CR Question 44

The fact that several of the largest senior citizens’ organizations are constituted almost exclusively of middle-class elderly people has led critics to question the seriousness of those organizations’ commitment to speaking out on behalf of the needs of economically disadvantaged elderly people.

Which of the following generalizations, if true, would help to substantiate the criticism implicit in the statement above?

(A) The ideology of an organization tends reflect the traditional political climate of its locale.

(B) The needs of disadvantaged elderly people differ in some ways from those of other disadvantaged groups within contemporary society.

(C) Organized groups are better able to publicize their problems and seek redress than individuals acting alone.

(D) Middle-class elderly people are more likely to join organizations than are economically disadvantaged elderly people.

(E) People usually join organizations whose purpose is to further the economic, political, or social interests of their members


Answer: E

OA - E

1st Premise: Organizations consist of more elderly middle class citizens
2nd Premise: Organizations' are committed to speak out on behalf of the needs of economically disadvantaged elderly people.

Conclusion: If organization doesn't speaks out on behalf of the needs of economically disadvantaged elderly people then its members are probably not economically disadvantaged

Option strengthening the conclusion

E - People usually join organizations whose purpose is to further the
economic, political, or social interests of their members => least bothered about the economically disadvantaged people, so will not speak out for them.. just the interest of middle class elderly reigns

(A) The ideology of an organization tends reflect the traditional political climate of its locale. - political climate ?? irrelevant

(B) The needs of disadvantaged elderly people differ in some ways from those of other disadvantaged groups within contemporary society. - out of scope - not interested in other disadvantaged groups

(C) Organized groups are better able to publicize their problems and seek redress than individuals acting alone. - is this affecting our conclusion in any way ? No - irrelevant

(D) Middle-class elderly people are more likely to join organizations than are economically disadvantaged elderly people. - more likely to join ?? - may be - but is this affecting our conclusion in any way? No - irrelevant

CR Questions 42, 43

42). Toddlers are not being malicious when they bite people. For example, a child may want a toy, and feel that the person he or she bites is preventing him or her from having it.

The situation as described above most closely conforms to which one of the following generalizations?

(A) Biting people is sometimes a way for toddlers to try to solve problems.

(B) Toddlers sometimes engage in biting people in order to get attention from adults.

(C) Toddlers mistakenly believe that biting people is viewed as acceptable behavior by adults.

(D) Toddlers do not recognize that by biting people they often thwart their own ends.

(E) Resorting to biting people is in some cases an effective way for toddlers to get what they want.

43). Psychiatrist: We are learning that neurochemical imbalances can cause behavior ranging from extreme mental illness to less serious but irritating behavior such as obsessive fantasizing, petulance, or embarrassment. These findings will promote compassion and tolerance when looking at a mental illness, quirk, or mere difference between two persons, since being mentally healthy can now begin to be seen as simply having the same neurochemical balances as most people.

Which one of the following most accurately expresses the conclusion of the psychiatrist's argument?

(A) Understanding the role of the neurochemical in behavior will foster empathy toward others.

(B) Neurochemical imbalances can cause mental illness and other behaviors.

(C) Neurochemical balances and imbalances are the main determinants of mental behavior.

(D) Being mentally healthy is a matter of having the same neurochemical balances as most people.

(E) Advances in neurochemistry enhance our theories of mental illness


Answers:

42). OA - A

Conclusion: Toddlers are not malicious when they bite other people. The stated example tells the fact that why the toddler feels his act of biting is acceptable and that he would get what he wants by biting

A - correct - similar to reasoning above - toddler bites to get a toy ..thus in a way solves his problems
B - incorrect - irrelevant - nowhere adults are mentioned in the argument
C - incorrect - irrelevant - no feelings of Toddlers towards adult is stated in the argument
D - incorrect - does not relates to the argument though can be true
E - incorrect - how do we know it is an effective way..it is not stated in the argument

43). OA - A

We are suppose to identify the conclusion

A - correct - expresses the conclusion: These findings will promote compassion and tolerance....
B - incorrect - this is not a conclusion but simply a fact.
C - incorrect - main determinants - nowhere stated
D - incorrect - this is same as a fact
E - incorrect - close call but too broad to conclude..A is better than E

CR Question 40, 41

40). A researcher discovered that people who have low levels of immune-system activity tend to score much lower on tests of mental health than do people with normal or high immune-system activity. The researcher concluded from this experiment that the immune system protects against mental illness as well as against physical disease.

The researcher's conclusion depends on which of the following assumptions?

A. High immune-system activity protects against mental illness better than normal immune-system activity does.

B. Mental illness is similar to physical disease in its effects on body systems.

C. People with high immune-system activity cannot develop mental illness.

D. Mental illness does not cause people's immune-system activity to decrease.

E. Psychological treatment of mental illness is not as effective as is medical treatment

41). Twenty years ago the Republic of Rosinia produced nearly 100 million tons of potatoes, but last year the harvest barely reached 60 million tons. Agricultural researchers, who have failed to develop new higher yielding strains of potatoes, are to blame for this decrease, since they have been concerned only with their own research and not with the needs of Rosinia.

Which one of the following is an assumption on which the argument depends?

(A) Any current attempts by agricultural researchers to develop higher-yielding potato strains are futile.

(B) Strains of potatoes most commonly grown in Rosinia could not have produced the yields last year that they once did.

(C) Agricultural researchers often find concrete solutions to practical problems when investigating seemingly unrelated questions.

(D) Wide fluctuations in the size of the potato crop over a twenty-year period are not unusual.

(E) Agricultural research in Rosinia is funded by government grants.


Answers:

40). OA - D

Best approach for such questions is to negate the assumption and then look what effect this creates on the conclusion

Conclusion: immune system protects against mental illness
Negate the assumption: Mental illness causes people's immune-system activity to decrease.

Argument is shattered

Why not B:

Mental illness is similar to physical disease in its effects on body systems. - Assumption. Mental illness is similar to physical.

Now if you negate this assumption then the conclusion that "Protects against mental AND physical" falls ---- the similarity b/w the two diseases needs not be true for the immune system to work as claimed. The immune system can protect against two mutually exclusive diseases and still be effective. It's like saying that tylenol protects against headaches and depression. Are the two similar? Not at all. Yet, tylenol can still protect people against the two.

41). OA - B

Follow denial technique for assumption questions -

Negate : Strains of potatoes most commonly grown in Rosinia could have produced the yields last year that they once did. If this is true, then there could be some other reason for the reduced harvest. However, since the strains could not produce the same yields last year, the researchers are to blame for the poor quality of the strain