Critical Reasoning

Which of the following logically completes the argument?

When people engage in activities that help others, their brain releases endorphins, the brain's natural opiates, which induce in people a feeling of well-being. It has been suggested that regular release of endorphins increases people's longevity, and a statistic on adults who regularly engage in volunteer work helping others shows that they live longer, on average than adults who do not volunteer. However, that statistic would be what we expect even if volunteering does not boost longevity, because --------

(A) in the communities studied, women were much more likely to do regular volunteer work than men were, and women tend to live longer than men do.

(B) the number of young adults who do regular volunteer work is on the increase.

(C) the feelings of well-being induced by endorphins can, at least for a time, mask the symptoms of various conditions & diseases, provided the symptoms are mild.

(D) it is rare for a person to keep up a regular schedule of volunteer work throughout his/her life.

(E) some people find that keeping a commitment to do regular volunteer work becomes a source of stress in their lives.




[spoiler]OA: A[/spoiler]

This is a cause effect question and the ans will weak the argument.
Now argument says more engagement in volunteer work helping others --> live longer

option A -- provides an alternate reason for volunteers to live longer hence correct
option B -- Talking about 'young adults' -- incorrect
option C -- Masking symptoms does not ensure longevity --incorrect
option D -- argument does not mention that the span of volunteering has any effect --irrelevant
option E -- irrelevant

Hi nakul,

this question was discussed in great detail by three experts very recently: https://www.beatthegmat.com/endorphins-t55330.html

TIP: always use the search function (upper right corner of the screen) to see if your question has already been discussed. To search for CR questions, I recommend looking for unique terms in the argument that aren't likely to show up in many other arguments. For example, here you could have plugged in "endorphins" into the search function.

Using the search function has at least two benefits:

--you don't have to wait-you may be able to see pages of solutions immediately (benefit to yourself)
--it keeps things organized around here! (benefit to beatthegmat website)

Thanks testluv!

I will use the search tool before posting any questions.

Best Regards.

Good Question, I chose C first, but A makes sense.