Self-study
Psychologists have claimed that many people are more susceptible to psychological problems in the winter than in the summer; the psychologists call this condition seasonal affective disorder. █████ █████ ██ █████ ██ ███ ███████ ██ ███████ ██ █████ ██████ ████ █████ ██ ██████ ███ ████ ████ ██ ███████ █████ ██ ███ █████ ████████ ██ ██ ███ █████ ████ ██████ ███ ████ ██ ██████ ██████████ ██ █████ ████ █████████████ ███████ ██████████ █████ ██████ ███████ ██ ███ ███████ ███ ████████████████ █████ ████ █████ ██ ███ ████ █████████ ██ ████████ █████████ █████████
A Realistic Anticipation
This is a 5-star question mostly because of the answer choices, which require a more subtle understanding of the stimulus than you might reasonably anticipate on a first read. You should at least aspire to the level of detail below, though:
The psychologists claim a disorder exists (S.A.D.) based on a certain methodology (people self-reporting past moods).
The author challenges this methodology, suggesting the data collected could be inaccurate, then concludes the psychologists’ claim is insufficiently supported.
In a Method of Reasoning question, “challenges the methodology” is often plenty specific to find the right answer. Tempting wrong answers tend to say stuff like “challenges the conclusion” or “attacks the motives of the psychologists.” So we’ll leave the analysis here, and address the subtleties underneath the answer choices themselves.
10.
The author criticizes the psychologists’ █████ ██
a
offering an alternative ███████████ ██ ███ █████████ ██ ███ ██████████ ██ █████████████ ████████ ██████ ███████
The point at issue in this stimulus is whether this variation in moods exists, not why it exists.
The author doesn’t explain S.A.D. because they’re not even convinced it’s real.
b
questioning whether any ████████ █████████ ██ ███ ██████████ ██ █████████████ ████████ █████ ████████ ██ ███████ █ ████████
As with (A), the author isn’t even convinced seasonal variation in moods is a real phenomenon.
A matching stimulus for (B) would say something like “perhaps people are more sad in the winter, but that’s just called being normal.”
c
questioning the representativeness ██ ███ ██████████ ██████ ████████ ██ ███ █████████████
What a well-crafted trap answer, eh? Very often when a study uses flawed methodology, the right answer is phrased “something something unrepresentative sample.”
Grammar is the key here – (C) says the population sample is unrepresentative. That is, the group of people chosen to take the survey doesn’t reflect the broader population (because, for instance, they only surveyed men or college students or whatever).
To describe the stimulus in unrepresentative sample terms (which the testwriters absolutely could have done), it’s the survey responses that are unrepresentative of people’s actual moods across time.
d
questioning an assumption ████ ███ ██████ ██████████ ██ ███ █████████████
Here’s the psychologists’ assumption, which the author questions:
When asked to recall how they felt at various times in the past, people provide accurate answers.
(D) says the author attributes this assumption to the psychologists because all we’re given is the author’s summary of the psychologists’ position – according to the author’s telling, the psychologists make this assumption.
e
demonstrating that fewer ██████ ████████ ██████ ████ ████████ █████████ ████████ ████ █████████████ ███ ██████████ ███████
Lots of red flags in this answer. Demonstrating a fact like this would mean offering an alternative data set giving positive evidence of a different finding. The relative term fewer is also sus, because it requires two data points: psychologists think the number is [this], and the author thinks the number is [this lower number]. The temporal term previously is another one that needs specific support. It also demands two data points: in the past [blah], and now [blah].