Self-study
Conclusion Poor nutrition is at the root of the violent behavior of many young offenders. ███████████ ████████ ████ ██ █ ███████ ███████████ ███ █████ ██████████ ███ ███████ ███████ █████ ████ ████████████ ██████ ████ ███ ████ ██████████ █████ █████ ████ ████ ███ ██ ██████████ ██ █ ██████████ ███████████ ████ ██ ███ ███████ ███████ ████ ██████ ██ █ ████ ████ ██ ██████████ █████ ███ █ ██████ ███████████ ██ █████ ████████ ████ ███ ████ ██████ ██ ███ ███████████ █████ ███████ ███████ ███ ████ ███████ ████ █████████ ███ ███████ █████████
Summarize Argument: Phenomenon-Hypothesis
The author hypothesizes that poor nutrition causes violent behavior in young offenders. This is based on two studies: one showed that violent inmates tend to choose low-nutrient foods, and the second showed that when given a high-nutrient diet, violent inmates’ behavior improved. This informs the author’s sub-conclusion that the studies show a connection between violence and poor nutrition.
Notable Assumptions
The author assumes causation from correlation. Specifically, the author assumes that poor nutrition causes violent behavior, as opposed to some other factor the researchers did not account for.
12.
Which one of the following, ██ █████ ████ ███████████ ███ █████████
a
Some of the ███████ ███████ ███ ████ ████ ██ ███ ██████████ ███ █████████ █ █████ ██████ ██ ███████ ███████
This does not affect the argument. The amount of violent crime each violent inmate committed does not change anything for the argument—they all had, at some point, committed a violent crime that led to their incarceration.
b
Dietary changes are ██████ ███ ███████ ██ █████████ ████ ███ █████ ████ ██ ██████ ███████ ██ ████████████ ███ █████ ██████████
This does not affect the argument, which is not about whether dietary changes should be implemented in these institutions but about how poor nutrition causes violent behavior.
c
Many young offenders ████ ████████ ████ ████ ███ ████████ █ ████████████ ████ ████████ ██ ███ ████ ██████ ████ █████████ █ ███████ ██████
This does not affect the argument, which is not about whether a single low-nutrient food can influence behavior, but about whether a diet lacking nutrition can influence behavior. There is no reason to believe eating a low-nutrient food led the offender to commit the crime.
d
A further study ████████████ █████ █████████ ███ █████ █ █████████████ ████ ██ █████ ███ ███ █████ ████ ████ ██ ████ ████ ███████████
(D) does not tell us enough for it to have an impact. For example, the word “many” tells us little about how many of the inmates were nonviolent. We also don’t know about the sample—maybe only 5 out of hundreds of inmates chose the healthy diet, and 3 of them were nonviolent.
Irrelevant corroboration
Irrelevant corroboration
Answers that provide additional support for a claim that the argument doesn't need more support for.
e
The violent inmates ██ ███ ███████████ ███ ████ ███ ██████ ██ █ █████████████ ████ ███ ███ ████ ██ ███████████ ██ █████████
This strengthens the argument. It supports the author’s assumption that poor nutrition causes violent behavior, as opposed to some other factor the researchers did not account for—it shows that removing the high-nutrient diet also removes the improvement.
Plausibility
Plausibility
Presenting evidence that corroborates (in Strengthen) or conflicts (in Weaken) with the author's hypothesized explanation or the predictions that follow from that explanation.