Logical Reasoning

PT129 · S2 · Q14 Scientists have shown that older bees

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Scientists have shown that older bees, which usually forage outside the hive for food, tend to have larger brains than do younger bees, which usually do not forage but instead remain in the hive to tend to newly hatched bees.

Evidence

Scientists have shown that older bees, which usually forage outside the hive for food, tend to have larger brains than do younger bees, which usually do not forage but instead remain in the hive to tend the newly hatched bees.

Foraging requires greater cognitive ability than does tending to newly hatched bees.

Conclusion

It appears that foraging leads to the increased brain size of older bees.

Evaluate

The argument mistakes correlation for causation. A possible alternative cause for the increased brain size would undermine the argument. The other way to weaken this argument is to find foraging bees that do not have increased brain size or to find bees with increased brain size that do not forage.

14.

Which one of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument above?

  1. Bees that have foraged for

    Irrelevant Comparison

    The degree to which brain sizes are increased is not relevant to the argument.

    6% picked this

  2. The brains of older bees

    Out of Scope

    What happens to bees after they’ve acquired larger brains is not relevant to the argument.

    2% picked this

  3. Those bees that travel a

    Too Weak

    This tries to weaken the argument with something that could be misconstrued as an example of the presumed cause without the presumed effect. However, the degree issue here has it wrong. The argument does not suggest that the more foraging a bee does, the larger the bee’s brain will become.

    2% picked this

  4. In some species of bees,

    Strengthen

    This puts a cap on the difference in brain size, but does support the second premise of the argument.

    1% picked this

  5. Correct

    The brains of older bees

    Why this is right

    This provides bees with increased brain size that do not forage.

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

    89% picked this

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