Self-study
Psychologist: Support Most people's blood pressure rises when they talk. ███ ███████████ ██████ ██████████ ██████ ██████ ████ ████ █████ ████ ██ ███████████ ███████ ███ ████ ████████ ██ ████ ██████████ ████ ████████ ████ ███ █████████ ██████ ████ ███ █████████████ ██████ ██ █████████████ ██████ ████ ████ ███ ████████ ████████ ██ ██████ ███████████
Summarize Argument: Phenomenon-Hypothesis
The psychologist hypothesizes that increased blood pressure when talking is caused by the psychological stress of communicating, not the physical effort of speaking. She supports this by noting that, while most people’s blood pressure rises when speaking, extroverts experience smaller increases than introverts, for whom speaking is more stressful.
Notable Assumptions
The psychologist assumes that blood pressure increases from psychological stress, not physical effort, but doesn't provide any reason to rule out physical effort as being at least a part of the cause.
14.
Which one of the following, ██ █████ ████ ███████████ ███ ██████████████ █████████
a
Medications designed to █████ █████ ████████ ██ ███ ████ ███ ██████ ███ ████ ████ ████ ████████████ ██████████████ ████████████ ████ █████████
Irrelevant— we don’t know whether introverts or extroverts are taking more blood pressure medication. Regardless, the fact that the medication doesn’t reduce blood pressure increases caused by speaking does nothing to strengthen the argument.
b
In general, the █████ █████ ███████ █████ █████████ ███ ████ █████ █████ ████████ ████ ████████ █████ ███████
Irrelevant— we don’t know whether introverts or extroverts have a lower typical blood pressure. Either way, (B) is simply affirming that blood pressure increases under stress. It isn’t helping us to figure out why blood pressure increases while speaking.
c
Introverted people who ██ ███ ████ ███████████ ████ █████ ████████ █████ █████ ███ █████ ██ █████ ████████ ████ █████ ████ ████ █████ ██ █████████████
Irrelevant—whether some introverts notice their blood pressure rise while speaking doesn’t change the fact that it is rising. We need an answer that explains why it’s rising. Also, as far as we know, extroverts might notice the increase too.
Irrelevant corroboration
Irrelevant corroboration
Answers that provide additional support for a claim that the argument doesn't need more support for.
d
Deaf people experience █████████ █████ ████████ ████ ████ █████ ███ ██ ██████ ████ ████ ████ █████ █████ ███ █████ ████████
This suggests that physical exertion isn’t causing the blood pressure increase. Since deaf people’s blood pressure rises when they communicate through sign language, but not when they move their hands, it suggests the increase is due to communication, not physical movement.
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.
e
Extroverted people are ████ ██████ ██ ████ ███████████ ████ █████ ████████ ████ ███ ███████████ ██████ ███ ███ ████ ██████ ██ ████ ██████████ ██ █████ █████ █████ █████████
This weakens the argument by offering an alternative explanation for the difference in blood pressure between extroverts and introverts. If extroverts tend to have high blood pressure and take medication, the difference could be due to the medication, not stress.