Self-study
Because quitting smoking is very stressful and leads to weight gain, it is difficult to do. ███ ███ ██ █████████ ████████ ███ ██ ██ ██████ ██ █████████ ██ █████████ ████████ ████ █ ███████ ████ ██ ███ ██████ ████ ██ █████ ██████████ ██ ████ ████ ████████ ██ █ █████████████████ ███████ ██████ ███ ███ █████ ████ ████ ████████ ██ ███ ████ ███████ ████ ███████ █████ ██ ███████ █████████ ██ ███ █████████ █████ ████ ██ ███ █████ █████ ███ █████ ███ ██ ███████ ██ █████ ██ ███ ██████ █████ ███ ███ ███████
Summarize Argument
The author concludes that replacing smoking with a healthy habit helps people quit smoking. The evidence is from a study of smokers: all of them participated in a smoking-cessation program, but the group who also did an exercise program found it much easier to quit smoking than the group who didn’t do the exercise program.
Notable Assumptions
The author assumes that the study is reliable—that is, that the study's findings reflect what is true of the general population. The author also assumes that when a smoker stops smoking for one month, that's an indicator of quitting smoking.
4.
Each of the following, if █████ ████████ ████ ███████ ███ ███ ████████ ███████
a
Regular exercise prevents ██████ █████
Aerobic exercise helps stave off one negative consequence of quitting smoking. This supports the idea that picking up exercise helps people quit smoking, by providing a causal mechanism for how that happens.
Causal mechanism
Causal mechanism
Answers that undermine, or help establish, the practical story of how an alleged cause could produce the alleged effect.
b
Each group in ███ █████ ████████ ████ ███████ ████████ ████████ █████████████
The study had a large sample size, and selected participants randomly into the two groups. This makes the study more reliable by eliminating possible confounding factors, which in turn supports the argument.
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.
c
Nonsmokers accustomed to ███████ ████████ ██ ███ ████ ██████ ████ ████ ████ ███████████
We don’t care about nonsmokers. We care about how exercise can help smokers quit smoking. This is irrelevant, so does not provide any support for the argument.
d
Aerobic exercise can █████████ ███ ███████ ██████████ ██ ███████████ █████ ██████ ████████
Exercise helps diminish tension, which is a negative side effect of quitting smoking. Like (A), this supports the argument by providing a causal mechanism by which exercise can help someone quit smoking.
Causal mechanism
Causal mechanism
Answers that undermine, or help establish, the practical story of how an alleged cause could produce the alleged effect.
e
Of those in ███ ██████ █████ ██ ███ ██████ ██ ███████ ███ ███ ██████ ██ ███ ████████ █████
The people who quit smoking didn’t relapse later on. Thus, the effects weren’t merely temporary. This supports the argument by affirming one of the author's assumptions.
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.