Logical Reasoning

PT142 · S2 · Q22 Psychiatrist: In treating first-year students

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Psychiatrist: In treating first-year students at this university, I have noticed that those reporting the highest levels of spending on recreation score at about the same level on standard screening instruments for anxiety and depression as those reporting the lowest levels of spending on recreation.

Conclusion

1st yr students who spend a lot of $$ on recreation could reduce that spending without increasing their anxiety or depression.

Evidence

the 1st yr students who spend a lot of $$ on recreation score at about the same level for anxiety / depression as do those who spend the lowest on recreation.

Evaluation

In an Anti-Causal argument such as this, it's usually two groups of people being compared. Since they achieve the same result (score the same on anxiety / depression), the author assumes that some difference (spending lots of $ on recreation vs. spending little) makes no causal difference.

We weaken these arguments by making the groups unfair to compare to begin with. Maybe the students who spend lots of money on recreation would be WAY WORSE if they didn't spend that money. (e.g. , "He's well adjusted because he goes to therapy.")

Goal

Since we would weaken this argument by pointing out differences that make the spend more group seem more prone to anxiety / depression, we can expect strengthen answers that equalize out these factors (or make the spend less group seem more prone).

There also might be an answer that just corroborates the anti-causal conclusion, i.e. it provides more reason to believe that spending $ on rec is not likely to decrease your anxiety / depression.

22.

Each of the following, if true, strengthens the psychiatrist's argument EXCEPT:

  1. At other universities, first-year students

    Boosts Author's Plausibility

    When we're trying to strengthen causal or anti-causal relationships, it increases our author's causal interpretation when we get more data points that fit that story. Our author thinks "spending $ on rec" will not translate into "less anxiety / depression". These reports from other universities lend more credence to that idea.

    3% picked this

  2. Screening of first-year students at

    Boosts Author's Plausibility

    Since the author said that the people spending the most could decrease their spending without increasing their anxiety / depression, it is helpful to him to learn that people at a middle tier of spending (which is the tier these max spenders would fall down towards if they started spending less) are actually less anxious and depressed than the max tier.

    13% picked this

  3. Correct

    Among adults between the ages

    Why this is right

    These data points go squarely against the author's thinking. They show an association between more spending on rec and less anxiety / depression.

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

    80% picked this

  4. The screening instruments used by

    Evidence More Trustworthy

    This helps the argument by making us feel better about the reliability of the data the author is going after. One might have objected, "Why should we trust the scores on these tests? Maybe everyone scores the same because the tests are poorly designed?" This rules out those objections and reassures us that this data is extremely accurate. Some students are under the impression that we're not supposed to ever support or oppose the evidence (they might write this off as a Premise Booster). There is no rule that says you can't strengthen or weaken a case by addressing the trustworthiness of the evidence. There are valid Strengthen answers that make underlying data more trustworthy and valid Weaken answers that essentially make the underlying data seem worthless.

    2% picked this

  5. Several of the psychiatrist's patients

    Boosts Author's Plausibility

    This is one of the weakest strengtheners here since it only involves "several" data points, but those data points to fit the author's claim, so they do strengthen. Also the correct answer has data points that go directly against the author's claim, so this answer definitely strengthens more than something that weakens.

    2% picked this

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