclude that critics “often” do this. Since the stimulus doesn’t fully support this claim, it cannot be the main conclusion.