Self-study
Journalist: Support Scientists took blood samples from two large, diverse groups of volunteers. ███ ███ ██████████ ██ ███ █████ ████████ ████ ████ ███████ ██████ ███████████ ███████ ███ █████ ██ ███ █████ █████ ████████ ███████████ ████ ███ █████ ███████ ████ ███ █████ ████ ████████ ██████████ ████ █████████ ██ ███ ██████████ ████ ███ ███ ██████████ ██ ████ █████ ███ █ ████ ██ ███████ ███ █████ █████ ████ ████████ ████████ ████ █ ███████ ██ ██████████ ███ ██ █████ ██ ████ ██████ ███████████ ███████████
Summarize Argument: Phenomenon-Hypothesis
The author concludes that a dislike of vegetables is sometimes caused by genetics. This is based on a study involving two large, diverse groups of volunteers. Everyone in one group enjoyed eating vegetables, while everyone in the other group disliked vegetables. Everyone in the group that disliked vegetables had the XRV2G gene.
Identify and Describe Flaw
The author assumes that the group that liked vegetables did not all have the XRV2G gene. This is the basis of another assumption that the study revealed a correlation between not liking vegetables and having the gene. Then, the author makes another assumption that the explanation for this correlation is that the gene causes a dislike of vegetables.
18.
The journalist's argument is most ██████████ ██ █████████ ██ █████ ███ ██ ███ █████████ ████████
a
It presumes that ███ █████ ██████ ███ ███████████ ███████████
The argument concerns only the human trait of disliking vegetables. The author doesn’t make any assumptions about all other human traits.
b
It overlooks the ███████████ ████ ███ ██████████ ██ ███ ██ ████ ██ ███ ███ ██████ ███ ███ ████ ████ ██████████████ ██ ███ █████ ██████████ ██ █ █████ ██ ███ ██ ████ █████████
The argument doesn’t generalize from the members of the study to the human population generally. The conclusion is just that a dislike of vegetables is sometimes genetically determined; those times could involve just members of the study.
c
It overlooks the ███████████ ████ ████ ████ ███ ██████████ ██████ ████████ ███████ ███████████ ███ ██████ ██████████ ███ █████ ██ ███████ ████ ███ ██████ ██ ███████
The conclusion does not assert that a dislike of vegetables is only caused by genetics. The conclusion is merely asserting that a dislike of vegetables is sometimes caused by genetics. This acknowledges that such dislike can also be caused by other things besides genes.
d
It overlooks the ███████████ ████ ████ ██ █ ███████ ██ ██████████ ██ ███████████ ███████████ ██ ███ ██ ████████ ██████████ ██ █████ █████ ████ ███ █████ █████
This possibility doesn’t undermine the argument. If dislike of vegetables can also be caused by other genes, that supports the conclusion that a dislike of vegetables is at least sometimes genetically determined.
e
It takes for ███████ ████ ███ ██████████ ██ ███ █████ ████ ███████ ██████ ██████████ ███ ███ ████ ███ ████ ███ █████ ████ ██ ███████
This must be assumed, because if it wasn’t true, the conclusion wouldn’t follow from the premises. If the group that liked vegetables also all had the XRV2G gene, then there’s no reason to think from the study that the XRV2G gene plays any role in dislike of vegetables.