#9 - Researcher: The rate of psychological problems is

[srcline@noctrl.edu]

Hello
I am having a hard time understanding this question. The question stem asks " the assertion that children of divorced parents have a higher rate of psychological problems than other children figures in the argument in which one of the following ways? The answer choice that I had picked was (B): it is a claim that the argument tries to refute. The correct answer choice was E; it is cited an an established finding for which the argument proposes an explanation.

So here was my thought process on B: the second premise states that " but it would be a mistake to conclude that these problems are caused by the difficulty the children have adjusting to divorce. So the terms "rate" and "likelihood" refer to statistics correct?

My thought process for E. Premise : children of divorced parents have a higher rate of psychological problems than other children". Is E correct because the researcher never refutes the statistics in the first premise. Also later on in the stimulus it states that certain behavoirs that that increase the likelihood of divorce- hostility, distrust lack of empathy are learned by children by their parents. So children learn these said behaviors before their parents get the divorce? This seems like a big leap to me.

Thankyou
Sarah

[Robert Carroll]

Sarah,

Once you identify the question type as Method of Reasoning - Argument Part, you need to make sure to describe the way the sentence (or part of a sentence, as the case may be) was actually used in the stimulus. The first sentence is indeed making a claim about the "rate" of incidence of something, and it's specifically connecting the rate of psychological problems and the incidence of divorce. Thus, that first sentence claims there is a correlation between these two things.

The second sentence does not deny or refute that correlation. Instead, it denies a different claim - that there is a certain causal connection between the things correlated in the previous sentence. In simple terms, the first sentence claims a fact, and the second sentence says, "It's a mistake to explain that fact in such-and-such a way." That the first sentence is true is not denied by the stimulus; the stimulus just cautions the reader not to make a further inference about causation that may not be true.

This is why answer choice (B) is not correct - the argument does not refute what the first sentence says. The argument acts throughout as if the first sentence expresses a fact, and the difficulty is explaining that fact in a satisfactory way. You are correct when you evaluate answer choice (E) as correct because the stimulus never refutes the statistics in the first sentence. Instead, the argument proceeds by cautioning the reader not to make a false causal inference, and offering instead an alternative causal explanation that the argument believes is better supported.

Robert Carroll

[cboles]

I was between answer choice D and E for this question. I didn't choose E because of this one part in the answer choice: "cited as an established finding." This threw me off because I didn't see it as an established finding. Is it because it is coming from a researcher that it is established? If so, what part in answer choice D makes it an incorrect answer choice? Is it because it isn't evidence?

[Nikki Siclunov]

Hi cboles,

The assertion that children of divorced parents have a higher rate of psychological problems than other children is indeed an established finding (first sentence). This correlation is stated as a matter of fact, and just because the author is a "researcher" does not alter this in any way. Essentially, the researcher begins by outlining a correlation, rejects one possible explanation for it, and suggests an alternative explanation. This prephrase is most closely aligned with answer choice (E).

Answer choice (D) is incorrect, as no evidence is presented to support the claim that certain learned behaviors increase the likelihood of divorce. The fact that children of divorced parents have a higher rate of psychological problems than other children is presented as an effect of these learned behaviors, not a cause for them.

Hope this helps!

Thanks,