- PowerScore Staff
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- Mon Apr 25, 2016 10:14 am
#23328
Complete Question Explanation
Parallel Reasoning-CE. The correct answer choice is (A)
The correlation between vigorous exercise and lower incidence of illness does not establish that vigorous exercise prevents illness, because vigorous exercise is also a function of one's preexisting state of health. In other words, the author undermines the causal argument that exercise makes us healthy by suggesting that the reverse cause-and-effect scenario is just as likely (i.e. being healthy helps us exercise).
Answer choice (A): This is the correct answer choice. The fact that reading and verbal skills are correlated does not establish that reading causes verbal skills. Why? Because the reverse causal scenario is just as likely (i.e. having strong verbal skills can encourage reading). Do not get thrown off by the different order in which the premises and conclusions are presented, as this has no effect on the logical structure of the argument.
Answer choice (B): Instead of suggesting a reverse cause-and-effect scenario, this answer choice speculates that a third factor (the talent for perceiving abstract patterns) is responsible for both musical and mathematical skills.
Answer choice (C): How we choose to dress cannot always be explained by personal preferences, since we are often influenced by how others dress. This line of reasoning has no match in the stimulus.
Answer choice (D): This answer choice may seem tempting at first, as it begins by implying that the correlation between height and basketball ability does not prove that height makes us good at basketball. However, any similarity to the stimulus ends here. Answer choice (D) does not imply that the reverse cause-and-effect relationship is just as likely to be true (this would be like saying that basketball can make us taller). Instead, the author merely observes that taller children tend to play basketball more frequently — which only serves to reaffirm her hypothesis that height provides an advantage in basketball.
Answer choice (E): This answer choice does not suggest a reverse cause-and-effect relationship; it merely rejects the hypothesis that two similar occurrences share the same common cause. This answer choice is incorrect.
Parallel Reasoning-CE. The correct answer choice is (A)
The correlation between vigorous exercise and lower incidence of illness does not establish that vigorous exercise prevents illness, because vigorous exercise is also a function of one's preexisting state of health. In other words, the author undermines the causal argument that exercise makes us healthy by suggesting that the reverse cause-and-effect scenario is just as likely (i.e. being healthy helps us exercise).
Answer choice (A): This is the correct answer choice. The fact that reading and verbal skills are correlated does not establish that reading causes verbal skills. Why? Because the reverse causal scenario is just as likely (i.e. having strong verbal skills can encourage reading). Do not get thrown off by the different order in which the premises and conclusions are presented, as this has no effect on the logical structure of the argument.
Answer choice (B): Instead of suggesting a reverse cause-and-effect scenario, this answer choice speculates that a third factor (the talent for perceiving abstract patterns) is responsible for both musical and mathematical skills.
Answer choice (C): How we choose to dress cannot always be explained by personal preferences, since we are often influenced by how others dress. This line of reasoning has no match in the stimulus.
Answer choice (D): This answer choice may seem tempting at first, as it begins by implying that the correlation between height and basketball ability does not prove that height makes us good at basketball. However, any similarity to the stimulus ends here. Answer choice (D) does not imply that the reverse cause-and-effect relationship is just as likely to be true (this would be like saying that basketball can make us taller). Instead, the author merely observes that taller children tend to play basketball more frequently — which only serves to reaffirm her hypothesis that height provides an advantage in basketball.
Answer choice (E): This answer choice does not suggest a reverse cause-and-effect relationship; it merely rejects the hypothesis that two similar occurrences share the same common cause. This answer choice is incorrect.
