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Posting on Behalf of a 7Sage User: PT88.S4.Q24 - How is answer B correct?
Mary - Student Service
Member Administrator Student Services
Hi, just got really confused on a particular LR question and hope I can get some help, thank you. The question I am talking about is the LR question from PT88, Section 4, Question 24
How is answer B correct? I still don’t see it. Because experiencing trauma is the REASON why you develop PTSD, and therefore you can still say that even though the reason you produce more cortisol is because to resist developing PTSD, it is still because that you have experienced past trauma! (works like a conditional logic chain: trauma -> PTSD -> more cortisol), so B doesn’t actually weaken the argument since it is still suggesting that trauma is the ultimate reason. That’s why I eliminated B immediately.
Comments
I think because it's created to fulfill a different purpose (protecting someone from developing PTSD). if you were to put a person with PTSD in the same stressful trauma, they may not develop high C because they already have ptsd. Hence, it's not that the trauma causes high C but a defense mechanism.
The question sets you up by leading you to assume that group's higher cortisol levels are in response (secondary) to the traumatic event. This is because the two groups being compared have two separate independent variables (#1 exposure to a Traumatic Event, and #2 developing PTSD) so it becomes less clear what the cause is vs the effect.
But think for a second if you were genetically predisposed to being less stressed and less susceptible for PTSD and the biological function for that was a higher level of cortisol in the first place.
How would that present itself? It would lead you to have different cortisol levels than the rest of the population whether or not they have experienced traumatic events.
Thats what B is doing.