PrepTest 148

Incorrect. Liang doesn't talk about vicariously experiencing emotions or purging them, so this is out of scope of his argument.

Incorrect. Neither speaker discusses whether mature audiences believe anything about violence as a solution to problems, so this answer is out of scope.

Incorrect. Liang arguably agrees with this answer. Sarah, however, doesn't concede that violent movies cause violence in viewers—if she did think that, she might agree that they should be restricted. Note that Sarah may believe violent movies should be restricted—she only talks about not restricting them for adults.

Correct. Argument or Facts:
Argument/Argument

Valid or Flawed:
Flawed/Flawed

Question Type:
Point of Agreement

Stimulus Summary:
L: Violent movies make people violent, so we shouldn't let kids watch them.

S: Violent dramas are cathartic, so we should let adults watch them.

Answer Anticipation:
Be careful with this question stem! While Point at Issue questions are much more common, Point of Agreement questions do come up, and it's important to note that you're dealing with a question that asks about agreement instead of disagreement.

With that out of the way, we can dig into the details. Each speaker's argument has two parts—a note about violent movies, and a conclusion about them.

Liang talks about these movies making people violent, whereas Sarah talks about them being cathartic—letting people feel and release these emotions. So both agree that the movies have some impact on people.

From there, though, they talk about completely different conclusions—Liang wants to restrict kids from watching them, whereas Sarah wants to let adults watch them. Since there's no overlap here, the correct answer will almost certainly deal with the overlap in their premises—violent films have an effect on people.

Answer Explanation:
Liang believes that violent films make people violent. Sarah believes that they allow people to purge those emotions. Both are relying on the effects of violent films being, to some degree, understood. This answer is a principle that both arguments rely on, so this is the correct answer.

Key Takeaway:
Point of Agreement questions have a tendency to bring up answers about impact. The concept is a little tricky, so let's use this question as an example. Here, Liang and Sarah didn't agree on what impact violent movies have on people who watch them—Liang thinking they make people violent, Sarah thinking they let people purge violent emotions. However, they both agree that there is an impact. Since the content wasn't a point at issue, but rather the underlying principle (violent movies affect people) was, it can be tricky to spot these answers. But if you know that they have a tendency to fall into this category, it goes a long way to making it easier to spot.

Incorrect. There's no discussion of attraction, and especially not a comparative statement between children and adults.