A psychobiologist recently discovered that gorillas that have weakened

Question

A psychobiologist recently discovered that gorillas that have weakened immune systems tend to be more antisocial than do gorillas with normal or high immune system activity. She concluded from this that the immune system, at least in gorillas, protects against antisocial behavior as well as against diseases of the body.

The psychobiologist's conclusion depends on which of the following assumptions?

A)High immune system activity protects against antisocial behavior in gorillas better than normal immune system activity does.
B)Antisocial behavior in gorillas is similar to physical diseases in the way it affects body systems.
C)Gorillas with high immune system activity cannot develop antisocial behavior.
D)Antisocial behavior does not cause gorillas immune system activity to decrease.
E)Behavioral training to cure antisocial behavior is not as effective as pharmacological treatment.

Source :  Bell Curves GMAT Prep

bipinsingh · Answer

The answer should be:
D)Antisocial behavior does not cause gorillas immune system activity to decrease.

this is the assumption qsn of the type: x causes y, so y cannot cause x !

weakened immune systems cause antisocial behavior
so antisocial behavior cannot cause weakened immune !

gauravnagpal · Answer

Somehow I picked C
....bipin +1 ...pls explain how to eliminate C

bipinsingh · Answer

@gaurav:

C)Gorillas with high immune system activity cannot develop antisocial behavior.
i see two problems with this option

1: this uses an extreme condition by using the word " cannot ", we always avoid such words in cr qsns barring very very rare exceptions when all other options are not helpful.

2: if you try to decipher the meaning of this statement, it is not really an assumption but indirectly something similar to the conclusion stated by the cr statement... which says that the immune system activity and the antisocial behavior are related.

metallicafan · Answer

+1 D

This question is too similar to a OG question.

devashish · Answer

Straight D.

A causal relationship mentioned in the argument:
Low Immune System -> Antisocial behavior.

Option D reinforces the causality by eliminating the Possibility of reverse causality and hence is an assumption.

ArunpriyanJ · Answer

Pls can you tell which q's it is?

Even i remember seeing something similar to this....But not sure

tryambaks · Answer

D it must be
(C) is too strong. Question stem already says that gorilla with High immune system are less likely to be anti social.So there could a few cases where they have high immune system and still displays anti social behavior

(D) it says Effect is not producing the Cause. Therefore reestablishing the causal relationship
Hence the answer

Arro44 · Answer

If one would assume the opposite of each Statement given the effect for answer D would be the following:

D)Antisocial behavior does not cause gorillas immune system activity to decrease.

turns to

Antisocial behavior is weaking a gorillas immune system.

This would turn the causality around, therefore statement D has is the underlying assumption of the initial argument.

VerbalBot · Answer

Automated notice from GMAT Club VerbalBot: 

A member just gave Kudos to this thread, showing it’s still useful. I’ve bumped it to the top so more people can benefit. Feel free to add your own questions or solutions.

 This post was generated automatically.

A psychobiologist recently discovered that gorillas that have weakened

Prep Toolkit

Top 5 GMAT Debrief Videos

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards

GMAT Critical Reasoning (CR) Questions

A psychobiologist recently discovered that gorillas that have weakened

Prep Toolkit

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards