In one study, hospital patients'

Answer choices

1. A

   Correct34% picked this

   overlooks the possibility that the patients whose tendency to laugh was greater to begin with laughed more at the comic videos

   Why this is right

   The weird just gets weirder. This correct answer is an objection, since the author can't make any comparison between "silly people who only laughed a little" and "stoic people who laughed a lot", if it turns out that the silly people laughed more than everyone else. There's no way to have predicted the language/formulation of this answer. We just needed to be reacting to the bizarre new comparison in the conclusion, and to recognize that this would hurt the author's ability to draw that conclusion. When flaw answer choices begin with "fails to consider / overlooks the possibility / neglects the possibility", we just ask ourselves, "Would this be an objection to the author's reasoning?" If so, it's a good answer.

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

   34%
2. B

   Not An Objection37% picked this

   fails to address adequately the possibility that the patients whose tendency to laugh was greatest to begin with already had stronger immune

   It doesn't affect this argument one way or the other whether silly people or stoic people started out with stronger immune systems (or whether they were equally strong). The author is talking only about how much improvement they make from whatever their starting point was. He's claiming that silly people who laughed a little had +10 improvement points whereas stoic people who laughed a lot only had +5 improvement points. So it makes no difference what their initial immune system "score" was.

   37%
3. C

   Too Strong: representative of entire population2% picked this

   presumes, without providing justification, that hospital patients have immune systems representative of those of

   The author isn't committed to this sampling assumption. Her conclusion is only about "hospital patients" so she isn't claiming or assuming anything about the non-hospital patient segment of the population.

   2%
4. D

   Not Being Assumed21% picked this

   takes for granted that the gains in immune system strength did not themselves influence the

   She assumes that laughter helps the immune system. Does it hurt her argument if improvements in the immune system help with laughter? No, it can be a two way street. That wouldn't hurt her argument, so it's not necessary for her to assume this isn't happening.

   21%
5. E

   Not Being Assumed5% picked this

   presumes, without providing justification, that the patients whose tendency to laugh was greatest to begin with recovered from their illnesses more

   We are told that the sillier patients had greater gains in immune strength than the non-silly patients. If we are equating "greater gains in immune strength" with "recovered more rapidly", then this answer would be describing a Premise, not an assumption. If "greater gains in immune strength" ≠ "recovered more rapidly", then this answer is just bringing in something out of scope. So either way we interpret this answer it would be wrong.

   5%