Question

The director of a museum claims that visitors will be more likely to attend an exhibition if it is promoted through social media. Which of the following assumptions is necessary for the director's claim to be valid?

• A. People who use social media are more likely to visit the museum.
• B. Social media promotions are always effective.
• C. The exhibition is of interest to a broad audience.
• D. People visit museums primarily because of social media posts.

Hint:

Use the Negation Test for assumption questions. State the opposite of the answer choice and see if the original argument still makes sense. If the argument is destroyed, you have found the necessary assumption.

Answer 1

The Correct Option is A

Step 1: Understanding the Concept:
This is a Critical Reasoning question that asks for a necessary assumption. A necessary assumption is an unstated premise that must be true for the conclusion to logically follow from the evidence. A good test is the "negation test": if the negated assumption makes the argument fall apart, it is necessary.
Step 2: Detailed Explanation:
The argument is: Promoting on social media \(\rightarrow\) Visitors are more likely to attend.
The argument connects the action (promotion on social media) to the outcome (attendance). It assumes that the target of the action (social media users) is a group that is at least somewhat inclined to perform the desired outcome (visit the museum).
Let's test the options with negation:
- (A) Negated: "People who use social media are not more likely to visit the museum." If the audience you are promoting to is not inclined to visit, then promoting to them will not make them more likely to attend. This breaks the argument's logic. Therefore, (A) is a necessary assumption.
- (B) Negated: "Social media promotions are not always effective." The argument can still be valid even if some promotions fail. It only needs this specific promotion to have a chance of working. The word "always" makes this assumption unnecessary.
- (C) Negated: "The exhibition is not of interest to a broad audience." The promotion could still be effective if it reaches a niche audience on social media that is interested.
- (D) Negated: "People do not visit museums primarily because of social media." The claim is only that promotion makes them "more likely" to attend, not that it's the main reason. The argument holds even if social media is only a minor influence.
Step 3: Final Answer:
The argument relies on the assumption that the group being targeted by the promotion (social media users) has some overlap with the group of potential museum visitors. Option (A) states this necessary link.