Support The obesity invariably associated with some high-fat diets is caused by an absence in these diets of certain nutrients that are necessary for an active metabolism, not by excessive caloric intake. ██████ ██████ ██ █████ ████████ █████ ██ ███ ███████ ███ ████ █████████
This argument concludes that, because obesity associated with some high-fat diets is caused by something other than an excessive caloric intake, people on the high-fat diets do not actually have an excessive caloric intake. Instead of the excessive caloric intake, these people have a lack of certain nutrients—which is the cause of their obesity.
This is the cookie-cutter flaw of false dichotomy, wherein the author assumes that two options are mutually exclusive. Even if the lack of certain nutrients causes obesity, that doesn’t mean there isn’t also an excessive caloric intake associated with these high-fat diets!
The questionable pattern of reasoning ██ ███ ████████ █████ ██ ████ ███████ ██ ████ ██ █████ ███ ██ ███ ██████████
Electrical storms are ████████ ██████████ ████ ███████████ █████ ██ ██████████ █████████ ███ ██████████ ██████ ███ ██████ ██ ████ █████ ██ █████████ ██████ ████ ██ ███ ███████████
Wrong flaw. (A) commits a correlation vs. causation flaw: it notes a correlation between electrical storms and drops in barometric pressure, and then inexplicably concludes that the drops cause the storms. The stimulus, by contrast, tells us as a premise that the lack of nutrients causes the obesity, and then concludes that there’s no excessive caloric intake at all. (A) doesn’t conclude that air turbulence doesn’t exist in electrical storms, just that it doesn’t cause the pressure drops.
The impression that ████ ███████ ██ ██████ ███████████ ███ ████ ████████ ██ ███ ███ ██ ████ ████████████ ███ ██ ███ ████ ██████ ██ ████ ███████████ █████████ ██████ █████████ ███████ ██████ ████ ████ ████████ ███ ████ ████ ██ ██████ █████████
Wrong flaw. (B) is flawed in that its conclusion (most beer drinkers are fans of sports programs) is pretty unrelated to its premises—we aren’t told that beer drinkers like watching beer commercials, so it’s not clear why the beer commercials would lead to this alleged beer/sports fanbase. Unlike the stimulus, (B)’s conclusion doesn’t rely on a false dichotomy—it doesn’t state that there is no stereotyping just because there are a lot of commercials!
The disorientation observed ██ ███████ ██████ █████ ████████████ ███████ ██ ██████ ███ ██ █████ ███████████ ███ ██ ██████████ ██ █████ ████████ ██ █████████ ██████ ████████████ ██████ ██ ███ ██████ ████ █████ ████████████
This argument concludes that, because the pilot disorientation associated with transoceanic flights is caused by something other than sleep deprivation, the pilots aren’t actually sleep deprived. Instead of sleep deprivation, pilots experience disruptions in their exposure to daylight—which is the cause of their disorientation. This is the same cookie-cutter flaw of false dichotomy, wherein the author assumes that two options are mutually exclusive. Pilots could be both sleep deprived and have disruptions in their daylight exposure!
Stock market crashes ███ ████ ███ ██ █████ ██ ███ ████ ██ █████████ ████████ ██████████ ███ ██ ████ ██████████████ ███████ ███ █████ ██ █████ ██████ ████████ █████████ ██████ ██ ██████████ ██████████
Wrong flaw. (D) starts the same way as the stimulus: it tells us that something (stock market crashes) are caused by one thing (rumormongering) rather than another (panic). But its conclusion is markedly different: rather than relying on a false dichotomy as the stimulus does, (D) brings in a whole new term (accurate predictions) that can’t be supported by the premises.
The preponderance of ███████████ █████████ █████ ████████████ ████████ ███████████ ██ ███ ███ ██ ███ ████████████ ██ ██████████████ ███ ██ ███ ███████████████ ██ ████████████ ████████ ███ ████████ ████████████ ██████ ████ ████████ ███████████ ████ ████████████ █████████
Wrong flaw. (E) tells us as a premise that many mathematics graduates become professional computer programmers, and then uses that to conclude that most computer programmers have mathematical training. But just because a lot of math grads are programmers doesn’t mean most programmers have studied math! That isn’t the stimulus’ flaw, though: the stimulus uses a false dichotomy to reach its conclusion, which (E) does not do.
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