Logical Reasoning

PT113 · S3 · Q13 Studies have shown that, contrary

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Studies have shown that, contrary to popular belief, middle-aged people have more fear of dying than do elderly people.

Given that ...

Elderly people are closer to death than are middle-aged people,

Why is it that ...

Middle-aged people have more fear of dying than do elderly people?

Evaluate

One interesting thing about this stimulus is that it doesn't actually provide the background condition for the Paradox. We would just ask our common sense,

On Paradox questions, we don't try hard to anticipate the answer (unless it's a mathematical paradox) because the answer could take so many forms. On EXCEPT questions, we're also less likely to try to anticipate the answer, because there are essentially going to be four valid answers that we need to eliminate.

Goal

Let's find four answers that give a reason why middle-aged people would be afraid of dying or why elderly people wouldn't be.

13.

Each of the following, if true, contributes to an explanation of the phenomenon shown by the studies EXCEPT:

  1. The longer one lives, the

    Helps Explain

    Elderly people have lived longer than middle-aged people, and according to this that means that they are more likely to have come to terms with dying. We need to insert the common sense that "the more you've come to terms with death, the less you fear it".

    3% picked this

  2. Middle-aged people have more people

    Helps Explain

    Middle-aged people have more people dependent on them than elderly people do. We need to insert the common sense that "the more people who are dependent on you, the more you fear dying". This answer is basically referring to the fact that middle-aged people are usually still in the child-rearing years. When your kids are still younger than 18, you worry about what would happen to them if you're gone. Meanwhile, if you're elderly, then any kids you have are now full grown adults who are independent and will be able to take care of themselves even after you're gone.

    4% picked this

  3. Correct

    Many people who suffer from

    Why this is right

    This is a weakly worded answer, because "many" is an unspecific quantity that means roughly something like "at least a handful". So there are at least 5-10 clinically depressed people who first became depressed in middle age. Okay. There are also probably 5-10 clinically depressed people who first became depressed in old age. Is this giving us any asymmetric comparison between middle-aged and elderly? No. Is there any common sense link between "the beginning of depression" and "increased fear of dying"? No. If anything, we might think of a depressed person becoming less afraid of dying because death would at least free them from that depression (this problem and explanation are getting real dark!)

    Skill tested: Paradox · how this choice captures the argument's function is the move to repeat next time.

    75% picked this

  4. The longer one lives, the

    Helps Explain

    Elderly people have lived longer than middle-aged people, and according to this that means that they are more imperturbable. They are less able to be perturbed. What does it mean to be perturbed? Annoyed / bothered. So we'd have to add a common sense bridge that says, "If you're less able to be annoyed or bothered, then you're less afraid of dying". That's a bit of a weird stretch, but this answer is way more powerful than (C), so it still beats (C) in terms of helping to explain. It helps to picture an imperturbable elderly person being like, "What, death? Oh, come on now. Death doesn't bother me. Sunrise, sunset. The circle of life. Now finish your soup, dear. You want some more food?"

    9% picked this

  5. Middle-aged people have a more

    Helps Explain

    Middle-aged people have more acute sense of their own mortality than than elderly people do. We need to insert the common sense that "the more sharply aware of your eventual death that you are, the more you fear dying". Certainly for some people an acute awareness of death may lead to making peace with it, but for most people the easiest way to deal with mortality is to not think about it. Typically, when people dwell on death, they tend to have more anxiety about it.

    8% picked this

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