E

A is irrelevant because the conclusion is based on what women prefer in facial features, not other features.

B doesn't matter. If all the photos are consistently from the same source (computer generated), then it should not skew results in one direction or another.

C is completely irrelevant.

D is also irrelevant. People can like actors for many reasons other than facial features.

E means there could be an age factor involved in women's preferences instead of just a masculinity factor.

"Significantly" in choice E is the key that changes the thinking of the subject (women) in the experiments. Choice A looks like contender, but I think out of scope. Other choices B, C, and D are irrelevant.

tuanquang269 wrote: Choice A looks like contender, but I think out of scope. Other choices B, C, and D are irrelevant.

I too agree that only A and E are the contender here.

In a recent study of responses to visual images, researchers found that women most frequently gave the rating 'most attractive' to images of male faces that were more feminine in contour, and rated more masculine faces, on average, 'less attractive'. -- Evidence

The researchers concluded that modern women prefer men who are less obviously masculine in their facial features. - conclusion based on the evidence.

here there is a scope shift : "attractive" is not a synonyms for "preferred" ( the author is assuming this to be true) - the perfect weakener should address this issue. But none does that.



A - only faces are shown, so what could be the other criteria ? none.

E - masculine faces are "less attractive" or "less preferred" not because of their masculine faces but because they are older.
This is a kind of typical logical fallacy where the sample size is under suspicion.

I agree that E is the best of all the answer choices, but the main flaws in the argument lies in the fact that -

rating "most attrativeness" or "least attractiveness" is in line with "preference", but none of the answer choices address this issue.

IMO: A

Rating faces is not only depends on facial features but it can also depends on other factors. Option A states the same thing. It weakened the premise given for the conclusion.

E was the correct answer. It was a tossup between A & E. Often I find having to decide between the final 2 answer choice in CR and always going against the right one. Any advice on pinpointing the right answer when you are left with 2 final options?

E was the correct answer. It was a tossup between A & E. Often I find having to decide between the final 2 answer choice in CR and always going against the right one. Any advice on pinpointing the right answer when you are left with 2 final options?

arpitad wrote:E was the correct answer. It was a tossup between A & E. Often I find having to decide between the final 2 answer choice in CR and always going against the right one. Any advice on pinpointing the right answer when you are left with 2 final options?

There is no thumb rule in CR.

Different question requires different approach. So I first read the question stem and then read the stimulus. It allows me to read it with a particular mindset. ( Although the most famous book in CR reccomends you to read the stimulus first, but it didn't work for me) - do what works for you.

I never came across any post where any expert has addressed this issue - what to do first ?

But there is no specific answer how to decide among the contenders. In certain question types ( assumption, flaws in the argument ) prediction works while in others ( inference, must be true types, parallel reasoning) process of elimination works.

Hope this helps !!

Thanks. It is from an online source.

https://majortests.com/gmat/critical_reasoning_test04

An answer choice that attacks the premises would be less preferable to be the best weakener than the one which attacks the link between the premises and conclusion. A seems to attack the premises directly.
Premise says that women mostly gave most attractive to facial images that were more feminine and less attractive to images that were more masculine. Now, A says that for most women facial features are not the criteria for attractiveness. But according to premises, women gave the rating of attractiveness based on facial features. So, this answer choice attacks the premises directly rather than conclusion. So, this does indirectly weaken the conclusion because if facial features is not the criteria for attractiveness then how did the researchers conclude that women prefer men with less masculine features.

But if there is a weakener which breaks the link between premises and conclusion then it is obviously preferable. Answer Choice E says that faces with masculine features were older than feminine. So, here we have hit upon one of the assumptions that both the feminine and masculine images were of persons of same age and that ageing factor was not a criteria that was making the masculine images less attractive. Answer Choice E hits this nail and since the COMPARISON is IMPROPER, it weakens the conclusion that masculine images are less preferred by women.

There is one other assumption that can be hit in order to weaken this such as:
1. Modern women are representative of the women who rated feminine images more attractive.

IMO E

A is surely out of the scope of discussion. If A would have used the "not only" then it would be considered. But its "not"....This word is too strong.


What is the OA?