Self-study
In a study of heart patients awaiting treatment for reduced blood flow to the heart, those still waiting to find out whether they would need surgery were less likely to experience pain from the condition than were those who knew what type of treatment they would receive. ████████ ████ ████ ███████████ ██ ████ █████████ ████ ███████ ████ █████ ██████ ██████ ████ ██ ██ ██████████ ██ ████████ ████ ████████
Summary
A study conducted on patients awaiting heart treatment found that those waiting to find out whether they would need surgery were less likely to experience pain from their condition than those who knew what kind of treatment they would receive. Assuming that this uncertainty (waiting to find out whether they need surgery) is more stressful than knowing what lies ahead (knowing what treatment they need), it is reasonable to conclude that… (the right answer is the conclusion).
Strongly Supported Conclusions
Stress can reduce the pain of this heart condition.
7.
Which one of the following ████ █████████ █████████ ███ █████████
a
stress sometimes reduces ███ ██████ ██ ████ █ █████ ███████ ███████████
Those with more stress (who were uncertain about their treatment) experienced less pain from their condition than those with less stress (who knew what treatment was ahead).
b
the pain experienced ██ █████ ████████ ██ ██ ████ ██████ ██████████
Nothing in the stimulus supports the idea that pain is beneficial. You have to assume that more pain will bring less stress, which is net beneficial. But that requires too many unreasonable assumptions.
c
the severity of █ █████ █████████ █████████ ██ ███████ ████████ ██ ███████████ ███████████ ████ ███ ███████ █████ ███ █████████ ████ ████ ███████ ████ ███████
This is antisupported. The stimulus suggests that withholding information would cause stress, thus decreasing a patient’s pain.
d
stress is probably ██ ██████ ██████ ████ █ █████ ██ ███████ █████ ████ ██ ███ █████
There is not enough support to make a causal relationship between stress and blood flow to the heart.
e
heart patients suffering ████ ███████ █████ ████ ██ ███ █████ ███ ███ ████████████ ████ ████ ███ █████████ ███ ████ ██████ ██ ███████ ███████ ████ ███ ████ ████████ ███ ███ ███ ████████████ ████
E: There is no information in the stimulus about what makes someone likely to require surgery. This requires a lot of assumptions to work.