Psychologist: Birth-order effects

Answer choices

1. A

   Correct63% picked this

   Standard personality tests will detect at least some birth-order effects on personality, if

   Why this is right

   Our author is assuming stuff much stronger than this, but that still means that she's assuming this. i.e. If I'm assuming that "Tony has at least 20 bucks" then I'm also assuming that "Tony has at least 10 cents". Our author is assuming that standard personality tests are a better source of data than are parents' and siblings' reports. In order to assume that, you'd have to assume that standard personality tests are even capable of measuring the thing we're asking them to measure. If we negate this answer, it's saying that if there is such a thing as birth-order effects on personality, a standard personality test will detect none of them That negation would badly weaken the argument, since it would make the standard personality test (which the author is trusting) sound like a totally worthless measuring instrument, since it would not be able to detect the phenomenon we're looking for.

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

   63%
2. B

   Too Strong: significantly different6% picked this

   The behavior patterns people display when they are with family are significantly different from those

   The author doesn't need to assume that people act at all differently around family vs. around other people. She could be content saying "sure, we act the same around everyone, but parents and siblings will perceive that behavior differently, including assigning some made up birth-order effect to that behavior".

   6%
3. C

   Too Strong / Specific15% picked this

   Parents' and siblings' perceptions of a person's personality tend not to change between that person's

   Too Strong / Specific: tend not to change "Tend to" = "most of the time" = "in more than 50% of cases". Words that mean "most" are wrong 99% of the time on Necessary Assumption, because when you negate "most" you're really just going from thinking something occurs 51% of the time to thinking it's true only 49% of the time. Big whoop. If we negated this answer and said, "actually parents' and siblings' perceptions of a family member's personality only change between early childhood and adulthood about 49% of the time", would that change anything about the author's argument? No. Our author had no position on whether the perception of birth-order effects held by parents and siblings was a constant perception throughout life vs. a changing perception as the family member went from kid to adult. It wouldn't make a difference either way to the author's argument.

   15%
4. D

   Strengthens, Not Necessary2% picked this

   Standard personality tests have detected significant birth-order effects in some studies of

   If true, this answer somewhat strengthens, since it shows us what (A) is saying -- standard personality tests can detect birth-order effects when present. But does this author need to assume that standard personality tests have detected effects in younger children? No. Her conclusion allows for the idea that there are initial birth-order effects, because it says "birth order has no lasting effect". But we interpret that as, "If there's any effect, it's not lasting". We don't interpret that as, "There is an initial effect, but it wears off." So it wouldn't hurt the author's argument if standard tests had never detected birth-order effects in younger children.

   2%
5. E

   Opposite14% picked this

   Parents and siblings have accurate perceptions of the behavior patterns of

   Our author is trusting standard personality tests to be the accurate voice in this conversation. Her final claim is a mildly dismissive idea that the perceptions parents and siblings have about supposed birth-order effects are "merely how the behavior is perceived".

   14%