Scientist: "Recent research in neuropsychology

Question

Scientist: "Recent research in neuropsychology
suggests that laughter is less a response to humor than
a kind of involuntary social signal. In one study, a social
scientist observed instances of laughter in diverse
settings, and found that 80 to 90 percent occurred after
statements not intended to have humor, such as "talk to
you later" and "I know:"

The argument above depends on which of the following
unstated assumptions?

A. Laughter improves health and well-being.

B. The diverse settings in the study included diverse
populations as well.

C. Statements can be removed from their context
without any loss of meaning.

D. People laugll because they believe they are
expected to.

E. Humor and laughter are one and the same.

Please Explain why you think the answer is right.

pqhai · Answer

Premise 1: In one study, a social scientist observed instances of laughter in diverse settings, and found that 80 to 90 percent occurred after statements not intended to have humor, such as "talk to you later" and "I know:"

Conclusion: laughter is less a response to humor than a kind of involuntary social signal.

To understand the logic of the question, you need to know what "social signal" means.

The conclusion means people are more likely to laugh when they got social signals than when they response to humor.

Social signal means people  assume the actions of others  in an attempt to reflect correct behavior for a given situation. On the other hand, it doesn't matter whether one says <"talk to you later" or "I know"> or not (express the social signal by saying a specific statement), other people still understand the situation and reflect by laughing. So to make a conclusion valid, we need to  assume people do not have to wait until others state something to laugh. If there is a social signal, people will react by laughing.

C says exactly the same, so it's the correct assumption.

Hope it helps.

earnit · Answer

"Statements can be removed from their context without any loss of meaning"

If the author would have tried tO make the above statement any more complicated, it would have certainly failed.

I feel like i almost don't understand english because i cannot seem to make sense of the above words.

I totally get the central idea behind the assumption but how exactly the above statement conveys that idea is something i am struggling with and is exactly what makes this qs little/more tricky.

Please if anyone could decipher these words into something that is logically coherent or rather simpler english, it would be great.

ElCorazon · Answer

The sentence can be rephrased as: 'words mean exactly the same thing whatever context / situation / tone of voice etc you say them in.' The opposite to this statement would be: 'you cannot quote words without understanding the context they were spoken in - if you do, meaning is lost.' If that second statement was true, then the argument would not be true, because 'talk to you later' and 'I know' might have actually been said in a funny way or in a funny context.

Hope that helps?

Nhung · Answer

The argument concludes that laughter is less a response to humor than a kind of involuntary social signal.
The basis for this claim is that:
- 80 to 90 percent of laughter occurrences in in diverse settings was after statements not intended to have humor, such as "talk to you later" and "I know:"
It must assume that:
- The statements reflect fully the situation (to identify whether this is a humor or not)
- The pure statements are a kind of involuntary social signal.
A - OOS.
B - OOS.
C - This reflects the 1st analysis.CORRECT
D - Not an assumption, but an inference from the phrase "involuntary social signal".
E - Not necessarily.

Gags10 · Answer

My understanding is as follows : 
Even If i remove sentences that have humor in them, people will still laugh. I can remove the sentences from the context, meaning will remain the same. 
So, C is correct.

gmatexam439 · Answer

Scientist: "Recent research in neuropsychology suggests that laughter is less a response to humor than a kind of involuntary social signal. In one study, a social scientist observed instances of laughter in diverse settings, and found that 80 to 90 percent occurred after statements not intended to have humor, such as "talk to you later" and "I know:"

The argument above depends on which of the following unstated assumptions?

A. Laughter improves health and well-being. - We are not worried about the effects of laughter on ones health.

B. The diverse settings in the study included diverse populations as well. - Okay, this is a fact set. We are not worried about the population. The fact that the author has already considered diverse settings is more than sufficient to reach a conclusion.

C. Statements can be removed from their context without any loss of meaning. - Correct. The statements should mean the same even if some words are removed. The integrity of the meaning should be maintained.

D. People laugll because they believe they are expected to. - This is a weakener. It gives us another reason for the cause of laugh. It states that people don't laugh because they take laugh as a signal, instead they laugh because they are expected to laugh.

E. Humor and laughter are one and the same. - Out of scope

hellosanthosh2k2 · Answer

Answered C only by POE.

A. Laughter improves health and well-being. - Out of Scope - OUT

B. The diverse settings in the study included diverse
populations as well. - Negate it, not diverse population, but still diverse settings hold good

C. Statements can be removed from their context
without any loss of meaning. - Only choice left. Experts please help

D. People laugll because they believe they are
expected to. - This is Incorrect, if people laugh because they believe they are expected to, then it becomes voluntary

E. Humor and laughter are one and the same. - It is not same

Please Explain why you think the answer is right.

Thanks

hellosanthosh2k2 · Answer

Hi Experts,

I Answered C only by POE.

A. Laughter improves health and well-being. - Out of Scope - OUT

B. The diverse settings in the study included diverse
populations as well. - Negate it, not diverse population, but still diverse settings hold good

C. Statements can be removed from their context
without any loss of meaning. - Only choice left.

D. People laugll because they believe they are
expected to. - This is Incorrect, if people laugh because they believe they are expected to, then it becomes voluntary

E. Humor and laughter are one and the same. - It is not same

Please Explain why you think the answer is right.

Thanks

VerbalBot · Answer

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Scientist: "Recent research in neuropsychology

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