CAT 2016 Verbal and Reading Comprehension

Question : 26 of 34

Marks: +1, -0

The following question consists of a paragraph which is followed by four options. Among the given options, choose the one which captures the essence of the paragraph accurately and clearly. Type in that option as the answer in the space provided below the question.

As in the 18th century, so in the 21st. Cognitive psychologists with their innatist views tell us that women work with a finer mesh of emotional understanding than men. The novel - by that view the most feminine of forms - answers to their biologically ordained skills. From other rooms in the teeming mansion of the social sciences, there are others who insist that it is all down to conditioning. But perhaps the causes are less interesting than the facts themselves. Reading groups, readings, breakdowns of book sales all tell the same story; when women stop reading, the novel will be dead.

In the 21st century too, the survival of the novel depends on female readership, which is to say it depends on their innate inclination towards fine emotional understanding.
As psychology has shown, both women and the novel share a deep reservoir of emotional understanding, which underscores the reason for the dependence of the novel on female readership.
Some social sciences argue that women are conditioned by society to have finer emotional understanding, which explains why the novel depends on women readers for its survival.
It may be down to nature or nurture, but even in the 21st century one thing is clear; if women read on, the novel lives on.

Validate

Go to Question:

Prev Question

Next Question