Doctors in Britain have long suspected that patients who wear tinted

Question

Doctors in Britain have long suspected that patients who wear tinted eyeglasses are abnormally prone to depression and hypochondria. Psychological tests given there to hospital patients admitted for physical complaints like heart pain and digestive distress confirmed such a relationship. Perhaps people whose relationship to the world is psychologically painful choose such glasses to reduce visual stimulation, which is perceived as irritating. At any rate, it can be concluded that when such glasses are worn, it is because the wearer has a tendency to be depressed or hypochondriacal.

Each of the following, if true, weakens the argument EXCEPT:

(A) Some people wear tinted glasses not because they choose to do so but because a medical condition of their eyes forces them to do so.

(B) Even a depressed or hypochondriacal person can have valid medical complaints, so a doctor should perform all the usual objective tests in diagnosing such persons.

(C) The confirmatory tests were not done for places such as western North America where the usual quality of light differs from that prevailing in Britain.

(D) Fashions with respect to wearing tinted glasses differ in different parts of the world.

(E) At the hospitals where the tests were given, patients who were admitted for conditions less ambiguous than heart pain or digestive distress did not show the relationship between tinted glasses and depression or hypochondria.

KarishmaB · Accepted Answer

There seems to be some confusion here so lets try and break it down:

First of all, I read the question stem: Each of the following, if true, weakens the argument EXCEPT:

So we are looking for four options that weaken the argument (to whatever extent, but they must weaken it)
In a weaken question, we focus on the conclusion of the argument. That is what we have to weaken.
 Conclusion: when such glasses are worn, it is because the wearer has a tendency to be depressed or hypochondriacal.

A strong generic statement. "When people wear tinted glasses, it means they have a tendency to be depressed". Notice that the tests cited in the argument talk about Britain only. But the conclusion derived is generic and applicable to people around the world.

(A) Some people wear tinted glasses not because they choose to do so but because a medical condition of their eyes forces them to do so. 
Weakens the conclusion. When people wear tinted glasses, it could be because they have an eye condition, not because they are depressed.

(B) Even a depressed or hypochondriacal person can have valid medical complaints, so a doctor should perform all the usual objective tests in diagnosing such persons. 
 Does not weaken the conclusion about why people wear tinted glasses. 
Just says that depressed people could also have valid medical complaints.

(C) The confirmatory tests were not done for places such as western North America where the usual quality of light differs from that prevailing in Britain. 
Weakens the conclusion. The conclusion doesn't say that this is the case only in Britain. It implies that this is the general theory applicable to the whole world. But people in other places e.g. NA, could be wearing tinted glasses, due to poor light quality.

(D) Fashions with respect to wearing tinted glasses differ in different parts of the world. 
Weakens the conclusion. People may be wearing tinted glasses in different parts of the world because it is fashionable to do so. Not because they are depressed.

(E) At the hospitals where the tests were given, patients who were admitted for conditions less ambiguous than heart pain or digestive distress did not show the relationship between tinted glasses and depression or hypochondria. 
Weakens the conclusion. It says that only one group of people (those who had ambiguous conditions) showed a relation between glasses and depression. Other people did not.

Answer (B).

rahuljaiswal · Answer

Close fight between B & D.

We CAN choose B over D for the following reason:
Conclusion says: Depressed or Hypochondriacal ----> Therefore, Wear glasses.
Now B says that there can be many reasons for a person being depressed or hypochondriacal, but that has NO bearing on the conclusion that a person should or should not wear glasses. Whatever maybe the reason for the depression, the conclusion suggests that wouldn't stop the person from wearing glasses.

Now D looks out of scope, though as it says Fashion is different in different parts of the world, it IS suggesting alternative reason for the person to wear tinted glasses. So the link between depression and tinted glasses gets weakened.

Well, just my 2 cents.

P.S: this is a question from PowerScore CR Bible, but I am not sure if the answer options were the same

R J

grepro · Answer

(A) Some people wear tinted glasses not because they choose to do so but because a medical condition of their eyes forces them to do so.
 Alternative reason hence weakens the conclusion 
(C) The confirmatory tests were not done for places such as western North America where the usual quality of light differs from that prevailing in Britain.
 Same and A. 
(D) Fashions with respect to wearing tinted glasses differ in different parts of the world.
 Weakens as it says there can be other reasons for wearing tinted glasses. 
(E) At the hospitals where the tests were given, patients who were admitted for conditions less ambiguous than heart pain or digestive distress did not show the relationship between tinted glasses and depression or hypochondria.
 Weakens the conclusion as it says the conclusion is not always true.

IMO B

KarishmaB · Answer

And those of you who are still unhappy with (D), think why is it that you are ok with (C) but not with (D). If (D) were out of scope, wouldn't (C) be out of scope too?
Aren't they both presenting alternative reasons why people wear tinted glasses?

Zatarra · Answer

Hi Karishma , Arent you leaving open the possibility that the Light quality in North America could be stronger stimuli for depression and hypochondria.
You are assuming that Light quality in North America is less stimulating to Depression and wish to check whether People are out there still wear tinted eye glasses . If they are , then they could be wearing for reasons other than that the light stimulates depression . 
What if the Light is more stimulating towards depression ? In that case , people wearing glasses doesnt prove anything. 
This is confusing.

KarishmaB · Answer

Ok, go back to the argument. It says that the results of a British study support the hypothesis that people who wear tinted glasses are more prone to depression.
Conclusion: When such glasses are worn, it is because the wearer has a tendency to be depressed.

I want to weaken it.

C: The confirmatory tests were not done for places such as western North America where the usual quality of light differs from that prevailing in Britain.

We have no data whether such a relation between glasses and depression exists in other countries. Light quality in these other countries differs from Britain. So is it possible that in other countries, people wear glasses not because they are more prone to depression but because they want to protect their eyes? This is a possible alternative explanation for use of glasses in other countries. Can I then make a generic conclusion that when someone (anywhere in the world) wears glasses, he has higher tendency to be depressed? No, I cannot. Hence it weakens my conclusion.

Even if light quality causes depression in other countries (e.g. NA), it is irrelevant to my conclusion that wearing glasses makes a person more prone to depression.

anonimo · Answer

I think there is a simpler method to understand this. Option B is the only one that doesn't show any relationship between sun glasses and those medical conditions. It just talk about others things.

abrakadabra21 · Answer

Doctors in Britain have long suspected that patients who wear tinted eyeglasses are abnormally prone to depression and hypochondria. Psychological tests given there to hospital patients admitted for physical complaints like heart pain and digestive distress confirmed such a relationship. Perhaps people whose relationship to the world is psychologically painful choose such glasses to reduce visual stimulation, which is perceived as irritating. At any rate, it can be concluded that w hen such glasses are worn, it is because the wearer has a tendency to be depressed or hypochondriacal.

Prethinking:-

1> what if tinted glasses lead to depression or hypochondriacal.
2> patients who wear tinted eyeglasses => depression and hypochondria may be some other factors in play which make a superficial connection. 
3> subset has been considered. not applicable to all the cases. 
 
Each of the following, if true, weakens the argument EXCEPT:

(A) Some people wear tinted glasses not because they choose to do so but because a medical condition of their eyes forces them to do so. weakener. 
(B) Even a depressed or hypochondriacal person can have valid medical complaints, so a doctor should perform all the usual objective tests in diagnosing such persons. => correct
(C) The confirmatory tests were not done for places such as western North America where the usual quality of light differs from that prevailing in Britain.
(D) Fashions with respect to wearing tinted glasses differ in different parts of the world.
(E) At the hospitals where the tests were given, patients who were admitted for conditions less ambiguous than heart pain or digestive distress did not show the relationship between tinted glasses and depression or hypochondria.

Vishalcv · Answer

Let us get to the point. IMO B isn't a weakener because 
1) It uses weak language like "can have" . Maybe stronger language could have suggested otherwise.
2) The argument in para states that the doctors do conduct tests before making such a conclusion, so B does not contain any new information that can weaken the argument.

Fdambro294 · Answer

At first, it seems like a rather obvious (B): the answer does not weaken the argument.

But, I do see the subtle issues with a couple of the other answers picked by others. Each answer gives us enough reason to doubt the Cause and Effect conclusion made. (B) is the answer choice furthest removed from impacting the argument.

The specific claim made is the following:

Because a person is a hypochondriac or has a tendency to be depressed, that person will wear tinted glasses.

Or more to the point: if a person is wearing tinted glasses, the likely cause is because he or she has a tendency to be depressed or a hypochondriac.

Answer (B) discusses what the doctors should do. If the choice had talked about whether the doctors actually did or did not perform the proper medical diagnosis in the survey given, then there is the potential for unsound data.

However, (B) is essentially a claim or opinion of what the doctors should do in a certain situation. The answer doesn’t even fit the usual structure of the type of answer we are looking for: some new evidence that weakens the cause and effect conclusion. (B) is instead similar to a claim or conclusion made by an author about what a doctor should do in a certain situation.

Each other answer choice, at the very least, impacts this causal connection between tinted glasses and a person being a hypochondriac/depressed. An opinion about what a doctor SHOULD do does not weaken the conclusion.

B

Posted from my mobile device

Crytiocanalyst · Answer

It's ridiculously tough question it tokk me around 3 min 30 sec to pin down the right answer i haad to individually every of the option still i had second thoughts towards the end however i marked the right one

(A) Some people wear tinted glasses not because they choose to do so but because a medical condition of their eyes forces them to do so.
Yes they are not depressed or have hypochondria definitely weakens

(B) Even a depressed or hypochondriacal person can have valid medical complaints, so a doctor should perform all the usual objective tests in diagnosing such persons.
Yes it tends to say that the patients with tinted glass has heart attacks there is a possiblity this lends support

(C) The confirmatory tests were not done for places such as western North America where the usual quality of light differs from that prevailing in Britain.
We have no idea as of this affects does it have a positive or negative impact on hypochondria and depression

(D) Fashions with respect to wearing tinted glasses differ in different parts of the world.
This too has the same flawed reasoning as C

(E) At the hospitals where the tests were given, patients who were admitted for conditions less ambiguous than heart pain or digestive distress did not show the relationship between tinted glasses and depression or hypochondria
Yes also weakens the argument tinted glasses leads to heart attack and other complications

sssanskaar · Answer

I read option B as:

Even a depressed or hypochondriacal person can have valid medical complaints(  these can also include a valid medical issue in the eyes or in the neurons which connect the eyes to the brain- basically anything that can impair eye-sight, forcing the patient to wear sunglasses - case similar in option A  ), so a doctor should perform all the usual objective tests in diagnosing such persons.

In that case, there can be other factors than just depression. Then it is a weakener.

I am not able to understand that why in option B, it is being understood that valid medical complaints will only be those compaints that will have no bearing on the eye-sight?

MBAB123 · Answer

sssanskaar , the valid complaints do not have to be non-eye related. The complaints could be anything so it doesn't really weaken our conclusion. I agree that it could also be a complaint about a medical condition that forces people to wear tinted glasses (the example that you pointed out). But do you know if such conditions exist? I genuinely don't. We can't just assume that such conditions exist. Option A and option B are essentially working in different universes (What is said in option A does not automatically become true in option B). I'm not denying the possibility of such conditions in option B, all I'm saying is - we don't know.

sssanskaar · Answer

Yes and thanks Brian123 for confirming and explaining that we are on the same page on this!

Now, here lies my actual doubt. Please let me know your thoughts on this one

Now, if you look at the wordings of option B: (B) Even a depressed or hypochondriacal person can have valid medical complaints, so a doctor should perform all the usual objective tests in diagnosing such persons. we can see that even option B is saying the same thing that THERE IS A POSSIBILITY that the medical complaints are eye-related. Please correct me if I am wrong, but a weakener does not have to necessarily show that the conclusion/premise is wrong. It can also show that there is a possibility in a case that something might not work as expected. I will be highly grateful for your reponse

MBAB123 · Answer

I definitely agree that a weakener does not have to prove that the argument is wrong. For option B, I just feel that we'd be diving into multiple realms of possibilities. We don't really know if a condition similar to the one described in A exists. Of course, it's possible but the option is not doing anything to shift us towards that possibility or even hinting the existence of that possibility (of course anything is possible if we go by that logic). Also, the people under option B are already depressed so who is to say even after having the condition described in option A, those people wouldn't choose to wear tinted glasses regardless of the condition (I'm hinting towards the  forced vs choose to do so  given in option A). Again, you could argue that it's possible but that's not the point and definitely not a valid argument that a future Lawyer should be making.

Also, if we come out of the question and look at what option B says -  Even a depressed or hypochondriacal person  can have valid medical complaints, so a doctor should perform all the usual objective tests in diagnosing such persons.
Well, so what? Everybody knows that literally ANYBODY  can  have valid medical complaints.

uazo · Answer

I was overthinking and picked E. However, it's clear to me why B is the correct answer.

A key principles in Weaken LR/CR questions is: The correct answer will  always  target the conclusion/argument or the assumption made to reach the conclusion. For Weaken questions, a common wrong answer choice will target the premise (supporting evidence/info) and not the conclusion. This is a "Weakens EXCEPT" question - so the correct answer is the one that does not weaken the argument.

(B) Even a depressed or hypochondriacal person can have valid medical complaints, so a doctor should perform all the usual objective tests in diagnosing such persons.  This is Correct because it's targeting the premise and not the actual conclusion (common wrong answer). 'Medical complaints' was mentioned as supporting evidence for the conclusion. The point of Weaken questions is to weaken the conclusion not the premise and that's why B is correct.

(E) At the hospitals where the tests were given, patients who were admitted for conditions less ambiguous than heart pain or digestive distress did not show the relationship between tinted glasses and depression or hypochondria.  This is wrong because it targets the assumption made by the conclusion. The conclusions assumes that what is true for some - relationship discovered b/w tinted glasses and depression or hypochondria in patients with heart pain and digestive issues - is true for all.

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Doctors in Britain have long suspected that patients who wear tinted

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