Logical Reasoning

PT152 · S4 · Q3 Consumer: A new law requires all cigarette

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Consumer: A new law requires all cigarette packaging to display health warnings, disturbing pictures of smoking-related diseases, and no logos.

Conclusion

The law requiring cigarette packaging to have health warning, gross pictures, and no logos will not affect the smoking habits of most people who regularly smoke.

Evidence (since)

Most of these people rarely look at the packaging when they take out a cigarette.

Evaluate

The conclusion is trying to prove that . Did they provide any rule or legal mechanism that sounded like, ?

No, so the correct answer will almost certainly take the thing the evidence said and relate it to the idea of "won't affect smoking habits of most regular smokers".

The evidence is that people rarely look at the packaging when they take out a cigarette.

So the argument is assuming a missing link,

if you rarely look at then health warnings packaging when you → and gross photos on take out a cigarette package won't affect your smoking habits

If we were considering potential objections to this argument, we'd be thinking, ?

Maybe we could say, "Sure they rarely look at the packaging when they take out a cigarette, but maybe they look at the packaging other times. Maybe they see the packaging when they buy the cigarettes, and the scary new packaging will dissuade them from buying it. Maybe they look at the packaging as they're smoking a cigarette, and the scary new packaging will make them snuff out their cigarette prematurely. Maybe their friends and loved ones see the scary new packaging and try extra hard to dissuade these regular smokers from smoking."

Goal

Look for an answer that takes us from the launching pad of, and gets us to the landing zone of .

3.

The conclusion of the consumer's argument follows logically if which one of the following is assumed?

  1. If implementing certain regulations on

    Bad Trigger Match

    We can contrapose this answer and get the conclusion on the right of the arrow. If regulations should then implementing these not be implemented ? new packaging regulations will not affect the smoking habits of regular smokers That conditional's outcome does match the conclusion! Is the trigger something we were told? Nope. We were never told that "these regulations should not be implemented". Since we have no way to trigger this rule, it does nothing for us.

    1% picked this

  2. If those who regularly smoke

    Bad Conclusion Match

    The right side of this arrow is saying that something "likely will affect smoking habits", but we're trying to prove that something "will not affect smoking habits", so this answer is functionally useless to us.

    8% picked this

  3. Almost all people who regularly

    Unrelated to Goal

    This answer doesn't have any language about whether something "will / won't affect the smoking habits of regular smokers", so it's functionally useless and not worth reading.

    5% picked this

  4. Correct

    The new packaging cannot affect

    Why this is right

    We can contrapose this answer and get the conclusion on the right of the arrow. If people don't then this frequently look at ? new packaging packaging when cannot affect the smoking taking out cigs habits of regular smokers That conditional's outcome does match the conclusion. Is the trigger something we were told? Yes. We were never told that "these regular smokers rarely look at the packaging when they take out a cigarette", so that means that "these regular smokers do not frequently look at the packaging when they take out a cigarette". The evidence fires the trigger on this rule, and the outcome delivers us the wording of the conclusion!

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

    82% picked this

  5. Most people who regularly smoke

    Unrelated to Goal

    This answer doesn't have any language about whether something "will / won't affect the smoking habits of regular smokers", so it's functionally useless and not worth reading.

    4% picked this

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