In a study, parents were asked

Answer choices

1. A

   Helps Explain2% picked this

   Children who are excited by violent action programs on television tend to become bored with schoolwork and to express their

   This helps connect "watching violent shows" to "getting disciplined in school". Watch violent show ? get excited / get bored with schoolwork ? express boredom in school in unacceptable fashion ? get disciplined

   2%
2. B

   Helps Explain9% picked this

   When parents watch violent programs on television with their children, those children become more likely to regard

   This helps connect "watching violent shows" to "getting disciplined in school". Watch violent show w/ parents ? consider antisocial behavior legit ? behave antisocially in school ? get disciplined

   9%
3. C

   Correct78% picked this

   Parents who rated their children’s television viewing low on violence had become desensitized to the violence on television by

   Why this is right

   This creates a really confusing story. If your parents rated your shows 3-5, that supposedly means that you're watching more violent shows than kids whose shows were rated 1-2. But according to this answer, the parents who rated the shows 1-2 had a warped sense of violence. They were so desensitized to it that even though the shows were violent, they were like, "Eh, not too bad. I'd rate it a 1 or 2." So that means, essentially, that all the kids were watching violent shows. Some parents were still lucid enough to see that, and rate them 3-5. Other parents have had their sense of violence dulled enough that they rated them 1-2. But if all the kids were watching violent shows, then we have no way to explain why the kids whose shows were rated 3-5 were way more likely to be disciplined. This answer would only explain that difference if we thought we could say, "Since the 3-5 kids' parents were not desensitized to violence, those kids were more likely to act up in school and get disciplined?" That storyline doesn't have any common sense to it.

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

   78%
4. D

   Helps Explain2% picked this

   Children learn from violent programs on television to disrespect society’s prohibitions of violence and, as a result, are more likely than other children

   This helps connect "watching violent shows" to "getting disciplined in school". Watch violent show ? learn to disrespect society's "no violence" rule ? more likely to disrespect schools' codes of conduct ? get disciplined

   2%
5. E

   Helps Explain9% picked this

   Parents who do not allow their children to watch programs with a high level of violence are more likely than other parents to be

   This helps connect "not watching violent shows" to "not getting disciplined in school", but not by saying that one leads to the other. This is basically a Third Factor type answer. It's saying that parents who are conscientious about keeping their kids away from violent TV are also more conscientious parents in other ways (stronger moral upbringing / more rules and consequences at home for deviant behavior), and so that higher surveillance / effort level of parenting means that the kids are more likely to follow the rules in school.

   9%