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Cannot understand the reasoning pattern, please, help

Expert replies
by kiton » Wed Aug 17, 2011 6:12 am
Unfortunately I do not know the source of the question, hence no OA.

A study of marital relationships in which one partner's sleeping and waking cycles differ from those of the other partner reveals that such couples share fewer activities with each other and have more violent arguments than do couples in a relationship in which both partners follow the same sleeping and waking patterns. Thus, mismatched sleeping and waking cycles can seriously jeopardize a marriage.

Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument above?

(A) Married couples in which both spouses follow the same sleeping and waking patterns also occasionally have arguments that can jeopardize the couple's marriage.
(B) The sleeping and waking cycles of individuals tend to vary from season to season.
(C) The individuals who have sleeping and waking cycles that differ significantly from those of their spouses tend to argue little with colleagues at work.
(D) People in unhappy marriages have been found to express hostility by adopting a different sleeping and waking cycle from that of their spouses.
(E) According to a recent study, most people's sleeping and waking cycles can be controlled and modified easily.

It can be quite easily boiled down to A and D.
A, though, looks kind of "weak" to me, but D, from my own interpretation, strengthens the argument.

The stem:
following x+y => :)
not following x+y => :(

I see D as: being :( and not following x+y => :( (hostility is a bad thing, right?) how does this weaken the argument?
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Source: — Critical Reasoning |

by killer1387 » Wed Aug 17, 2011 6:26 am
HEY ,
i feel D is correct as it reverses the cause effect relationship

i.e. as per argument mismatched sleep/ wake cycle --> jeopardize/unhappy marraige:
option d) Unhappy marraige --> mismatched sleep/ wake cycle

Hope it clarifies.
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by kiton » Wed Aug 17, 2011 6:35 am
Thanks for a quick reply.

Right, but how does a reversed the cause effect relationship weakens the argument? If i were at the test, i would have answered incorrect, if only not have used the "counter intuition" technique :)
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by Ozlemg » Thu Aug 18, 2011 8:31 am
Hi

Then study how to weaken an argumnet technıques! :)
There are 5-6 ways to weaken an argument!

Web surfing will help!

In addition, this is an Official Question!

Cheers...
The more you suffer before the test, the less you will do so in the test! :)
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by XLogic » Thu Aug 18, 2011 6:09 pm
Ozlemg wrote:Hi

Then study how to weaken an argumnet technıques! :)
There are 5-6 ways to weaken an argument!

Web surfing will help!

In addition, this is an Official Question!

Cheers...
Lol! You should share.

Causal relationship:
X causes Y

How To Weaken:
- Y causes X
- When X occurs, Y doesn't always occur
- Z causes X and Y

(D) weakens "mismatch sleep --> problems with marriage", by showing...
the reverse is sometimes true "problems with marriage --> mismatch sleep"
my post helped --> thank me!
don't thank me --> my post = what the..??
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by kiton » Fri Aug 19, 2011 12:18 am
XLogic, thank you! Clear now.
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by navami » Fri Aug 19, 2011 2:01 am
D it is
This time no looking back!!!
Navami
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