The proportion of fat calories

Answer choices

1. A

   Correct80% picked this

   illicitly infers a cause from a

   Why this is right

   Of all the ways a Flaw question can complain about a Causal flaw, this is the most straightforward and boring. Whenever any Flaw answer choice uses Conclusion / Evidence wording like, "infers X from Y", we know to ask ourselves whether those match up with the Conc / Evid. Did the author conclude something causal? Yes, he said "reading labels causes more healthy dietary behavior". Is the evidence a correlation? Yes, he said "reading labels is correlated with lower % of fat in diet". Is it illicit? Yes. It's wrong to be sure that a correlation signifies a causal relationship between two things. It's fine to mildly state that it may indicate a causal relationship.

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

   80%
2. B

   Not Sampling2% picked this

   relies on a sample that is unlikely to be representative of the group

   This answer describes one of the other 10 Famous Flaws, Sampling, in which the author relies on a sample that we are given reason to think is either too small, unrepresentative, biased, or unlikely to have provided accurate answers. This argument doesn't rely on any sample.

   2%
3. C

   Not Necessary vs. Sufficient6% picked this

   confuses a condition that is necessary for a phenomenon to occur with a condition that is sufficient for

   This answer describes the most common of the 10 Famous Flaws, Necessary vs. Sufficient, in which the author presents a conditional logic relationship in the premises and then applies that conditional rule in some illegal backwards or negated fashion. Since we don't have any conditional rule in the evidence, this can't possibly be that flaw.

   6%
4. D

   Not False Choice3% picked this

   takes for granted that there are only two possible alternative explanations

   This answer describes a flaw that some people have a name for, but it isn't a super famous one. People call it False Choice, when an author is unnecessarily boxing herself into only two options. In this argument, the author didn't consider any possible alternative explanations. The author simply concluded what he considered to be the explanation.

   3%
5. E

   Not Intent vs. Result9% picked this

   draws a conclusion about the intentions of a group of people based solely on data about the

   This answer describes a semi-famous flaw (in the top 15, but not the top 10) we call Intent vs. Result. This flaw is where an author says something like, "Jenny's joke made Sam cry. Thus, Jenny must have wanted Sam to cry." Does this argument draw a conclusion "about the intentions of a group of people"? Nope. The author just draws a conclusion that offers a causal relationship between reading labels on food products and having more healthful dietary behavior.

   9%