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Question: Historian: Radio drama requires its listeners to think about what they hear, picturing for themselves such dramatic elements as characters’ physical appearances and spatial relationships. Hence, while earlier generations, for whom radio drama was the dominant form of popular entertainment, regularly exercised their imaginations, today’s generation of television viewers do so less frequently.
Which one of the following is an assumption required by the historian’s argument?
(A) People spend as much time watching television today as people spent listening to radio in radio’s heyday.
(B) The more familiar a form of popular entertainment becomes, the less likely its consumers are to exercise their imaginations.
(C) Because it inhibits the development of creativity, television is a particularly undesirable form of popular entertainment.
(D) For today’s generation of television viewers, nothing fills the gap left by radio as a medium for exercising the imagination.
(E) Television drama does not require its viewers to think about what they see.
Answer: B
Explanation:
Given that, Historian: Radio drama requires its listeners to think about what they hear, picturing for themselves such dramatic elements as characters’ physical appearances and spatial relationships. Hence, while earlier generations, for whom radio drama was the dominant form of popular entertainment, regularly exercised their imaginations, today’s generation of television viewers do so less frequently.
Let's approach the answer choices.
A: Incorrect
This choice is not relevant to the argument's logic. The argument is about the exercise of imagination in response to different forms of entertainment, not the amount of time spent on different forms of entertainment.
B: Correct
This assumption is necessary for the historian's argument to hold true. The historian is arguing that earlier generations, who primarily consumed radio drama, exercised their imaginations more because radio drama required listeners to picture the elements of the story in their minds. The historian is implying that the familiarity and visual nature of television have made today's generation less likely to exercise their imaginations, as they don't need to create mental images to the same extent. Therefore, assumption (B) is crucial for the argument's logic.
C: Incorrect
This choice goes beyond the scope of the argument. The historian is not making a claim about the desirability or undesirability of television as a form of entertainment; the focus is on the exercise of imagination between radio drama and television.
D: Incorrect
This choice is too strong and goes beyond the information given in the argument. The historian is discussing the exercise of imagination between radio drama and television, not making a statement about the "gap" left by radio.
E: Incorrect
This choice is not explicitly stated in the argument and does not play a critical role in the historian's argument. The argument is more about the comparison between radio and television in terms of imagination exercise, rather than an assertion that television does not require any thought from viewers.
“Historian: Radio drama requires its listeners to think about what they hearl”– is a GMAT Critical question. To answer the question, a candidate can either find a piece of evidence that would weaken the argument or have logical flaws in the argument. GMAT critical reasoning tests the logical and analytical skills of the candidates. This topic requires candidates to find the argument's strengths and weaknesses or the logical flaw in the argument. The GMAT CR section contains 10 -13 GMAT critical reasoning questions out of 36 GMAT verbal questions.
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