OG 10th Edition Q 48

nishant_1010 · Posted: Sun Mar 25, 2007 1:16 am Post subject: OG 10th Edition Q 48

48. 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.

Ans D. I chose C. Why is C wrong Plz explain

rajesh_ctm · Posted: Sun Mar 25, 2007 11:16 am Post subject:

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

Note the word in bold. C is an extreme assumption. The author never assumed this. The maximum the author assumes is that immune system protects against illness. But C implies that people with high immune-system activity absolutely cannot develop mental illness.

Such extreme choices can most often be eliminated. Always be on the lookout for such extreme wordings in the choices.

Vasudha · Posted: Wed Mar 28, 2007 9:36 am Post subject:

Assumption questions are best solved by the denial test-

First negate the assumption.
People with high immune-system activity can develop mental illness.

Second check for effect of negation
what effect does this negation have on the author's argument?- little or none.

Therefore, C is not a necessary assumption for the argument to hold.
However, when you negate D, " Mental illness does cause people’s immune-system activity to decrease, the authors argument, especially the first sentence, is shattered. Hence, a necessary assumption.