Marriage Counselor

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Marriage Counselor

by harsh.champ » Fri Feb 19, 2010 10:10 am
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.
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by outreach » Fri Feb 19, 2010 12:44 pm
The counselor says that frequent arguments are a cause of marital disharmony.
One way to weaken that conclusion is to show that the disharmony came before the arguments (i.e. the disharmony caused the arguments). Hence A which is the best answer.

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by boazkhan » Fri Feb 19, 2010 1:51 pm
IMO A. OA?

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by harsh.champ » Fri Feb 19, 2010 1:57 pm
boazkhan wrote:IMO A. OA?
I don't know the OA.
I had attempted a test in which I got this question but the soln. was not discussed afterwards.
Thats why I had posted this question so as to know how people(especially tutors) approach this question??


[Though,I also got the answer as A only]
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by komal » Sat Feb 20, 2010 8:55 pm
harsh.champ 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?

According to the counselor :
cause : frequent arguing
effect : marital disharmony


A. Couples who have already come to the point of divorce argue continuously over small matters.
Correct : This weakens the argument by showing that the causal relationship is actually reverse. Cause = Point of divorce (marital disharmony) & Effect = Argue continuously (frequent arguing)

B. People who have recently divorced are more likely to argue violently when they meet.
Incorrect : Does nothing to weaken the counselor's conclusion.

C. Many people in happy marriages have occasional violent arguments.
Incorrect : Issue is not about happy or sad marriages. It is about marital disharmony is general.

D. Recently divorced people rarely cite frequent arguments as a cause of marital disharmony
Incorrect : Recently divorced ppl is clearly out of scope.

E. A significant fraction of couples close to divorce do not talk to each other.
Incorrect : How does 'couple not talking' affect the counselor's conclusion? Eliminated.

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by gmatmachoman » Sat Feb 20, 2010 10:57 pm
Good explanation Komal!!

In term of Pattern Identification( Courtesy: Powerscore CR),

Let us call A to be the cause leading the effect B. If u want to weaken the Cause (A), U can do in 2 most common ways.

One is Introduce a "Alternate Cause (Z)" that led to B.

Second one is to state the reversal the cause & effect. That is, A doesn't cause B, Instead B caused A.

This pattern is used in Option A

For many people D may be a "tempting factor". But , giving a keen shot,we can easily drop it off becox the argument deals with people who are going to be divorced and NOT about who have already divorced!!

Many cases, I suggest you to identify the pattern which becomes your weapon to negate other choices and select the right one!