CR Questions

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CR Questions

by Jadeyue » Wed Nov 07, 2012 4:11 pm
1.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'. The researchers concluded that modern women prefer men who are less obviously masculine in their facial features.

The conclusion would be most severely weakened if which of the following were true?

A. Facial features are not the criterion that most women use to decide whether a man is attractive.
B. The visual images were computer generated composites of photographs and not pictures of actual men.
C. The rating scale was a ten point scale with most attractive scoring 1-2 and least attractive scoring 8-10.
D. Most popular male actors have the features that the study allocated to the more masculine category.
E. The faces with the more masculine features were all significantly older than those with the feminine features.

The Official Answer is E. Could any one please tell me why A is not right?

2. A marriage counselor noted that couples who have occasional violent arguments are less likely to divorce within the next six months than those who have frequent but less violent arguments. He concluded that frequent arguing is a major factor in the causation of severe marital disharmony.

The counselor's conclusion is most weakened by which of the following observations?


A. Couples who have already come to the point of divorce argue continuously over small matters.
B. People who have recently divorced are more likely to argue violently when they meet.
C. Many people in happy marriages have occasional violent arguments.
D. Recently divorced people rarely cite frequent arguments as a cause of marital disharmony
E. A significant fraction of couples close to divorce do not talk to each other

The Official Answer is A. I would like to know why C is not correct?

Thank you.

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by sathishkumarjva9888 » Tue Nov 27, 2012 1:23 am
Hi,

Please hide the official answers before posting it.

---------------------------------------------------------

Q1.) Premise: Women rated

More feminine male faces - most attractive
More masculine male faces - less attractive

Conclusion: Women prefer men with less masculine faces.

Question: Why Women does not prefer less men with less masculine faces.

A. Facial features are not the criterion that most women use to decide whether a man is attractive.

This option attacks the Premise saying images rated as most attractive is not because of facial features.

B. The visual images were computer generated composites of photographs and not pictures of actual men.

Irrelevant.

C. The rating scale was a ten point scale with most attractive scoring 1-2 and least attractive scoring 8-10.

We donot know whether the women were informed about this rating scale. Hence this is irrelevant.

D. Most popular male actors have the features that the study allocated to the more masculine category.
Analogy between features of more masculine images and more popular male actors does not help.

E. The faces with the more masculine features were all significantly older than those with the feminine features.

Though the only one stands out, i have a doubt how this option weakens the conclusion.

If faces with more masculine features are older, then it would be good to say that women prefer men with less masculine features.

---------------------------------------------------------

Q2.) Conclusion: frequent arguing causes divorce.

Queston is to weaken this conclusion.

A. Couples who have already come to the point of divorce argue continuously over small matters.

Good one. It says divorce causes frequent arguing.

B. People who have recently divorced are more likely to argue violently when they meet.

Irrelevant. Argument is about people who are more likely to be divorced in next six months.

C. Many people in happy marriages have occasional violent arguments.

It simply supports a point in Premise but has no effect on the conclusion.

D. Recently divorced people rarely cite frequent arguments as a cause of marital disharmony

Opposite answer. To an extent it allows us to conclude frequent arguing causes divorce.

E. A significant fraction of couples close to divorce do not talk to each other
No impact as it talks about people who are already ready for divorce.


Thanks
Sathish

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by umeshpatil » Tue Nov 27, 2012 5:55 pm
As per the study, Women gave 'most attractive' rating to men with feminine face and 'least attractive' rating to men with masculine face.

Option (A)says 'facial features are not the criterion that most women use to decide whether a man is attractive'. This contradicts the premise in the argument, because women gave rating on the basis of facial expressions. It doesn't weaken the argument.

For the answer, I am confused between D & E. Can anyone please elaborated between D & E?
(D) says men with masculine category are more popular. It should also mean that rating by women also would be higher. This statement doesn't follow the outcome of study in the argument. So, It weakens the argument.

(E) Faces with masculine features are older than those with feminine features. It means that women preferred the younger faces as attractive and rated older faces as least attractive. I am not sure how it weakens, because it doesn't falsify anywhere that 'women prefer men who are less obviously masculine in their facial features'


2) It is a fixed pattern of weaken argument. Argument says (Frequent argument) => (Divorce).
It can be weakened by saying Divorce caused the frequent argument.

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by Bill@VeritasPrep » Tue Nov 27, 2012 11:24 pm
Conclusion: women prefer men with less masculine faces.

Evidence: women rated male faces that were more feminine higher than they did male faces that were more masculine.

We're looking for a reason that this conclusion doesn't necessarily work.

A. Facial features are not the criterion that most women use to decide whether a man is attractive.
(this contradicts the stimulus: we already know that women rated attractiveness based on facial features)

B. The visual images were computer generated composites of photographs and not pictures of actual men.
(irrelevant; we have no way of knowing how this would compare to photos of actual men)

C. The rating scale was a ten point scale with most attractive scoring 1-2 and least attractive scoring 8-10.
(the scoring scale does not matter since our evidence was qualitative, not quantitative)

D. Most popular male actors have the features that the study allocated to the more masculine category.
(irrelevant; we don't care about male actors)

E. The faces with the more masculine features were all significantly older than those with the feminine features.
(bingo; by giving us another variable between the faces rated more attractive or less attractive, we have an alternative explanation: it's not that they prefer feminine faces, it's that they prefer younger faces
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by GMATGuruNY » Wed Nov 28, 2012 4:03 am
Jadeyue wrote:1.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'. The researchers concluded that modern women prefer men who are less obviously masculine in their facial features.

The conclusion would be most severely weakened if which of the following were true?

A. Facial features are not the criterion that most women use to decide whether a man is attractive.
B. The visual images were computer generated composites of photographs and not pictures of actual men.
C. The rating scale was a ten point scale with most attractive scoring 1-2 and least attractive scoring 8-10.
D. Most popular male actors have the features that the study allocated to the more masculine category.
E. The faces with the more masculine features were all significantly older than those with the feminine features.

The Official Answer is E. Could any one please tell me why A is not right?
This passage links MORE MASCULINE FACIAL FEATURES to images that were deemed "LESS ATTRACTIVE".
The correct answer must BREAK this link.
Answer choice E: The faces with the more masculine features were all significantly older than those with the feminine features.
This answer choice suggests that the AGE of the faces was responsible for the ratings, weakening the link between more masculine features and the images that were deemed "less attractive".

The correct answer is E.

A: Facial features are not the criterion that most women use to decide whether a man is attractive.
It is given as a PREMISE that women most frequently gave the rating 'most attractive' to images of male faces that were more feminine in contour.
A premise is a FACT NOT IN DISPUTE.
The correct answer cannot contradict a premise.
Last edited by GMATGuruNY on Wed Nov 28, 2012 10:31 am, edited 3 times in total.
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by GMATGuruNY » Wed Nov 28, 2012 4:20 am
Jadeyue wrote: A marriage counselor noted that couples who have occasional violent arguments are less likely to divorce within the next six months than those who have frequent but less violent arguments. He concluded that frequent arguing is a major factor in the causation of severe marital disharmony.

The counselor's conclusion is most weakened by which of the following observations?


A. Couples who have already come to the point of divorce argue continuously over small matters.
B. People who have recently divorced are more likely to argue violently when they meet.
C. Many people in happy marriages have occasional violent arguments.
D. Recently divorced people rarely cite frequent arguments as a cause of marital disharmony
E. A significant fraction of couples close to divorce do not talk to each other

The Official Answer is A. I would like to know why C is not correct?

Thank you.
This is a CAUSAL argument.
The passage concludes that FREQUENT ARGUMENTS cause SEVERE MARITAL DISHARMONY.
One way to weaken a causal argument is to REVERSE THE CAUSAL RELATIONSHIP.
Answer choice A: Couples who have already come to the point of divorce argue continuously over small matters.
This answer choices REVERSES the causal relationship.
Whereas the passage concludes that frequent arguments lead to divorce, this answer choice suggests that people on the verge of divorce are more likely to have frequent arguments -- weakening the conclusion that frequent arguments cause severe marital disharmony.

The correct answer is A.

Answer choice C: Many people in happy marriages have occasional violent arguments.
Outside the scope: the conclusion is not about occasional violent arguments but about FREQUENT arguments.
In strengthen/weaken questions, be skeptical of the word many: how many is many?
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by sathishkumarjva9888 » Wed Nov 28, 2012 6:02 am
Thanks experts. :)

Btw, Is "MORE MASCULINE FACIAL FEATURES caused the women to rate the images "LESS ATTRACTIVE"" is theconclusion for Question1?

Isnt it "women prefer men with less masculine faces"?

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by tanviet » Wed Nov 28, 2012 7:41 am
REGARding the first question.

prethink an assumption: rating shows the preference

going to answer choices to look for something which break above assumption

find nothing

however realize choice E also weaken

think of assumption of choice E: no difference except for facial difference

very confident of E now because E break this assummption, not the assumption I prethink at first.

above is my thinking process. in fact, I can not prethink the relevant assumption at first but I still get the answer E. after find E, I infer the assumption of E and am very confident.

do you thank that a good way to confirm an weakener is to find its assumption. Pls advise.

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by Bill@VeritasPrep » Wed Nov 28, 2012 11:12 pm
sathishkumarjva9888 wrote:Thanks experts. :)

Btw, Is "MORE MASCULINE FACIAL FEATURES caused the women to rate the images "LESS ATTRACTIVE"" is theconclusion for Question1?

Isnt it "women prefer men with less masculine faces"?
Yep. The researchers concluded that women prefer men...

Sometimes the writers are nice enough to tell us directly what the conclusion is :o
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by Bill@VeritasPrep » Wed Nov 28, 2012 11:13 pm
duongthang wrote:REGARding the first question.

prethink an assumption: rating shows the preference

going to answer choices to look for something which break above assumption

find nothing

however realize choice E also weaken

think of assumption of choice E: no difference except for facial difference

very confident of E now because E break this assummption, not the assumption I prethink at first.

above is my thinking process. in fact, I can not prethink the relevant assumption at first but I still get the answer E. after find E, I infer the assumption of E and am very confident.

do you thank that a good way to confirm an weakener is to find its assumption. Pls advise.
I don't know if I'd call it an assumption necessarily, but asking yourself what evidence could lead to an alternate conclusion can be helpful.
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by tanviet » Thu Nov 29, 2012 5:32 am
many persons advise that for weaken/strenghen questions, it is good to prethink an assumption after reading the argument and before going to answer choices.

but the assumption we prethink possibly is not the assumption on which the weakener or strengthener is based. In the question 1 of the original post, the assumption I prethink is " rating shows the preference". but, E the weakener is based an assumption that " there is no other difference exept the facial defference in the man surveyed" .

this situation happen frequently. But why we should prethink an assumption. because the prethinking process help us better understand the argument and brings us closer to the correct answer .

any one have experience on this process, pls speank up.

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by GMAT Kolaveri » Thu Nov 29, 2012 8:20 am
Conclusion: modern women prefer men who are less obviously masculine in their facial features

The author arrived at this conclusion from the analysis of ratings given by women to images of male faces.

In such type of CR questions where the author concludes something from the results of a study, the most common way to weaken the argument is by showing that the data used by the author is incorrect. Hence OA is E

Like Mitch said A contradicts a fact given in the argument.
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by tanviet » Thu Nov 29, 2012 10:07 am
GMAT Kolaveri wrote:Conclusion: modern women prefer men who are less obviously masculine in their facial features

The author arrived at this conclusion from the analysis of ratings given by women to images of male faces.

In such type of CR questions where the author concludes something from the results of a study, the most common way to weaken the argument is by showing that the data used by the author is incorrect. Hence OA is E

Like Mitch said A contradicts a fact given in the argument.
great

what is normally an assumption for this type of argument?

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by Bill@VeritasPrep » Thu Nov 29, 2012 11:05 am
One big thing you could point out is the change in wording between the evidence and the conclusion.

The evidence says that women rated less masculine faces "more attractive".

The conclusion says that women prefer men with less masculine faces.

Two big differences: rating as more attractive vs preferring (is the preference of women solely based on facial attractiveness?) and faces vs men (do women rate men solely on their faces?
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by tanviet » Sat Dec 01, 2012 1:43 am
Bill@VeritasPrep wrote:One big thing you could point out is the change in wording between the evidence and the conclusion.

The evidence says that women rated less masculine faces "more attractive".

The conclusion says that women prefer men with less masculine faces.

Two big differences: rating as more attractive vs preferring (is the preference of women solely based on facial attractiveness?) and faces vs men (do women rate men solely on their faces?
scope shift or languge shift argument. This is one way of looking at argument. we have multiple ways to look at argument. But what is the purpose of the ways of looking at/interpreting the argument. What it the purpose of classify the arguments. from the posting of the experts, I see that the purpose of classifying or indentifying the argument such as "scope shift, survey argument and other, is to prethink an assumption before looking at the answer choices.

what do we do after we realize the conclusion and evidence of the argument? we need to indentify what we need to find in the answer choices, something which make the conclusion more believable or more doubtful. Most students do this step. But this is not enough. that is why most persons fail 50 % on CR.

we need to find out, prethink one assumption before going to answer choices. This process makes us better understand the argument and give us ability to find out another assumption or the "strange" weakener/strengthener which is base on assumption which is diferent from the assumption we prethink.

so, I can say only when you can prethink an assumption, you understand the argument well.

I am concerned about what we do before we read the answer choices and after we realize the conclusion and evicence. This is an important step which help us find the correct answer.

anyone has any experience on this step, pls share.