Logical reasoning PrepTest 131 · Section 3 · Question 10

Incorrect. This answer fails to connect boycotting to censorship, instead splitting boycotts and government censorship.

Incorrect. This answer fails to connect these shows leaving the air with censorship, so it doesn't justify the conclusion. In fact, this answer choice more or less restates a connection that was already established in the stimulus.

Incorrect. The argument establishes that boycotts lead to restrictions on what the public can watch. There doesn't need to be an audience for that to be true.

Incorrect. This answer is out of scope of the argument about boycotts being censorship. Even if the public agrees that a certain show promotes violence and erodes values, there's still a jump between restrictions on what the public can view and censorship.

Correct. Argument or Facts:
Argument

Valid or Flawed:
Flawed

Question Type:
Strengthen with Sufficient Premise

Stimulus Summary:
Public boycotts cause canceled ads, which cause some shows to be canceled, which restricts what the public can watch, so boycotts are censorship.

Answer Anticipation:
This argument features a long, causal chain of what will occur if there is a public boycott. It all ends with a restriction on what the public can watch. So if the conclusion were that a public boycott restricts what the public can watch, then the argument would be valid.

However, the argument instead concludes that a public boycott is censorship. There's no indication, however, that any restriction on what the public can watch is censorship—so the correct answer will need to make that connection.

Answer Explanation:
The argument, in its causal chain, establishes that public boycotts lead to a restriction on what the public can watch. If that counts as censorship, as this answer states, then it can be validly concluded that boycott is censorship.

Key Takeaway:
Strengthen with Sufficient Premise questions will generally deal with conditional chains that have a gap, either between premises or between the premises and the conclusion. However, causal chains can also be present, and you should similarly look for where the chain fails to connect the ideas in the conclusion.