A
Child-rearing books should encourage people with children to put poinsettias in their homes.
B
Poinsettias are not dangerously poisonous.
C
According to many child-rearing books, poinsettias are dangerous.
D
The belief that households with children or pets should not have poinsettias is mistaken.
E
Poinsettias pose no risk to children or pets.
News media are more likely to report on rare or unusual threats to life than on common threats.
People who estimate risk based on news reports likely underestimate the risk of common threats and overestimate the risk of rare or unusual threats.
A
Whether governmental action will be taken to lessen a common risk depends primarily on the prominence given to the risk by the news media.
B
People tend to magnify the risk of a threat if the threat seems particularly dreadful or if those who would be affected have no control over it.
C
Those who get their information primarily from the news media tend to overestimate the risk of uncommon threats relative to the risk of common threats.
D
Reporters tend not to seek out information about long-range future threats but to concentrate their attention on the immediate past and future.
E
The resources that are spent on avoiding product tampering are greater than the resources that are spent on avoiding threats that stem from the weather.
The question stem reads: The argument is most vulnerable to criticism on which one of the following grounds? This is a Flaw question.
The author begins by stating how many parents organize their child's playtime in order to enhance their child's cognitive development. The author concludes that the parents' belief is incorrect: Organizing a child's playtime will not enhance cognitive development. To prove their claim, the author says, "To thoroughly structure a child's playtime and expect this to produce a creative and resourceful child would be like expecting a good novel to be produced by someone who was told exactly what the plot and characters must be."
What a minute. Is producing "a creative and resourceful child" the reason parents organize playtime? All we know is that the parents organized play time to enhance cognitive development. Creativity and resourcefulness are a subset of cognitive functions. So there could be cognitive functions the parents want to enhance besides creativity and resourcefulness. Perhaps the parents organize playtime to improve a child's ability to organize. Shocking! So the author has failed to consider that organized playtime might enhance cognitive development in areas besides creativity and resourcefulness.
Answer Choice (A) is incorrect. The author wants to say organized playtime is not conducive to enhancing cognitive development. (A) would look better if it said, "Takes for granted that if something (organized playtime is not conducive to a certain goal (developing creativity and resourcefulness), it also cannot be conducive to some other goal (enhancing cognitive development).
Answer Choice (B) is overlooked by the argument but is also irrelevant. Whether or not children enjoy organized playtime is arbitrary.
Answer Choice (C) is also incorrect. The author never considers organized playtime to be necessary for enhancing a child's creativity and resourcefulness.
Answer Choice (D) has nothing to do with the argument. The author never actually says writing a good novel requires creativity and resourcefulness. The author claims you can't expect a good book to be written by someone who is told what characters and plot to use.
Correct Answer Choice (E) is what we discussed. The author does fail to consider that organized playtime could enhance other aspects of cognitive development (which would improve overall cognitive development) without enhancing creativity and resourcefulness.