D is the right answer.Quote:
Can any research be found to validate the contention that those who spend time plucking out their gray hairs have more negative attitudes toward the elderly than those who shrug their shoulders about their gray hairs? Unless a person’s psychopathology leads him or her to overgeneralize, there is no necessary connection. Certainly it is reasonable to like the elderly yet dislike the idea of impaired eyesight and hearing. Furthermore, holding negative attitudes toward older people merely because they are old is immoral, according to nearly universally accepted ethical standards. But there is nothing immoral about disliking some concomitants of the aging process.
In order to advance her point of view, the author does all of the following EXCEPT:
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(A) dismiss an assertion as unfounded
This is true per the information in the argument. The author dismissed the assertion whereby someone's dislikes for the characteristics associated with the elderly is misconstrued as a necessary condition that such a person dislikes the elderly.Quote:
(B) appeal to reason
Through the example cited by the author that
it is reasonable to like the elderly yet dislike the idea of impaired eyesight and hearing, the author appeals to reason.
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(C) appeal to a general principle
By stating that
holding negative attitudes toward the elderly merely because they are old is immoral according to nearly universally accepted ethical standards, the author appeals to a general principle.
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(D) discredit a common stereotype about the elderly
No.
The author did not discredit any common stereotype about the elderly. This is the correct answer.
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(E) make a distinction about attitudes
The author distinguished between the attitudes of someone who dislikes the characteristics of old age and someone who dislikes the elderly merely because they are old.