Question

It is well documented that people have positive responses to some words, such as "kind" and "wonderful" and negative responses to others, such as "evil" and "nausea." Recently, psychological experiments have revealed that people also have positive or negative responses to many nonsense words. This shows that people’s responses to words are conditioned not only by what the words mean, but also by how they sound. The boldface portion plays which one of the following roles in the argument?

A) It is a premise offered in support of the conclusion that people have either a positive or a negative response to any word.

B) It is a conclusion for which the only support provided is the claim that people’s responses to words are conditioned both by what the words mean and by how they sound.

C) It is a generalization partially supported by the claim that meaningful words can trigger positive or negative responses in people.

D) It is a premise offered in support of the conclusion that people’s responses to words are engendered not only by what the words mean, but also by how they sound.

E) It is a conclusion supported by the claim that people’s responses under experimental conditions are essentially different from their responses in ordinary situations.

Answer 1

D). It is a premise offered in support of the conclusion that people’s responses to words are engendered not only by what the words mean, but also by how they sound.

Step-by-step explanation:

The boldfaced portion('people also...words') in the given argument is functioning as the premise to back the conclusion that 'people's....sound.' A premise primarily functions to support or substantiate a deduction which is effectively played through the given proposition(boldfaced part). The other options are incorrect as they either involve the incorrect conclusion(option A and E) or wrongly considers the bold part as 'conclusion' or 'generalization'(option B and C). Thus, option D is the correct answer.