Logical Reasoning

PT146 · S3 · Q7 The Kuna, a people native to several

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The Kuna, a people native to several Panamanian islands, generally have a low incidence of high blood pressure.

Information

asymmetric comparison (Curious Fact)

Kuna who were born and live on the islands generally have a low incidence of high blood pressure, whereas Kuna who moved to the mainland don't have this low incidence of high blood pressure.

asymmetric comparison

Kuna on the islands typically drink several cups of high-flavonoid cocoa a day, whereas Kuna who live on the mainland don't.

Evaluate

This looks ripe for a "One Difference Explains the Other" type inference.

Suppose we said,

Can we prove that the mindfulness breathing is the causal difference-maker that has allowed Jane to improve more than Bob?

Of course not. But can we support that idea? Yes.

On Most Supported questions, we're sometimes asked to speculate that Difference 1 explains Difference 2.

Goal

We would anticipate that "drinking several cups of high-flavonoid cocoa" is a reason that the island Kuna have lower blood pressure than the mainland Kuna.

7.

Of the following, which one is most strongly supported by the information above?

  1. Foods high in flavonoids are

    Too Speculative: not available

    Yes, we think that the island Kuna's blood pressure is lower than mainland Kuna's because the island Kuna are drinking several cups of high-flavonoid cocoa each day And if we think that consuming this high-flavonoid cocoa is the causal difference-maker, then we are thinking that mainland Kuna are not imbibing as much flavonoids. But it's going one step further here to speculate why they're not imbibing as much flavonoids. Maybe it's because high-flavonoid foods aren't readily available. Or maybe there are high-flavonoid foods readily available, but they don't have that class island cocoa. In other words, if the Kuna lived on the islands, they'd drink the traditional cocoa several times a day and (perhaps unwittingly) consume a lot of flavonoids. For the Kuna on the mainland, there might not be readily available places to find this cocoa. Since they aren't drinking the cocoa, they aren't consuming a lot of flavonoids, even though there are high-flavonoid foods still readily available on the mainland. We have no reason to think that the Kuna are aware of the benefit of consuming flavonoids and will seek them out if there are high-flavonoid foods readily available.

    5% picked this

  2. Kuna who live on the

    Too Speculative: beliefs

    Yes, we think that the island Kuna's blood pressure is lower than mainland Kuna's because the island Kuna are drinking several cups of high-flavonoid cocoa each day But it's too speculative to add on something about what the Kuna know or believe. They might be drinking the cocoa because it's delicious or because it's a traditional drink, having no idea that the flavonoid content is actually helping their health.

    1% picked this

  3. The Kuna have a genetic

    Contradicted

    The Kuna who move to the mainland are genetically the same as the Kuna who live on the island, yet the former do not have a low incidence of high blood pressure. If a genetic predisposition were causing the low blood pressure, then both island Kuna and mainland Kuna would have low blood pressure.

    1% picked this

  4. Kuna who live on the

    Out of Scope: non-Kuna mainlanders

    We have no grounds for making any comparison between Kuna on the mainland and other people on the mainland, since we received no information about non-Kuna mainlanders.

    4% picked this

  5. Correct

    Drinking several cups of flavonoid-rich

    Why this is right

    This is by no means a Must Be True idea, but it is the causal connection most suggested by the available details. We're provided with one curious difference -- "How come island Kuna have lower blood pressure than mainland Kuna?" And then we're provided with one other contrast -- "The island Kuna drink several cups of high-flavonoid cocoa per day, but the mainland Kuna don't". And so that leads us to this speculation ... "Hmmm, maybe the high-flavonoid cocoa is the causal difference-maker for why the island Kuna have lower blood pressure!"

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

    89% picked this

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