PrepTest 101, Section 2, Question 2
All people prefer colors that they can distinguish(41 more words not shown)
Which one of the following(11 more words not shown)
- AInfants prefer bright(6 more words not shown)
- BColor is the(14 more words not shown)
- CIndividual infants do(13 more words not shown)
- DThe sales of(13 more words not shown)
- EToy makers study(10 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
Picture two shades of pale blue that are hard to tell apart. Now picture bright red next to bright green. The passage says people prefer colors they can distinguish easily, and infants have an easier time with bright colors than with subtle shades. Put those facts together: infants should prefer the bright colors.
Do all people really have that preference? We might question such a sweeping claim in a conversation about actual people, but here it is information we are given. We need to reason from it, not replace it with our own color preferences.
Then we learn that the bright version of a toy outsells the subtly shaded version at the same price. That raises an interesting question: aren't adults the ones paying? Perhaps a parent chooses the toy the baby responds to. Perhaps something else influences the purchase. We aren't told the buying process, so let's avoid inventing a complete story about it.
What we’re looking for
The question asks what is most strongly supported. I don't have a more specific prediction yet. I'll keep the two things we do know in view—the infants' preference and the sales pattern—and test the choices against those facts.
Working the answers
- A
This switches the comparison. We know about bright colors versus subtle shades, not bright primary colors versus bright secondary colors. An infant could prefer a bright secondary color such as purple to a bright primary color such as red without conflicting with anything in the passage.
- B
Color matters, but does it matter more than everything else? A baby might care more about whether the toy is a dog or a car, or whether it makes a sound. We aren't given a ranking of those features. Knowing color matters doesn't tell us it matters more than the toy's other features.
- C
Preferring bright colors as a group doesn't mean treating every bright color equally. An infant could prefer bright colors to subtle shades and still like bright blue much more than bright pink. The passage doesn't rule out favorite colors within the preferred group.
- DCorrect
The preferences and the sales line up in one respect: infants prefer bright colors, and the bright version of the toy sells better. D makes that limited connection. It doesn't claim that babies make the purchase themselves, that color controls every sale, or that we know exactly how parents choose. The adult-at-the-checkout question doesn't erase the correspondence the passage gives us.
- E
We aren't told how toy makers learned anything about infants. They could notice which products sell without studying babies' ability to distinguish colors. We also don't know how many of each version they manufacture. A result in the stores doesn't establish the research or production decisions that came before it.
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