Psychiatrist: Breaking any habit is difficult

Answer choices

1. A

   Out of Scope: “health threat”2% picked this

   a habit that involves an addictive substance is likely to pose a greater health threat than a habit that does

   The author isn’t trying to compare the health threat of addictive vs. nonaddictive substances. The author is trying to support the idea that people who break an addictive habit like cigarettes are more likely responding to social concerns vs. health concerns.

   2%
2. B

   Correct86% picked this

   for most people who successfully quit smoking, smoking does not create an immediate health concern at

   Why this is right

   This is what we were predicting. If social pressure is immediate, and health concerns are long-term, then by the rule given that “habit-breakers more often motivated by immediate than by long-term”, we can support the author’s conclusion that “people who break their cigarette habit are probably motivated more by social pressure than by health concern”.

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

   86%
3. C

   Opposite4% picked this

   some courses of action that exacerbate health concerns can also relieve

   This sounds like it’s trying to say a weakly worded necessary assumption of the author, but in fact the author is probably thinking that quitting smoking would both relieve social pressure (which is anti-smoking) while also ameliorating, not exacerbating, health concerns.

   4%
4. D

   Trap1% picked this

   most people who succeed in quitting smoking succeed only after

   Unclear Impact / Out of Scope: “only after several attempts” Does knowing that they kick the habit only after several attempts argue more in favor of social pressure than health concerns? We don’t have any common sense way to make this answer relevant to the conclusion’s head-to-head battle between social pressure and health concerns.

   1%
5. E

   Unclear Impact6% picked this

   everyone who succeeds in quitting smoking is motivated either by social pressure or

   The author doesn’t these two forms of pressure to be the only possible motivations for quitting. I could argue that “people who vacation in Hawaii more likely got their by airplane than by boat”, without needing to believe that “everyone who gets to Hawaii took an airplane or a boat”. If we say that all smokers quit from social pressure or health concerns, it doesn’t strengthen the author’s conclusion that it’s more likely the first one than the second one. It just has no impact on which of those two possible motivations is the more likely one.

   6%