Self-study
Support Researchers recently studied the relationship between diet and mood, using a diverse sample of 1,000 adults. ██ ███ █████ ████ █████ ███ ███ ███ ████ █████████ ████ ███ ████ ██████ ██ ████ ██████████ ██████████ ██ ████████ █████████ █████████ ████████████ ██████ ███ ██████ █████████ ███████ █████ █████
Summarize Argument: Phenomenon-Hypothesis
The author concludes that adults can improve their mood by reducing excessive chocolate consumption. This is based on a study that found people who ate the most chocolate were the most likely to feel depressed.
Identify and Describe Flaw
The author assumes that the explanation for the correlation between people who eat the most chocolate and likelihood of depression is that chocolate causes depression. This overlooks alternate explanations. For example, maybe depression causes people to eat chocolate. Or maybe there’s a third factor that tends to lead both to depression and to consuming chocolate.
14.
The argument is most vulnerable ██ █████████ ██ █████ ███ ██ ███ █████████ ████████
a
It improperly infers ████ ███ ████ ████ █ █████████ ████████ ███████████ ██ █ █████████ ████ █ █████████ ██ ███ ███████████ ██ ███ █████████ ██ ██████ ██ █████████ ████ ██████████
The evidence does not establish a causal relationship. So there is no “fact that a substance causally contributes to a condition.”
b
It draws a ██████████ █████ ███ ██████████ ██ █ █████ ██ ███ █████ ██ █ ██████ ████ ██ ████████ ██ ██ ██████████████ ██ ████ ███████████
We’re told the study is based on a “diverse sample of 1,000 adults.” And the conclusion is about adults. We have no reason to think that the sample is unlikely to representative of adults.
c
It draws a ██████████ █████ █ ██████ ████████████ ███████ ███ █████████ ████ ████████ ████ ██████ ████████ ████ █████ ██ █ ███████████ ███████ █████ ██████████
The author concludes that there is a causal relationship between chocolate consumption and mood. But the evidence only presents a potential correlation between chocolate consumption and mood.
d
It confuses a █████████ ████ ██ █████████ ███ ████████████ ███ █████ ██ ███ ██████████ ████ █ █████████ ████ ██ ██████████ ███ ████████████ ███ █████ ██ ███ ███████████
There is nothing presented as necessary for the truth of the conclusion. The finding concerning those who ate the most chocolate being the most likely to feel depressed is not necessary for a causal relationship between chocolate consumption and mood.
e
Its conclusion is ██████ ███ ███████ ██ ████████ ███ ██████ ██ █████ ███ ████████ ███████ ███ █████ ██ ███ ███████████
The conclusion is not too vague to evaluate the level of support provided by the premises. The premises do not guarantee the conclusion, because there are alternate explanations for the correlation between chocolate consumption and depression.