Self-study
Support People with high blood pressure are generally more nervous and anxious than are people who do not have high blood pressure. ████ ████ █████ ████ ████ ██████████ ███████████ ██ ███████████ ████████████ █████████ ████████████ ████████████████ ██████ ██ █████ █ ██████ ████ █████ ██████ ██ ███████ ████ █████ █████████
Summarize Argument: Phenomenon-Hypothesis
The author concludes that the hypertensive personality is likely to cause high blood pressure. This is based on a correlation between people who have the hypertensive personality and high blood pressure.
Identify and Describe Flaw
The author assumes that the correlation between hypertensive personality and high blood pressure implies that the hypertensive personality causes high blood pressure. This overlooks the possibility that the correlation is explained by high blood pressure causing hypertensive personality, or by a third factor that causes both hypertensive personality and high blood pressure.
3.
The reasoning in the argument ██ ████ ██████████ ██ █████████ ██ ███ ██████ ████ ███ ████████
a
fails to define ███ ████ █████████████ ████████████
The author does define the term — it’s the combination of nervousness and anxiety. In any case, failure to define a term is not a flaw.
b
presupposes that people ████ █████████ ███████████ ██████
The author does not assume that people have permanent personality traits. If some personality traits are temporary, that wouldn’t undermine the author’s reasoning. Hypertensive personality can be temporary, but still have effects on high blood pressure.
c
simply restates the █████ ████ █████ ██ █ █████████████ ████████████ ███████ █████████ ████████ ██ ███████ ████ █████
We know there’s a correlation involving people who are more nervous/anxious. People who are more nervous/anxious have the “hypertensive personality.” The author doesn’t need to provide evidence that these traits exist.
d
takes a correlation ███████ ███████████ ██████ ███ ████ █████ ████████ ██ █████ ████ ███ ██████ █████ ████ █████ ████████
The author assumes the correlation between the hypertensive personality traits and high blood pressure implies that those traits cause high blood pressure. This overlooks alternate explanations for the correlation.
e
focuses on nervousness ███ ███████ █████ ████████ █████ ███████████ ██████ ████ ██████ ████ ████ █████ ████████ █████ ████
There’s no reason the author needed to bring up other traits. The evidence concerns certain specific traits, and the conclusion concerns those same traits. There’s nothing wrong with leaving out discussion of other traits.