Self-study
Conclusion Certain changes in North American residential architecture after World War II are attributable mainly to the increased availability and affordability of air-conditioning. ████ █████ █████ ███ ███ ████ ████████ █████ ████ ███████████████ ██████ ███████ ███ ████ ████████ ███ █████ █████ ████ █████████████ ████ █████████ ████ ██████ ███████ ████ █████████ ████ █████
Summarize Argument: Phenomenon-Hypothesis
Certain changes in North American residential architecture after World War II (low ceilings and thin walls) were mainly due to the increased availability and affordability of air conditioning. This is because air-conditioned houses without high ceilings and thick walls sold well after World War II, even though those features typically kept houses cool during times of extreme heat.
Notable Assumptions
The author assumes that the increased prevalence of low ceilings and thin walls was not due to something else like people changing their preferences/tastes about how they wanted their home to look.
18.
Which one of the following, ██ █████ ████ █████████ ███████ ███ █████████
a
High ceilings and █████ █████ ██████ ██████ ██ █████████ ████ █████ ██ ██████ ███████ ████ ███ ██████ ██ █████ ████████
This is irrelevant because it does not address the main claim that the changes in architecture were due to the increased affordability and availability of air conditioning.
b
Thin-walled, low-ceilinged houses ███ ████ ██████ ██ ████ ██ ██████ ████ █████████████ ██████████████ ███████
Although this provides a weakness for the feasibility of thin-walled, low-ceilinged houses, it does not weaken the argument for the main claim that air conditioning caused these architectural changes
c
Houses with low ████████ ███ ████ █████ ████ █████████ ██ █████ ███████ ████ █████ █████ ███ ██ ██████ ███ ███████████ █████████████████
This suggests that thin-walled houses with low ceilings were prevalent before the widespread availability of AC. Thus, this weakens the claim that AC was the primary driver of these architectural changes
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.
d
Thin walls allow █████ ███████████████ ███ ██ ██████ ████ ███████ ████ ██████ ████ ██ █████ ██████
This does not weaken the author’s argument that the increased availability of air conditioning increased the prevalence of houses with thin walls and low ceilings. It just highlights an inefficiency of the new homes.
e
Soon after World ███ ███ ███ ██████████████████ ██████████ ███ ██████ ███████ ██ █████ █████████
While this could explain why these houses became more common, it does not weaken the causal link between the increased availability of AC and thin-walled houses with low ceilings.
Failed alternate explanation
Failed alternate explanation
Weaken Qs: Answers that try to introduce an alternate explanation, but fall short, or try to explain a different phenomenon.
Strengthen Qs: Answers that try to eliminate an alternate explanation, but fall short, or try to eliminate an explanation for a different phenomenon.