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28 Dec 2023, 14:48
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Be sure to select an answer first to save it in the Error Log before revealing the correct answer (OA)!
Difficulty:
65%
(hard)
Question Stats:
59% (01:49) correct
41%
(01:52)
wrong
based on 1703
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Psychologist: Early humans lived primarily in small bands. As a result, humans today are naturally adapted to group interactions. Hence, social connections and participation in the community are necessary to maintain good emotional health.
Which of the following is an assumption the psychologist's argument requires?
(A) Studies have found that people who have strong social connections tend to have better emotional health as well.
(B) Early humans had better emotional health, on average, than humans do today.
(C) Participation in the community always involves group interactions similar to those to which humans are naturally adapted
(D) Human emotional health depends at least in part on living in conditions to which humans are naturally adapted
(E) Humans should live in the social conditions that are necessary for maintaining good emotional health
Which of the following is an assumption the psychologist's argument requires?
(A) Studies have found that people who have strong social connections tend to have better emotional health as well.
(B) Early humans had better emotional health, on average, than humans do today.
(C) Participation in the community always involves group interactions similar to those to which humans are naturally adapted
(D) Human emotional health depends at least in part on living in conditions to which humans are naturally adapted
(E) Humans should live in the social conditions that are necessary for maintaining good emotional health
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28 Dec 2023, 17:48
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Explanation
Psychologist: Early humans lived primarily in small bands. As a result, humans today are naturally adapted to group interactions. Hence, social connections and participation in the community are necessary to maintain good emotional health.
The author has concluded the following:
social connections and participation in the community are necessary to maintain good emotional health
The conclusion is supported by the following evidence:
Early humans lived primarily in small bands. As a result, humans today are naturally adapted to group interactions.
The question is the following:
Which of the following is an assumption the psychologist's argument requires?
Since the question asks which choice is an assumption the argument requires, the correct answer will somehow connect the evidence that humans are naturally adapted to group interactions to the conclusion that social connections and participation in the community are necessary to maintain good emotional health.
A) Studies have found that people who have strong social connections tend to have better emotional health as well.
Notice that this choice is likely to be true given what the passage says but is not required by the argument.
After all, regardless of whether there have been any studies that have found that people who have strong social connections tend to have better emotional health as well, it still makes sense to reason that, since humans are naturally adapted to group interactions, social connections and participation in the community are necessary to maintain good emotional health.
Eliminate.
B) Early humans had better emotional health, on average, than humans do today.
This choice has the vibe of being correct because it may seem logical that, if early humans lived in small bands, then given the author's conclusion about social connections and participation in the community being necessary for health, then early humans, on average, had better emotional health than do today's humans, many of whom are not well connected to other people.
At the same time, we can eliminate this choice by noticing that, regardless of how emotionally healthy early humans were, humans today may need social connections and participation in the community to be emotionally healthy. After all, even if early humans were not more emotionally healthy than humans today, the fact that humans are naturally adapted to group interactions still supports the conclusion that social connections and participation in the community are necessary to maintain good emotional health.
In other words, concluding that humans need to experience what they are adapted to in order to be healthy doesn't require making a comparison between the health of early humans and the health of humans today. So, this choice is an irrelevant comparison choice.
Eliminate.
C) Participation in the community always involves group interactions similar to those to which humans are naturally adapted
This choice is super tempting because the argument jumps from evidence about what humans are naturally adapted to to a conclusion about "participation in the community." So, this choice could seem to fill a gap in the argument.
However, this choice is not correct because it goes too far. After all, even if participation in the community does not ALWAYS involve group interactions similar to those to which humans are naturally adapted, as long as it SOMETIMES involves such interactions, it could support emotional health.
So, the author doesn't have to assume something as extreme as what this choice says in order for the argument to work.
That said, it's important to notice that we aren't eliminating this choice just because it uses the extreme word "always." We're eliminating it because, in this particular case, the argument does not require such an extreme assumption. We have to be careful not to get into the habit of eliminating choices just because they are extreme. After all, in some cases, an extreme assumption could be required by an argument.
Eliminate.
D) Human emotional health depends at least in part on living in conditions to which humans are naturally adapted
To understand why this choice is correct, we need to notice how the argument works.
Reviewing the argument, we see that it jumps from the idea that humans are "adapted to group interactions" to the conclusion that "social connections and participation in the community are necessary to maintain good emotional health."
Nowhere does the author say that there is any connection between what humans are adapted to and what's necessary for emotional health.
So, we can see that argument requires an unstated assumption that the two are in fact connected.
We can also consider whether the argument would work if human emotional health does NOT depend on living in conditions to which humans are naturally adapted. In that case, the conclusion would not follow from the evidence. After all, if human emotional health does not depend on living in conditions to which humans are naturally adapted, then it's possible that humans would be perfectly emotionally healthy even if they did not experience the social connections and participation in the community that they are naturally adapted to.
So, we can see that the argument works only if this choice is true.
Keep.
E) Humans should live in the social conditions that are necessary for maintaining good emotional health
This choice is tempting because it's a reasonable statement that's closely related to the topic of the argument.
However, we aren't looking for a statement that's merely reasonable. We're looking for an assumption that the argument requires, and it's not necessary to assume anything about what humans "should" do to arrive at a conclusion about what humans need.
After all, although what humans should do and what they need are two related topics, they are not the same topic. So, the author could conclude from the fact that humans are naturally adapted to group interactions that they need to be involved in group interactions to be emotionally healthy without assuming that humans should do what they need to do to be healthy.
Eliminate.
Correct Answer
Psychologist: Early humans lived primarily in small bands. As a result, humans today are naturally adapted to group interactions. Hence, social connections and participation in the community are necessary to maintain good emotional health.
The author has concluded the following:
social connections and participation in the community are necessary to maintain good emotional health
The conclusion is supported by the following evidence:
Early humans lived primarily in small bands. As a result, humans today are naturally adapted to group interactions.
The question is the following:
Which of the following is an assumption the psychologist's argument requires?
Since the question asks which choice is an assumption the argument requires, the correct answer will somehow connect the evidence that humans are naturally adapted to group interactions to the conclusion that social connections and participation in the community are necessary to maintain good emotional health.
A) Studies have found that people who have strong social connections tend to have better emotional health as well.
Notice that this choice is likely to be true given what the passage says but is not required by the argument.
After all, regardless of whether there have been any studies that have found that people who have strong social connections tend to have better emotional health as well, it still makes sense to reason that, since humans are naturally adapted to group interactions, social connections and participation in the community are necessary to maintain good emotional health.
Eliminate.
B) Early humans had better emotional health, on average, than humans do today.
This choice has the vibe of being correct because it may seem logical that, if early humans lived in small bands, then given the author's conclusion about social connections and participation in the community being necessary for health, then early humans, on average, had better emotional health than do today's humans, many of whom are not well connected to other people.
At the same time, we can eliminate this choice by noticing that, regardless of how emotionally healthy early humans were, humans today may need social connections and participation in the community to be emotionally healthy. After all, even if early humans were not more emotionally healthy than humans today, the fact that humans are naturally adapted to group interactions still supports the conclusion that social connections and participation in the community are necessary to maintain good emotional health.
In other words, concluding that humans need to experience what they are adapted to in order to be healthy doesn't require making a comparison between the health of early humans and the health of humans today. So, this choice is an irrelevant comparison choice.
Eliminate.
C) Participation in the community always involves group interactions similar to those to which humans are naturally adapted
This choice is super tempting because the argument jumps from evidence about what humans are naturally adapted to to a conclusion about "participation in the community." So, this choice could seem to fill a gap in the argument.
However, this choice is not correct because it goes too far. After all, even if participation in the community does not ALWAYS involve group interactions similar to those to which humans are naturally adapted, as long as it SOMETIMES involves such interactions, it could support emotional health.
So, the author doesn't have to assume something as extreme as what this choice says in order for the argument to work.
That said, it's important to notice that we aren't eliminating this choice just because it uses the extreme word "always." We're eliminating it because, in this particular case, the argument does not require such an extreme assumption. We have to be careful not to get into the habit of eliminating choices just because they are extreme. After all, in some cases, an extreme assumption could be required by an argument.
Eliminate.
D) Human emotional health depends at least in part on living in conditions to which humans are naturally adapted
To understand why this choice is correct, we need to notice how the argument works.
Reviewing the argument, we see that it jumps from the idea that humans are "adapted to group interactions" to the conclusion that "social connections and participation in the community are necessary to maintain good emotional health."
Nowhere does the author say that there is any connection between what humans are adapted to and what's necessary for emotional health.
So, we can see that argument requires an unstated assumption that the two are in fact connected.
We can also consider whether the argument would work if human emotional health does NOT depend on living in conditions to which humans are naturally adapted. In that case, the conclusion would not follow from the evidence. After all, if human emotional health does not depend on living in conditions to which humans are naturally adapted, then it's possible that humans would be perfectly emotionally healthy even if they did not experience the social connections and participation in the community that they are naturally adapted to.
So, we can see that the argument works only if this choice is true.
Keep.
E) Humans should live in the social conditions that are necessary for maintaining good emotional health
This choice is tempting because it's a reasonable statement that's closely related to the topic of the argument.
However, we aren't looking for a statement that's merely reasonable. We're looking for an assumption that the argument requires, and it's not necessary to assume anything about what humans "should" do to arrive at a conclusion about what humans need.
After all, although what humans should do and what they need are two related topics, they are not the same topic. So, the author could conclude from the fact that humans are naturally adapted to group interactions that they need to be involved in group interactions to be emotionally healthy without assuming that humans should do what they need to do to be healthy.
Eliminate.
Correct Answer
General Discussion
23 Jan 2025, 10:57
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Hi Marty,
Just had a question.
Can we bring outside information such as studies done on behaviour as mentioned in Option A for GMAT Assumption questions?
Thanks in advance.
Just had a question.
Can we bring outside information such as studies done on behaviour as mentioned in Option A for GMAT Assumption questions?
Thanks in advance.
MartyMurray
