PrepTest 152, Section 1, Question 16
A popular complaint about abstract expressionist paintings—that "a(68 more words not shown)
The argument depends on assuming(5 more words not shown)
- APeople are better(15 more words not shown)
- BMost of the(10 more words not shown)
- CEach painting shown(20 more words not shown)
- DParticipants who did(18 more words not shown)
- EThere were few(20 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
Better than a preschooler's painting doesn't automatically mean aesthetically pleasing.
Suppose the child's painting is unpleasant to look at, and the professional's painting is only a little less unpleasant. The professional wins the comparison, but neither painting has to be pleasing. Beating a weak comparison doesn't establish a high absolute standard.
What we’re looking for
That is the jump here. The study challenges the claim that the abstract expressionist works are no better than the children's paintings. The author then goes further and says the abstract works are aesthetically pleasing. For the required assumption, I'd look for something that makes the preschoolers' paintings a meaningful benchmark for that further conclusion.
Working the answers
- A
The argument doesn't need comparisons to improve people's judgment. Participants could judge paintings just as well individually as in pairs, and the author could still use their ratings. The gap concerns what a better rating than the children's paintings establishes, not whether comparison is the best judging method.
- BCorrect
This addresses the benchmark: most of the preschoolers' paintings weren't aesthetically displeasing to begin with. The abstract works aren't merely winning against a collection dominated by unpleasant paintings.
Initially, that might sound like something that only helps. But consider why the argument depends on it. Without this assumption, we lose the assurance that most of the comparison works even clear the 'not displeasing' level. An abstract painting could then receive the better rating without clearing that level itself. The study's relative advantage wouldn't establish the pleasing quality the author claims.
B doesn't say every child's painting is good, and it doesn't settle every possible concern about the study. It addresses the particular step from beating this benchmark to calling the abstract works aesthetically pleasing.
- C
We aren't told whether there were labels, so we shouldn't declare this either established or false. Accurate labels also aren't required to make a visual comparison: participants could rate unlabeled paintings. Knowing which was the preschooler's work could introduce expectations, but the argument doesn't need that information to be supplied.
- D
The premise already says most participants consistently favored the abstract works. The author doesn't need the remaining participants to favor them more often than not as well. Also, D concerns how often those other participants preferred a work, not how large a margin separated their ratings. Neither point supplies the missing quality of the preschool benchmark.
- E
Similar style is part of the complaint the argument addresses. But works can share a style while differing in aesthetic quality. The argument can maintain that the abstract works look stylistically similar to the children's works and still rate better. It doesn't require the two groups to have few stylistic similarities.
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