Logical Reasoning

PT141 · S4 · Q16 Stress is a common cause of high

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Stress is a common cause of high blood pressure.

Facts

(1) Stress is a common cause of high blood pressure. (2) Calming the mind reduces stress, and for some people this lowers their blood pressure. (3) Most people can calm their minds by exercising.

Evaluate

This is a chain: exercise → calmer mind → less stress → lower blood pressure for some. The logical move is "for at least some people." The strongest direct chain is exercise → calmer mind → reduced stress, since "most people can calm their minds by exercising" applies broadly enough that at least some of those people are covered. The blood-pressure end of the chain only works for "some people," which is a weaker bridge.

Goal

Find an answer that is directly supported by the chain of facts — most likely a "for at least some" claim that links exercise to one of the closer steps in the chain (calming, stress reduction).

16.

Which one of the following is most strongly supported by the information above?

  1. For at least some people,

    Reversal / Negation

    The stimulus says reducing stress lowers blood pressure for some — the direction is stress → blood pressure. This answer reverses it, claiming lower blood pressure causes lower stress. Nothing in the stimulus supports that backwards causal direction.

    2% picked this

  2. Most people with high blood

    Too Strong

    The stimulus says "some people can lower their blood pressure" by reducing stress — not most. So we can't conclude that most people with high blood pressure can lower it through stress reduction. The leap from "some" to "most" is unsupported.

    9% picked this

  3. Most people who do not

    Too Strong

    The stimulus says exercise can calm the mind for most people — but it doesn't say that not exercising causes higher stress. People who don't exercise might use other ways to calm their minds. So claiming non-exercisers have higher stress as a result is unsupported.

    2% picked this

  4. Engaging in exercise can directly

    Too Strong

    The stimulus describes an indirect chain: exercise → calmer mind → reduced stress → lower blood pressure (for some). This answer says exercise can directly lower blood pressure — skipping all the intermediate steps. The stimulus doesn't support a direct mechanism; it supports an indirect one routed through stress.

    11% picked this

  5. Correct

    For at least some people,

    Why this is right

    This is the conservative inference the chain supports. The stimulus says (a) calming the mind reduces stress and (b) most people can calm their minds by exercising. So at least some of those "most people" have their stress reduced by exercising. The "for at least some" hedge keeps the inference safely within what the stimulus guarantees.

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

    76% picked this

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