Self-study
Support The proportion of fat calories in the diets of people who read the nutrition labels on food products is significantly lower than it is in the diets of people who do not read nutrition labels. ████ █████ ████ ███████ █████ ██████ ████████ █████████ ███████ █████████
Summarize Argument: Phenomenon-Hypothesis
The author hypothesizes that reading nutrition labels causes healthier dietary behavior. This is based on a correlation. The proportion of fat calories in the diets of people who read nutrition labels is lower than it is in the diets of people who don’t read nutrition labels.
Identify and Describe Flaw
The author assumes that the correlation is explained by reading nutrition labels causing healthier dietary behavior. This overlooks alternate explanations. In particular, perhaps there’s a common cause that leads people to eat healthier and to read nutrition labels. Maybe the kind of person who’s into losing weight will read nutrition labels and be more careful about their diet.
8.
The reasoning in the argument █████ ██ ██████ ██ ████ ███ ████████
a
illicitly infers a █████ ████ █ ███████████
The author assumes a causal relationship based on the correlation between reading nutrition labels and having a lower proportion of fat in one’s diet.
b
relies on a ██████ ████ ██ ████████ ██ ██ ██████████████ ██ ███ █████ ██ █ █████
The evidence isn’t a sample. We’re told about a statistic concerning people who read nutrition labels and people who don’t. There’s no indication that the statistic is based on just a part of the overall population.
c
confuses a condition ████ ██ █████████ ███ █ ██████████ ██ █████ ████ █ █████████ ████ ██ ██████████ ███ ████ ██████████ ██ █████
The argument’s reasoning isn’t based on conditional logic, so there’s no confusion of sufficient and necessary conditions.
d
takes for granted ████ █████ ███ ████ ███ ████████ ███████████ ████████████ ██ █ ██████████
The author doesn’t assume “two” possible alternative explanations. The author assumes there’s only one — that reading nutrition labels causes healthier dietary behavior.
e
draws a conclusion █████ ███ ██████████ ██ █ █████ ██ ██████ █████ ██████ ██ ████ █████ ███ ████████████ ██ █████ ████████
The conclusion isn’t about intentions. It’s simply a causal claim about the effects of reading nutrition labels. The conclusion does not assert that people who read nutrition labels are doing so in order to improve their diets.