Critical Reasoning

Marty Murray wrote:NO. The assumptions in the answer choices to an assumption question do not have to be true.

In order for the argument to work, of them has to be true, yes, but they may not be true, and the argument may not work.

RBBmba@2014 wrote:However, just to convey myself more clearly and precisely on the above quote -- Yes, I essentially meant the same that in GMAT ASSUMPTION CR the OA has to be true (for the CONCLUSION to hold good), but ONLY in the purview of the ARGUMENT and I think, that's the reason why CR question-stems are stated in many cases as "Which of the following,IF TRUE".

Let me know please if you think otherwise!

GMATGuruNY wrote:

Neilsheth2 wrote:In an experiment, each volunteer was allowed to choose between an easy task and a hard task and was told that another volunteer would do the other task. Each volunteer could also choose to have a computer assign the two tasks randomly. Most volunteers chose the easy task for themselves and under questioning later said they had acted fairly. But when the scenario was described to another group of volunteers, almost all said choosing the easy task would be unfair. This shows that most people apply weaker moral standards to themselves than to others.

Which of the following is an assumption required by this argument?

(A) At least some volunteers who said they had acted fairly in choosing the easy task would have said that it was unfair for someone else to do so.
(B) The most moral choice for the volunteers would have been to have the computer assign the two tasks randomly.
(C) There were at least some volunteers who were assigned to do the hard task and felt that the assignment was unfair.
(D) On average, the volunteers to whom the scenario was described were more accurate in their moral judgments than the other volunteers were.
(E) At least some volunteers given the choice between assigning the tasks themselves and having the computer assign them felt that they had made the only fair choice available to them.

Premise:
Most volunteers said they had acted fairly, but when the scenario was described to another group of volunteers, almost all said choosing the easy task would be unfair.
Conclusion:
Most people apply weaker moral standards to themselves than to others.

An assumption is WHAT MUST BE TRUE for the conclusion to be valid.
Apply the NEGATION TEST.
When the correct answer choice is negated, the conclusion will be invalidated.

A, negated:
NONE of the volunteers who said they had acted fairly in choosing the easy task would have said that it was unfair for someone else to do so.
Here, all the volunteers who said they had acted fairly would also consider it fair for SOMEONE ELSE to choose the easy task, invalidating the conclusion that most people apply weaker moral standards to themselves than to others.
Since the negation of A invalidates the conclusion, A is the correct assumption: WHAT MUST BE TRUE for the conclusion to be valid.

The correct answer is A.

noiceman wrote:Hi, thank you for the explanation. I understand it but still have a question: how can "at least some" validates "most"?
Please elaborate, thanks.

GMATGuruNY wrote:

noiceman wrote:Hi, thank you for the explanation. I understand it but still have a question: how can "at least some" validates "most"?
Please elaborate, thanks.

If NONE of the volunteers who said that they had acted fairly in choosing the easy task would have said that it was unfair for someone else to do so, then the argument cannot conclude that MOST people apply weaker moral standards to themselves than to others.
Implication:
For the argument to conclude that most people apply weaker moral standards to themselves than to others, it must be true that AT LEAST SOME of the volunteers who said that they had acted fairly in choosing the easy task would have said that it was unfair for someone else to do so.