CR_against the view

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CR_against the view

by Soumita » Sun Jan 13, 2013 9:46 pm
If a geneticist selects any arbitrary group of people - for instance, those who enjoy watching football games - and examines them closely enough, he or she may well find a genetic marker common to all of them. But that shared marker need not have anything to do with the fact that they all like football.

The consideration above can best serve as part of an argument against the view that

A)An individual's personality is more likely to be determined by the environment in which he grew up than by his or her genetic makeup.

B)The discovery that alcoholics share a common gene establishes that alcoholism is genetically determined.

C)Certain personality traits are determined neither by environment nor by heredity, but by some unknown third element.

D)Since genetic makeup may determine how one responds to one's environment, scientists cannot assume that heredity plays no role in personality development.

E)Certain personality traits can be reinforced by spending time with others who share that personality trait.

I found D and B both correct.please let me know how to eliminate one of them.

OA is B
Source: — Critical Reasoning |

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by Bill@VeritasPrep » Mon Jan 14, 2013 1:11 pm
The stimulus argues that a common gene does not necessarily cause a common characteristic. i.e. this group of people shares gene Rx7930x (or however genes are labelled; I am not a geneticist :D), and they share a love of football, but it's not necessarily true that Rx7930x leads to a love of football.

We need something that argues the opposite of this: a common gene does lead to a common characteristic

B works well because it says that the common gene shared by alcoholic causes the common characteristic of alcoholism, i.e. this group of people shares gene Xu3829y, and they are are alcoholics, therefore gene Xu3829 y causes alcoholism.

D does not work because environment is a factor that is not considered in the original argument.
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by Soumita » Mon Jan 14, 2013 8:09 pm
Hey Bill !!

Thanks for your response !!

But in choice D it is given gene is the factor in determining how one responds to one's environment. So gene is the factor in the development of personality development.

Am i wrong anywhere??

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by Bill@VeritasPrep » Tue Jan 15, 2013 3:11 pm
Soumita wrote:Hey Bill !!

Thanks for your response !!

But in choice D it is given gene is the factor in determining how one responds to one's environment. So gene is the factor in the development of personality development.

Am i wrong anywhere??
I don't think D necessarily disagrees with the stimulus. The stimulus says we can't assume that genes are the cause of common traits, while D says that we can't entirely rule out genes as the cause.
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by pavan.paone » Wed Jan 16, 2013 5:35 am
I will go with B