CAT 2019 Question Paper | Verbal Slot 1

CAT Sentence rearrangement questions can get extremely convoluted, especially if you are inept at verbal reasoning. Build up your verbal skills by reading well-curated articles from Bharath’s Reading List. Once you are confident that you can solve complex questions, dive into CAT previous year paper and pick a few questions to try out. Start right from this question that appeared in CAT 2019 question paper and smash your CAT preparation online.

The passage given below is followed by four alternate summaries. Choose the option that best captures the essence of the passage.

Question 29 : Vance Packard’s The Hidden Persuaders alerted the public to the psychoanalytical techniques used by the advertising industry. Its premise was that advertising agencies were using depth interviews to identify hidden consumer motivations, which were then used to entice consumers to buy goods. Critics and reporters often wrongly assumed that Packard was writing mainly about subliminal advertising. Packard never mentioned the word subliminal, however, and devoted very little space to discussions of “subthreshold” effects. Instead, his views largely aligned with the notion that individuals do not always have access to their conscious thoughts and can be persuaded by supraliminal messages without their knowledge.

1. Packard argued that advertising as a ‘hidden persuasion’ understands the hidden motivations of consumers and works at the subliminal level, on the subconscious level of the awareness of the people targeted.
2. Packard held that advertising as a ‘hidden persuasion’ understands the hidden motivations of consumers and works at the supraliminal level, though the people targeted have no awareness of being persuaded.
3. Packard held that advertising as a ‘hidden persuasion’ builds on peoples’ conscious thoughts and awareness, by understanding the hidden motivations of consumers and works at the subliminal level.
4. Packard argued that advertising as a ‘hidden persuasion’ works at the supraliminal level, wherein the people targeted are aware of being persuaded, after understanding the hidden motivations of consumers and works.

Explanatory Answer

According to the paragraph, Vance Packard found that advertising agencies identify hidden consumer motivation—thoughts that consumers are not aware they have. They use these to persuade consumers to buy, without the consumers themselves being aware of the fact that they are being persuaded. Packard’s theory related not to subliminal (subthreshold of consciousness) advertising but supraliminal (above the threshold of consciousness) advertising. Option 2 sums up all key ideas of the paragraph.

Choice B is the correct answer.

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