#12 - Researcher: A number of studies have suggested that

[Francis O'Rourke]

Answer choice (A) informs us that the studies only measured a specific type of improvement in patients, which means that other types of improvements could differ wildly based on the type of psychotherapy they received. The author concluded that any improvements in short term psychotherapy must be common to all, but if only one type of psychotherapy produces an improvement in patients that other psychotherapies do not, then the author's conclusion does not stand. Answer choice (A) leaves the door open for this possibility; it would force the researcher to go back and measure the rates of improvements in other factors that they have not yet studied in order to defend their conclusion.

Answer choice (D) doesn't really affect the argument. As long as all psychotherapies use at least one practice common to all psychotherapy, then the author's conclusion stands just as strongly. We don't care about the "specific techniques," the techniques that are unique to each type of psychotherapy; we only care that there are some techniques that are common to all psychotherapies.

Answer choice (E) makes a distinction between experience levels of psychotherapists, which is not relevant to the argument. The pertinent distinction is between the types of psychotherapies that they practice.

[tanushreebansal]

Hi! I don't understand how C does not weaken. If this is a causal relationship, as explained previously, then C seems like a strong answer.

As Powerscore staff member Andrew Ash kindly explained before,

Aspects of therapy common to all psychotherapies Improvement


According to answer choice C,

Simple counseling by untrained lay person (NOT psychotherapy) Improvement


Because answer choice C shows the effect without the cause, does it not weaken the causal relationship in the stimulus?

[nicholaspavic]

Hi! I don't understand how C does not weaken. If this is a causal relationship, as explained previously, then C seems like a strong answer.

As Powerscore staff member Andrew Ash kindly explained before,

Aspects of therapy common to all psychotherapies Improvement


According to answer choice C,

Simple counseling by untrained lay person (NOT psychotherapy) Improvement


Because answer choice C shows the effect without the cause, does it not weaken the causal relationship in the stimulus?

Hi tanush!

You are definitely keying in on the right general concepts for questions of this sort. But remember the whole stimulus. Can't psychotherapy have an aspect that is common to all psychotherapies but also a common aspect with anoth other thing such as simple counseling?

Also they remind you at the end of the stimulus that it may even be "the presence of someone who listens and gives attention to the client." Isn't that common aspect present in both PT and simple counseling? So they really have not (necessarily) removed or negated the cause and that is why it does not necessarily weaken the conclusion by demonstrating effect where no cause is present.

Thanks for the great question!

[tanushreebansal]

That helped- thank you!

[noelynic88]

I have a question regarding a section of your initial explanation:
"To weaken this argument, look for answers showing either that the level of client improvement was not the same for all types of psychotherapy,..."

Is it alright to challenge information in the stimulus? For example, the text does say that level of client improvement was the SIMILAR for all types of psychotherapy. So please explain why I should be looking for an answer choice saying the opposite (NOT THE SAME). would I not be assuming the info given in the stimulus to be true for the purpose of that question?

[Luke Haqq]

Hi noelynic88!

Happy to address your questions.

Is it alright to challenge information in the stimulus?

The short answer is yes. This is particularly apparent from the question stem--this is a weaken question, so by virtue of addressing that question type, one will be looking for an answer choice that challenges information in the stimulus.

So please explain why I should be looking for an answer choice saying the opposite (NOT THE SAME). would I not be assuming the info given in the stimulus to be true for the purpose of that question?

At the same time, you are right that one generally takes what one reads in the stimulus as true. Answer choice (A), though, doesn't require anything in the stimulus to be false. Answer choice (A) doesn't deny what the studies found about improvements in short-term psychotherapy, but rather notes that the studies "failed to address other important kinds of improvements" besides "immediate symptom relief." In other words, raising awareness of these other improvements challenges the author's conclusion as to what the studies say about "any client improvement." If the studies only looked at immediate improvements but failed to consider other types of improvement, this weakens the researcher's categorical conclusion about "any" improvements.