Psychologists urge users to remember that social media rarely reflects the full complexity of real life. Influencers often _____________________ a carefully curated online persona, which can _____________________ unrealistic standards and occasionally _____________________ negative self-comparisons amongst their followers.
Show Hint
- profess; inspire; release
- advocate; perpetuate; stimulate
- endorse; foster; provoke
- maintain; generate; trigger
The Correct Option is D
Solution and Explanation
This sentence completion requires selecting three verbs that accurately describe the actions and consequences of influencers' online personas.
Step 2: Detailed Explanation:
Let's analyze the blanks in context:
Blank 1: Describes what influencers do with their online persona. "Maintain" fits perfectly, as a persona is something that is kept up over time. "Profess," "advocate," and "endorse" are plausible but "maintain" is the most direct fit for "persona."
Blank 2: Describes what the persona does with unrealistic standards. "Generate" (create) or "perpetuate" (cause to continue) would fit. The persona creates or gives rise to these standards.
Blank 3: Describes what the persona does with negative self-comparisons. "Trigger" (cause an event or situation to happen) is an excellent choice, as seeing a curated life can trigger feelings of inadequacy in others. "Provoke" is also a good fit.
Now let's look at the options as complete sets:
(1) profess; inspire; release: "Release comparisons" is not idiomatic.
(2) advocate; perpetuate; stimulate: "Advocate a persona" is slightly odd. "Stimulate comparisons" is possible but "trigger" is stronger.
(3) endorse; foster; provoke: "Foster unrealistic standards" and "provoke comparisons" works well. "Endorse a persona" is also good. This is a strong contender.
(4) maintain; generate; trigger: "Maintain a persona," "generate unrealistic standards," and "trigger negative self-comparisons." All three words are precise, idiomatic, and fit the psychological context of the sentence perfectly.
Comparing (3) and (4), the set in (4) offers slightly more precise vocabulary for the entire sequence of actions and consequences. "Maintain" is better than "endorse" for a persona, and "generate" and "trigger" are very specific and common terms in this context.
Step 3: Final Answer:
The correct words are maintain; generate; trigger.
Top Questions on Fill in the Blanks
- The notion of personhood is _____________________ on something more than a particular type of genetic material within human beings: it arises only with the larger-scale structural _____________________ of that material, which permits capacities like _____________________ thought and moral agency.
- IPMAT - 2025
- Verbal and Logical Ability
- Fill in the Blanks
- While Curcumin, which is an _____________________ found in turmeric helps to reduce _____________________, extremely high doses of it can _____________________ headache and nausea.
- IPMAT - 2025
- Verbal and Logical Ability
- Fill in the Blanks
- Since chronic stress can _____________________ the immune system, making individuals more susceptible to illness and _____________________ their overall well-being, healthcare practitioners often recommend mindfulness practices and proper sleep to _____________________ these negative effects.
- IPMAT - 2025
- Verbal and Logical Ability
- Fill in the Blanks
- Art can be _____________________ because it encourages individuals to express their emotions through a creative outlet, allowing them to process complex feelings, reduce stress, and _____________________ self-awareness.
- IPMAT - 2025
- Verbal and Logical Ability
- Fill in the Blanks
- Astronauts who stayed for an _____________________ period of time at the International Space Station displayed a remarkable level of _____________________ endurance and mental _____________________.
- IPMAT - 2025
- Verbal and Logical Ability
- Fill in the Blanks
Questions Asked in IPMAT exam
- Five teams—A, B, C, D, and E—each consisting of 15 members, are going on expeditions to five different locations. Each team includes members from three different skill sets: biologists, geologists, and explorers. However, the number of members from each skill set varies by team and each member has only one speciality. The total number of biologists, geologists, and explorers are equal. The following additional information is available
• Every team has at least 2 members from each of the three skill sets.
• Teams C and D have 6 biologists each, and Team A has 6 geologists.
• Every team except A has more biologists than explorers.
• The number of explorers in each team is distinct and decreases in the order A, B, C, D, and E.- IPMAT - 2025
- Logical Reasoning
- The set of all values of x satisfying the inequality \( \log_{(x+\frac{1}{2})} \left[ \log_2 \left( \frac{x-1}{x+2} \right) \right]>0 \) is
- IPMAT - 2025
- Number System
The table given below provides the details of monthly sales (in lakhs of rupees) and the value of products returned by the customers (as a percentage of sales) of an e-commerce company for three product categories for the year 2024. Net sales (in lakhs of rupees) is defined as the difference between sales (in lakhs of rupees) and the value of products returned (in lakhs of rupees).
- IPMAT - 2025
- Data Interpretation
Meta is recalibrating content on its social media platforms as the political tide has turned in Washington, with Mark Zuckerberg announcing last week that his company plans to fire its US fact-checkers. Fact-checking evolved in response to allegations of misinformation and is being watered down in response to accusations of censorship. Social media does not have solutions to either. Community review — introduced by Elon Musk at X and planned by Zuckerberg for Facebook and Instagram — is not a significant improvement over fact-checking. Having Washington lean on foreign governments over content moderation does not benefit free speech. Yet, that is the nature of the social media beast, designed to amplify bias.
Information and misinformation continue to jostle on social media at the mercy of user discretion. Social media now has enough control over all other forms of media to broaden its reach. It is the connective tissue for mass consumption of entertainment, and alternative platforms are reworking their engagement with social media. Technologies are shaping up to drive this advantage further through synthetic content targeted precisely at its intended audience. Meta’s algorithm will now play up politics because it is the flavour of the season.
The Achilles’ Heel of social media is informed choice which could turn against misinformation. Its move away from content moderation is driven by the need to be more inclusive, yet unfiltered content can push users away from social media towards legacy forms that have better moderation systems in place. Lawmakers across the world are unlikely to give social media a free run, even if Donald Trump is working on their case. Protections have already been put in place across jurisdictions over misinformation. These may be difficult to dismantle, even if the Republicans pull US-owned social media companies further to the right.
Media consumption is, in essence, evidence-based judgement that mediums must adapt to. Content moderation, not free speech, is the adaptation mechanism. Musk and Zuckerberg are not exempt- IPMAT - 2025
- Reading Comprehension
According to the French philosopher Jean Baudrillard, commodities available for consumption are not inherently negative things. Baudrillard tried to interpret consumption in modern societies by engaging with the ’cargo myth’ prevalent among the indigenous Melanesian people living in the South Pacific. The Melanesians did not know what aeroplanes were. However,they saw that these winged entities descended from the air for white people and appeared to make them happy. They also noted that aeroplanes never descended for the Melanesian people. The Melanesian natives noted that the white people had placed objects similar to the aeroplane on the ground. They concluded that these objects were attracting the aeroplanes in the air and bringing them to the ground. Through a magical process, the aeroplanes were bringing plenty to the white people and making them happy. The Melanesian people concluded that they would need to place objects that simulated the aeroplane on the ground and attract them from the air. Baudrillard believes that the cargo myth holds an important analogy for the ways in which consumers engage with objects of consumption.
According to Baudrillard, the modern consumer ”sets in place a whole array of sham objects, of characteristic signs of happiness, and then waits for happiness to alight”. For instance, modern consumers believe that they will get happiness if they buy the latest available version of a mobile phone or automobile. However, consumption does not usually lead to happiness. While consumers should ideally be blaming their heightened expectations for their lack of happiness, they blame the commodity instead.
They feel that they should have waited for the next version of a mobile phone or automobile before buying the one they did. The version they bought is somehow inferior and therefore cannot make them happy. Baudrillard argues that consumers have replaced ’real’ happiness with ’signs’ of happiness. This results in the endless deferment of the arrival of total happiness. In Baudrillard’s words, ”in everyday practice, the blessings of consumption are not experienced as resulting from work or from a production process; they are experienced as a miracle”. Modern consumers view consumption in the same magical way as the Melanesian people viewed the aeroplanes in the cargo myth. Television commercials also present objects of consumption as miracles. As a result, commodities appear to be distanced from the social processes which lead to their production. In effect, objects of consumption are divorced from the reality which produces them.- IPMAT - 2025
- Reading Comprehension