Self-study
Support On the basis of research with young children, a developmental psychologist hypothesized that Conclusion the skills involved in copying curves must be developed before the skills involved in copying angles can be developed.
Summarize Argument
The psychologist hypothesizes that children must develop the skill to copy curved lines before they can develop the skill to copy angles. This is based on research with children, the results of which aren’t reported.
Notable Assumptions
The psychologist's research with young children must support the idea that children must learn to copy curves before being able to copy angles.
11.
Which one of the following, ██ █████ ████████ ███ █████████████ ██████████████ ███████████
a
All of the ████████ ███ ███ ████ ██████ ███ ████ ████ ████████ ██████
Because this doesn't mention anything about angles, and we don't know how straight lines are related to the hypothesis, it's irrelevant.
b
All of the ████████ ███ ███ ████ ██████ ███ ████ ████ ███████
This supports the idea that copying curves comes before copying angles, because no child in the research could copy angles before having learned to copy curves.
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
The ability to ████████████ ██████ ████ ██ █████████ ██████ ██████ ███ ██ ███████
We don't know whether the ability to discriminate angles is related to learning to copy curves. Without that information, this doesn't affect the argument.
d
Some of the ████████ ███ ██████ ████ ██████ ███ ████ ███████
This weakens the psychologist’s hypothesis by providing a counter-example where angles come before curves.
Directionally wrong
Directionally wrong
Answers that, if they have any effect, do the opposite of what we want (weaken when we're trying to strengthen, or strengthen when we're trying to weaken).
e
Young children have ███ █████████ █████████ ████████ ██ ███████ ███████
This just tells us children are cognitively capable of copying angles, but doesn't help us determine where curves fit in. In other words, it's irrelevant.