The following text is adapted from a digital anthropology study. Platform algorithms track user preferences and deliver increasingly similar content...
GMAT Craft and Structure : (Structure) Questions
The following text is adapted from a digital anthropology study. Platform algorithms track user preferences and deliver increasingly similar content recommendations. This targeted curation leads users to engage with nearly identical types of posts, follow similar accounts, and develop parallel browsing habits. The result is that millions of users unknowingly adopt the same digital behaviors: checking phones at the same intervals, scrolling through equivalent content feeds, and responding to notifications in predictable patterns.
Which choice best states the main purpose of the text?
To explain why social media platforms collect user data
To demonstrate how algorithm design can reduce user privacy
To show how platform curation creates widespread behavioral similarity
To argue that personalized content improves the user experience
Step 1: Decode and Map the Passage
Create Passage Analysis Table
| Text from Passage | Analysis |
|---|---|
| "The following text is adapted from a digital anthropology study." |
|
| "Platform algorithms track user preferences and deliver increasingly similar content recommendations." |
|
| "This targeted curation leads users to engage with nearly identical types of posts, follow similar accounts, and develop parallel browsing habits." |
|
| "The result is that millions of users unknowingly adopt the same digital behaviors: checking phones at the same intervals, scrolling through equivalent content feeds, and responding to notifications in predictable patterns." |
|
Provide Passage Architecture & Core Elements
Main Point: Platform algorithms create widespread behavioral similarity by delivering increasingly similar content that leads millions of users to unknowingly adopt identical digital behaviors.
Argument Flow: The passage moves from explaining how algorithms work to showing immediate effects to revealing broader consequences.
Step 2: Interpret the Question Precisely
What's being asked? The question asks for the main purpose of the entire text - the author's primary goal in writing this passage.
What type of answer do we need? The main purpose or primary goal of the author in writing this passage.
Any limiting keywords? Main purpose, entire text, author's goal.
Step 3: Prethink the Answer
- The author's main goal is demonstrating how algorithmic content curation creates widespread behavioral uniformity among users
- The right answer should capture how platform algorithms create behavioral similarity across large populations
To explain why social media platforms collect user data
- Incorrect - Focuses on data collection reasons, but the passage is about effects of algorithmic curation, not why platforms collect data
To demonstrate how algorithm design can reduce user privacy
- Incorrect - Centers on privacy concerns, but the passage focuses on behavioral outcomes, not privacy implications
To show how platform curation creates widespread behavioral similarity
- Correct - Perfectly captures the main thread: algorithmic curation leads to behavioral similarity
- Matches the passage showing how algorithms lead to millions adopting the same digital behaviors
To argue that personalized content improves the user experience
- Incorrect - Presents positive view of personalization, but the passage takes neutral, observational tone describing consequences without arguing for benefits