Self-study
Conclusion The Magno-Blanket is probably able to relieve arthritic pain in older dogs. █ ████████ █████ ██ ██████ █████████ ████ ██████ █████ ████ █████ ████ ██ ███████ ██ █████ ███ ████ ███████ ████ ███████ ████████ ███████ ████ █████ ████ █ ██████ ████ ███ ██████ ████ ███████ ████████████ ███ ███ █████████████ ██████ ███████ ████ ███ ████ █████████ ██ ███ █████ ██████ ██ ████ ████ ██ █████████ ██████ ██ ███ ████████ ██████
Summarize Argument: Phenomenon-Hypothesis
The author hypothesizes that the Magno-Blanket can probably relieve arthritic pain in older dogs. This is based on a study of people suffering from severe joint pain. 76 percent of the people treated with magnets reported reduced pain after 3 weeks. In addition, dogs and humans have similar physiologies, and the Magno-Blanket has magnets that would be as close to dog’s joints as the magnets in the study were to the people’s joints.
Notable Assumptions
The author assumes that the magnets caused a reduction in joint pain among people in the study. This overlooks the possibility that there could be other explanations for the reduced pain — for example, maybe most joint pain reduces on its own over time.
4.
Which one of the following, ██ █████ ████ ███████████ ███ █████████
a
The Magno-Blanket is ██████ ██ ██ █████████ ██ ████ ███ █████ ████ ██ ████ ██ ██ ██ █████████ ██ ████████ █████ ████ ██ █████████ █████
We don’t know whether the blanket is effective on dogs. Learning that if it’s effective on dogs, it’ll be effective on other animals doesn’t help establish that it’s effective on dogs.
b
Magnets have been █████ ██ ██ ███████ ██ ████████████ ███ ████████████ ██ ████████ ████ ████████ █████ █████ ██ █████ ███████
If magnets can intensify messages from nerves to the brain, that suggests pain might be intensified. Alternatively, there’s no clear relationship between pain reduction and transmission of messages from nerves to the brain.
c
There are currently █████ █████ ██ ██████ ███████████ █████████ ████ ██ ████ ████ ██ ███████
The argument concerns whether magnets are a way to alleviate arthritic pain in dogs. The number of other ways available to do this has no effect on whether magnets can alleviate arthritic pain in dogs.
d
The patients in ███ ████████ █████ █████████ ████ ██████ █████ ████ ████ █████ █████ ███████ ████ ████████ ███ ███ ██████ ███████ ████ ██████ ███ ██ ██ █████ █████████ ████ ███ ████ ██████ █████
This suggests potential limitations on the effectiveness of magnets to treat humans.
e
Most of the ████████ ██ ███ ████████ █████ █████████ ████ ██████ █████ ████ ███ ████████ █ ███████ ██████ ████ █████████ ████ ███████ ███ ███ ██████ ███████ █████
This shows that a control group didn’t experience pain reduction in the same proportion as the group that got the magnets. This helps to eliminate the possibility that the pain reduction in the magnet group was due to something everyone had in common.
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.