Question

Which of the following, if true, would most weaken the author’s arguments?

• A. Behavioural traits that helped us in the days when we were hunter-gatherers continue to be present in modern-day humans.
• B. Behavioural traits that helped us in the days when we were hunter-gatherers are no longer found in modern-day humans.
• C. The negativity bias makes us more likely to be affected by depressing or sad news.
• D. We have certain behavioural characteristics that affect how we perceive and are affected by sad news.
• A. Contemporary media continuously exposes us to exciting news and information, which may be just like the things we usually experience in our lives.
• B. Contemporary media continuously exposes us to exciting news and information, which may be very unlike the kinds of things we usually encounter in our lives.
• C. Contemporary media continuously exposes us to boring news and information, which may be very unlike the kinds of things we usually encounter in our lives.
• D. Contemporary media continuously exposes us to boring news and information, which may be just like the things we usually experience in our lives.
• A. Constantly being exposed to negative news gives us a warped perspective of the world.
• B. In our hunting and gathering days, it was better for us to be unnecessarily scared rather than being scared too little.
• C. The news modern media exposes us to is just like our day-to-day experiences.
• D. The news modern media exposes us to is very different from our day-to-day experiences.
• A. We are more likely to notice a story about a billionaire donating their money to charity than a story about an airplane crash.
• B. We are more likely to be attracted to a news article about a rise in life expectancy in our country than a news article about a murder in our city.
• C. We are more likely to notice a story about increasing pollution levels than a story about improving educational levels in schools.
• D. We are more likely to form our opinion of the world based on the information available to us rather than information we do not have access to.
• A. Ensuring that we do not seek out news sources and stories that we may not otherwise have been exposed to.
• B. Following only one news source and limiting our perspective of the world to that one source.
• C. Avoiding all positive news stories, and instead only reading news stories about disasters and tragedies.
• D. Ensuring that we seek out news sources and stories that we may not otherwise have been exposed to.
• A. Our ideas about the world are shaped by the information we are exposed to.
• B. Modern media is concerned only with making massive profits
• C. Modern journalists generate news stories much faster than in the old days.
• D. Humans once lived as hunter-gatherers.

Answer 1

The Correct Option is B

The correct option is (B): Behavioural traits that helped us in the days when we were hunter-gatherers are no longer found in modern-day humans.

Answer 2

The author's argument depends on a key premise: that a behavioural trait from our hunter-gatherer past, negativity bias, still operates in modern humans and explains why we are drawn to bad news. A weaken option should attack that premise directly. Let's check each option.

1. Option A: Says hunter-gatherer traits continue to be present in modern humans. This directly confirms the author's premise rather than attacking it, so it supports the argument instead of weakening it.
2. Option B: Says hunter-gatherer traits are no longer found in modern-day humans. If the very traits the author is relying on to explain our reaction to news no longer exist in us, the whole explanation collapses; there is nothing left to be "biased" by. This directly attacks the foundation of the author's argument.
3. Option C: Says negativity bias makes us more likely to be affected by sad news. This is essentially restating part of what the author already claims, so it reinforces rather than weakens the argument.
4. Option D: Says we have behavioural characteristics that affect how we perceive and are affected by sad news. This is a general statement that is consistent with, and supportive of, the author's overall claim about negativity bias, not a challenge to it.

Options A, C, and D all confirm or restate pieces of the author's own argument. Option B is the only option that removes the very trait the author's explanation depends on, which is what weakens the argument.

Therefore, the correct answer is Option B.

Answer 3

The correct option is (B): Contemporary media continuously exposes us to exciting news and information, which may be very unlike the kinds of things we usually encounter in our lives..

Answer 4

The passage makes two separate claims about modern media: the news we are fed is sensational and extreme (aircraft disasters, child snatchers, beheadings), and most people's actual lives are, in the author's words, "nice, but boring" and predictable. A correct option needs to get both the "type of news" claim and the "how it compares to real life" claim right.

1. Option A: Correctly calls the news "exciting" but then says it is similar to what we usually experience. Since the author explicitly contrasts sensational news with boring, predictable everyday life, this second part is inconsistent with the passage.
2. Option B: Correctly calls the news "exciting" and says it is very unlike what we usually encounter in our lives. Both parts match the passage: the news is sensational by design, and real life is described as boring and predictable, so the two are indeed very different from each other.
3. Option C: Gets the first part wrong by calling the news "boring." The whole point of the passage is that media has become more sensational and extreme, not boring, to hold attention and sell ads.
4. Option D: Gets the first part wrong in the same way as Option C, calling the news boring, and then compounds it by saying this boring news is similar to daily life, which misreads both halves of the author's contrast.

Options C and D mischaracterise the news itself as boring, and Option A gets the news right but wrongly claims it resembles ordinary life. Option B is the only option that correctly captures both that the news is exciting and that it does not resemble most people's actual, mundane lives.

Therefore, the correct answer is Option B.

Answer 5

The correct option is (D): The news modern media exposes us to is very different from our day-to-day experiences.

Answer 6

This question deliberately narrows the basis for the answer to just one specific statement, that we'd prefer nice neighbours with boring lives, combined with the author's broader point about what news modern media serves us. So the correct option has to follow specifically from "our lives are boring" versus "the news is not boring," not from other parts of the passage such as hunter-gatherer instincts or general negativity bias.

1. Option A: Talks about negative news giving us a warped perspective of the world. This is a real point in the passage, but it comes from the discussion of negativity and availability bias, not from the specific "boring neighbours" statement the question restricts us to.
2. Option B: Talks about hunter-gatherer instincts favouring excess fear. This also belongs to a different part of the passage, the origin of negativity bias, and has nothing to do with the "boring lives" statement in question.
3. Option C: Claims the news is just like our day-to-day experiences. If our lives are genuinely boring, as the quoted statement says, and the news we are fed is designed to be sensational because "boring" does not sell ads, then the news cannot be just like our daily lives; this option contradicts the very statement the question is built around.
4. Option D: Claims the news is very different from our day-to-day experiences. This follows directly from combining "our lives are boring" with the passage's separate point that sensational, clickbait-style news is what actually gets served to us; boring lives and exciting news are, by definition, different from each other.

Options A and B pull in ideas from a different part of the passage rather than the specific statement the question asks about, and Option C directly contradicts that statement. Option D is the only conclusion that follows strictly from the "boring lives" statement combined with the nature of the news described.

Therefore, the correct answer is Option D.

Answer 7

The correct option is (C): We are more likely to notice a story about increasing pollution levels than a story about improving educational levels in schools.

Answer 8

Negativity bias, as the author defines it, means we are more attuned to bad news than to good news. A conclusion supported by this bias should show a negative story being noticed or engaged with more than a comparable positive one. Let's check each option against that specific pattern.

1. Option A: Says a billionaire's charity donation (a positive story) is more likely to be noticed than a plane crash (a negative story). This has the pattern backwards; negativity bias predicts the crash would draw more attention, not the donation.
2. Option B: Says rising life expectancy (positive) is more attractive than a murder story (negative). This is also backwards for the same reason; negativity bias would predict the murder story pulls in more attention, not the life expectancy statistic.
3. Option C: Says a story about increasing pollution (negative) is more likely to be noticed than a story about improving education levels (positive). This is exactly the pattern negativity bias predicts: the bad news outcompetes the good news for attention, which is precisely the tendency the author describes.
4. Option D: Says we form opinions based on information we have rather than information we lack. This is actually describing availability bias, forming judgements from what is easy to recall, not negativity bias specifically. Since the question asks what negativity bias supports, this option answers a different question.

Options A and B both reverse the direction negativity bias predicts, and Option D describes a different bias altogether. Option C is the only option where a negative story wins out over a comparable positive one, matching negativity bias directly.

Therefore, the correct answer is Option C.

Answer 9

The correct option is (D): Ensuring that we seek out news sources and stories that we may not otherwise have been exposed to.

Answer 10

Availability bias comes from judging how common something is based on how easily examples come to mind, which in turn depends on what stories we happen to be exposed to. Countering it means widening that exposure so our sense of the world is not shaped by a narrow, repeated set of stories. Let's check each option against that goal.

1. Option A: Says we should ensure we do not seek out news we would not otherwise be exposed to. This keeps us inside the same narrow set of stories we already encounter, which does nothing to correct a bias caused by limited exposure; if anything, it locks the bias in further.
2. Option B: Says we should follow only one news source and limit our perspective to it. This narrows exposure even more than before, which would make availability bias worse, not better, since the range of stories available to recall would shrink further.
3. Option C: Says we should avoid all positive stories and read only about disasters and tragedies. This does not diversify exposure at all; it deliberately narrows it toward the most negative, memorable stories, which would deepen both availability bias and negativity bias rather than counter either.
4. Option D: Says we should seek out news sources and stories we would not otherwise be exposed to. Actively broadening the range of stories we encounter directly addresses the root cause of availability bias, a narrow or repetitive information diet, by giving the mind a wider and more representative set of examples to draw on.

Options A, B, and C all keep exposure narrow or make it narrower, which reinforces availability bias rather than reducing it. Option D is the only option that actively widens what we are exposed to, which is what the bias actually requires to be countered.

Therefore, the correct answer is Option D.

Answer 11

The correct option is (A): Our ideas about the world are shaped by the information we are exposed to.

Answer 12

Assumption questions can be solved with the negation test: take each option, assume its opposite is true, and see whether the author's conclusion still holds up. If negating an option destroys the conclusion, that option is a necessary assumption. Here the premise is that we are bombarded with horrific stories, and the conclusion is that this "completely skews our view of the world."

1. Option A: Assumes our ideas about the world are shaped by the information we are exposed to. If we negate this, that is, if our worldview were not shaped by what we are exposed to at all, then being bombarded with horrific stories could never skew our view of the world, since exposure would have no effect on our beliefs in the first place. The conclusion completely falls apart without this assumption, which means it is necessary.
2. Option B: Assumes modern media cares only about profit. Even if we negate this, and say media has other motives too, the author's specific claim, that exposure to horrific stories skews our worldview, would still be able to stand; profit motive explains why such stories are produced, but is not needed for the conclusion about their effect on us.
3. Option C: Assumes journalists now generate news faster than before. Negating this, imagining news is produced at the same speed as in the past, does not stop repeated exposure to horrific stories from still skewing our view of the world; the speed of production is not what the conclusion depends on.
4. Option D: Assumes humans once lived as hunter-gatherers. This fact matters elsewhere in the passage, to explain the origin of negativity bias, but negating it does not affect this specific argument about horrific stories skewing our current worldview; the conclusion can still follow without needing to establish our evolutionary history.

Negating Option B, C, or D leaves the author's conclusion intact, so none of them is required. Negating Option A destroys the conclusion entirely, which is exactly what makes it the necessary assumption.

Therefore, the correct answer is Option A.