Analyse the following passage and provide appropriate answers "Whatever…
2025
Analyse the following passage and provide appropriate answers "Whatever actions are done by an individual in different embodiments, [s]he reaps the fruit of those actions in those very bodies or embodiments (in future existences)".
A belief in karma entails, among other things, a focus on long run consequences, i.e., a long term orientation. Such an orientation implies that people who believe in karma may be more honest with themselves in general and in setting expectations in particular-a hypothesis we examine here. This research is based on three simple premises. First, because lower expectations often lead to greater satisfaction, individuals in general, and especially those who are sensitive to the gap between performance and expectations, have the incentive to and actually do “strategically” lower their expectations. Second, individuals with a long term orientation are likely to be less inclined to lower expectations in the hope of temporarily feeling better. Third, long term orientation and the tendency to lower expectations are at least partially driven by cultural factors. In India, belief in karma, with its emphasis on a longer term orientation, will therefore to some extent counter-act the tendency to lower expectations. The empirical results support our logic; those who believe more strongly in karma are less influenced by disconfirmation sensitivity and therefore have higher expectations.
Consumers make choices based on expectations of how alternative options will perform (i.e., expected utility). Expectations about the quality of a product also play a central role in subsequent satisfaction. These expectations may be based on a number of factors including the quality of a typical brand in a category, advertised quality, and disconfirmation sensitivity. Recent evidence suggests that consumers, who are more disconfirmation sensitive (i.e.,consumers who are more satisfied when products perform better than expected or more dissatisfied when products perform worse than expected) have lower expectations. However, there is little research concerning the role of culture-specific variables in expectation formation, particularly how they relate to the impact of disconfirmation Sensitivity on consumer …
Consider the following assertion and conclusion: Assertion: The meaning of karma in the above passage (refer to first two lines of the paragraph in italics.)
Conclusion: Belief that long term consequences are important.
Now read the following statements carefully.
1. The conclusion will always follow the assertion.
2. The conclusion may follow the assertion.
3. The conclusion may follow the assertion only if an individual lives long enough.
4. The conclusion cannot follow the assertion.
Which of the following statement (s) is correct?
- A.
1 only
- B.
1 and 2 only
- C.
2 only
- D.
3 only
Attempted by 1 students.
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: B
Concept: In assertion-conclusion reasoning, you test the logical relationship between what is asserted and what is concluded — does the conclusion follow necessarily (always), only possibly (may), only under some extra condition, or not at all (cannot)? A relationship that is necessarily true is automatically also a case where it is possible to be true, since necessity is a special, stronger case of possibility.
Application:
The Assertion is the definition of karma quoted from the passage: actions performed by a person in one embodiment yield their fruit — the consequence of those actions — in future embodiments or existences.
The Conclusion states: belief that long-term consequences are important.
The wider passage itself draws this exact bridge: “A belief in karma entails, among other things, a focus on long run consequences, i.e., a long term orientation.” So the text does not leave the assertion-to-conclusion link to be inferred loosely — it states directly that accepting the karma-definition already means holding a long-term orientation, which is what the Conclusion says.
Compare the two: a definition of karma that ties present actions to consequences arriving in future existences is, in substance, exactly a long-term orientation — the definition already says consequences matter beyond the present life. Accepting the Assertion leaves no room for not holding the Conclusion, so the Conclusion follows necessarily, making statement 1 true.
Because statement 1 (the conclusion will always follow) is true, statement 2 (the conclusion may follow) is also true as a direct consequence — whatever is guaranteed to happen can certainly also happen, so a necessary link is never merely impossible; both statement 1 and statement 2 hold at the same time.
Cross-check:
1 only (the necessity claim alone) is incomplete: it recognises the guaranteed link but drops the trivially true, weaker may-follow description of that very same link.
2 only understates the link: the passage supports a guaranteed, necessary connection between the assertion and the conclusion, not merely a possible one, so limiting the choice to possibility alone is too weak.
3 only adds a condition — that the individual must live long enough — that neither the assertion nor the conclusion mentions; the assertion concerns consequences across future embodiments in general, not the present individual's own lifespan.
Statement 4 (the conclusion cannot follow) is directly contradicted, since the assertion and the conclusion express the same underlying idea rather than opposing ones.
Result: Since the conclusion follows necessarily from the assertion, and a necessary link is also automatically a possible one, exactly statements 1 and 2 hold together — matching “1 and 2 only.”