Stress is a common cause of high blood pressure. By calming their mind

Hi adkikani , I think your reasoning is mostly correct, perhaps
a bit incomplete, and incorrect in one place only.

Next time, please, a few words about WHY highlight is incorrect?
It is hard to assess reasoning that just says "incorrect."
(In law school, the quip is, "Asserted, not explained.")

Accurate. Excellent start.

You wrote: Highlighted text is incorrect.

1) If by "incorrect" you mean that the direction of causality is reversed
and therefore unknown and irrelevant, YES.

2) if by "incorrect" you mean "some tendency" is too weak
because the casual connection between blood pressure and stress is strong - NO.

The causal connection runs in one direction only, in this direction only:
lower stress →→ lower blood pressure

The prompt does NOT say that lower BP -->>-> less stress.

Does lower BP → lower stress?
We have no idea. Nor do we care. Answer A reverses causality.
We know ONLY that the other direction is true under certain circumstances.*

You wrote: Highlighted text is incorrect.

Correct: Most is too strong. Prompt in second sentence says that
SOME with high BP can lower BP by lowering stress. We don't know about "most."

You wrote: Highlighted text is incorrect, we do not know about people who DO NOT exercise regularly.
EXCELLENT. I moved your highlight. Originally your highlight stopped at "most."

(I am trying to dilute what might be your reliance on what seems to be one split, i.e., the split
between most/some.)

You wrote: nope, engaging in exercise can calm minds in most people

Maybe correct reasoning? I cannot tell.
You mention "calm minds," a mention that makes me think you
see answer D's real problem, which is the wrong presentation of causality.
Calm minds are an intermediate step in causality. Answer D has no intermediate steps.

On the other hand, your highlight of MOST might mean confusion. MOST is irrelevant.

Answer D's real problem: DIRECT causes have no intermediate steps.
This prompt has steps. Answer D turns on the marker word "directly."

Answer D is not supported by the prompt's intervening steps.
Prompt:
Exercise → Mind → ↓ Stress → ↓ BP

Answer D: Exercise → ↓ BP

We cannot assert the truth of D. We are allowed only certain inferences.
The prompt allows us to infer that exercise INDIRECTLY leads to lower BP.

If you avoided this trap answer in part because you
focused on the some/most distinction, as I suspect many people did, then they
and you got lucky.

The prompt has a "recipe" with a sequence of steps to sustain the claim
that exercise can lead to lower BP. We can know only that this recipe,
in this sequence, is true.

We cannot compress the recipe (which might be tantamount
to changing the ingredients, let alone messing with the process).

We can say either that
• D is false because "direct cause" does not equal
"indirect cause" OR
• D's truth claim is unknown and presently unknowable.
In any case, the prompt does not support D.

You wrote: See mild language in underlined option, usually safest to play with
[edit: in cases in which the prompt distinguishes between
mild and strong, and we know only about the former].

Right idea: track the connection between group and causality in the answer,
and group and causality in the prompt.

AND: in contrast to the problems with skipping steps in D,
we CAN use only a part or two of the sequence, as Answer E does.

Prompt:
Exercise → Mind → ↓ Stress -> ↓ BP
Answer E:
Exercise → Mind → ↓ Stress
(No ↓ BP in Answer E, i.e. no fourth step.)

We are absolutely allowed to stop at any point in the sequence.
Stage 3 is X? No inclusion of "Stage 4 is Y"?
No problem.
Stage 3 is X.
The absence of stage 4 does not change the truth of stage 3.
If an answer wants to stop at step 3, fine.

Option E is the only answer whose logic / causality mirrors the prompt.

Whoops. No. Answer D would not be helped by the addition you suggest.

Again, the problem with D is direct versus indirect causation,
not degree of effect (some = small, most = large) . . .
. . . not the group involved in the truth claim.

This piece is hard to see: with answer D, we cannot say that D is true AT ALL.
We cannot say D is true for MOST people or SOME people or ANY people.
The groups do not matter.

The invalid assertion of direct causation matters.
Answer D asserts that X directly causes Y, whereas
the prompt says that X indirectly causes Y.

"Wrong group" or "no group" is not D's problem.
The problem is that (1 → 2 → 3 → 4) does NOT support (1 → 4)

Final analysis . . .
It appears that your reasoning primed you to find the correct answer.
I can't be certain because at times I don't have enough with which to work.
It's possible that you need expanded reasoning in A (reversed causation) and
D (inaccurate assertion of direct causation).

It looks to me as if you would have hit A. Not sure about D.
Bottom line: You hit the goal. You chose lines of reasoning that led you to E.

Good work. I am REALLY glad to see causality diagrammed.
That diagram sets a good example. I diagram most LR sentences.
Hope this response helps. Ask questions if not.

*Here is an example of what I mean by "reversed causality," based on this fact pattern:
imagine a cardiothoracic surgeon who has high blood pressure. Like most surgeons, she is a perfectionist.
Her high blood pressure causes her to worry that she will have a heart attack while she is operating.
This worry, in turn, causes her high stress.

She is given medicine to lower her blood pressure. It works. The medicine causes her blood pressure to decrease.
When she sees the measurement of decreased blood pressure, she is relieved.
After that, she worries much less about keeling over while she is operating (a worry that caused enormous stress).
Because her blood pressure decreases, she worries less, so her stress decreases.
In this case, lower BP DID cause decreased stress. That chain of events and reasons = reversed causality.

generis

I have a small f/u query for (E).



Why is calm minds not mentioned as a result of exercising
and a cause leading to lower stress?

How did you infer the same while diagramming below causality?

Answer E: Exercise → Mind → ↓ Stress


Is it because of absence of - DIRECTLY - in (E) that makes it a safer bet?

Since two people have already reviewed your logic, I will just post my reasoning on this question here.

Premises:
Engaging in exercise leads to calm minds in most people.
Calm mind reduces stress (presumably in most/all people).
Lower stress can lower BP in some people because stress is a common cause of high BP.

Exercise --> Calm Mind --> Reduction in stress --> Lower BP

(A) For at least some people, having lower blood pressure has at least some tendency to cause their stress levels to be reduced.

This is suggesting
Lower BP --> Reduction in stress
The argument does not give this relation at all. The argument says reduction in stress could lead to lower BP, not the other way around.

(B) Most people with high blood pressure can lower their blood pressure by reducing their stress levels.
The argument says "some people can lower their BP by lowering their stress". Use of "most" is definitely wrong.

(C) Most people who do not exercise regularly have higher stress levels as a result.
Irrelevant. We don't know what is up with people who do not exercise.

(D) Engaging in exercise can directly lower one's blood pressure.
Not given. Engaging in exercise may lead to lower BP through a maze of connections (as shown above). The use of the word "directly" is suspect.

(E) For at least some people, engaging in exercise can cause their stress levels to be reduced.

The argument gives: Engaging in exercise leads to calm minds in most people. Calm mind reduces stress (presumably in most/all people).
Hence, you can certainly conclude that for some people, exercise can reduce stress.

Answer (E)

Stress is a common cause of high blood pressure. By calming their minds and thereby reducing stress, some people can lower their blood pressure. And most people can calm their minds, in turn, by engaging in exercise.

Which one of the following is most strongly supported by the information above?

A. For at least some people, having lower blood pressure has at least some tendency to cause their stress levels to be reduced.

B. Most people with high blood pressure can lower their blood pressure by reducing their stress levels.

C. Most people who do not exercise regularly have higher stress levels as a result.

D. Engaging in exercise can directly lower one' s blood pressure.

E. For at least some people, engaging in exercise can cause their stress levels to be reduced

LSAT

EXPLANATION FROM ManhattenPrep.

Question Type:
Inference (Most Strongly Supported)

Stimulus Breakdown:
Exercise can cause a calm mind can cause less stress can lower blood pressure.

Answer Anticipation:
I rephrased the stimulus to reflect the causal chain that can be developed from this stimulus. Some combination of the above will serve as the answer, so I'd want to head into the choices with the whole chain.

Correct answer:
(E)

Answer choice analysis:
(A) Reversal. The stimulus sets up less stress as a cause of lower blood pressure, not the other way around.

(B) Degree. The stimulus states this is true for some people, not most of those with high blood pressure as this answer choice claims.

(C) Degree/Exclusive list. "Most" is too strong based on the information. Also, while exercise can lower stress, the stimulus doesn't rule out other methods of achieving the same result, so we can't infer that those who don't exercise have higher stress - they may lower their stress with some fine Chianti while taking a bath and listening to Michael Bolton.

(D) Degree/term shift. The stimulus allows us to infer that exercise can indirectly lower BP, but since there are intervening steps (calming mind, lowering stress), we can't infer that it directly causes this effect.

(E) Bingo. This answer doesn't include our entire chain (which would mention lower blood pressure), but it does follow from our causal chain.

Takeaway/Pattern:
When there is a causal (or conditional) chain, get the whole thing written out. The correct answer in an Inference question doesn't have to include the entire chain.

Merging topics. Please search before posting.

This is an "inference ?" so the answer choice has to be able to 100% supported by the provided information.


(A) For at least some people, having lower blood pressure has at least some tendency to cause their stress levels to be reduced.
- The prompt does not mention lower blood pressure to reduce stress, it is the other way around
(B) Most people with high blood pressure can lower their blood pressure by reducing their stress levels.
- Very strong claim
(C) Most people who do not exercise regularly have higher stress levels as a result.
- Very strong claim
(D) Engaging in exercise can directly lower one's blood pressure.
- Does not provide this info., can make one calm
(E) For at least some people, engaging in exercise can cause their stress levels to be reduced. - Yes

Stress is a common cause of high blood pressure. By calming their minds and thereby reducing stress, some people can lower their blood pressure. And most people can calm their minds, in turn, by engaging in exercise.

Stress > high BP (final effect)
Some people reduce BP by reducing stress and stress reduced by calming their minds.
Most (majority of above people) calm their minds by exercise (major contributing remedy to final effect)

Which one of the following is most strongly supported by the information above?

(A) For at least some people, having lower blood pressure has at least some tendency to cause their stress levels to be reduced. - Having tendency can't imply must be condition. So, wrong.

(B) Most people with high blood pressure can lower their blood pressure by reducing their stress levels. - Here most people is the culprit.

(C) Most people who do not exercise regularly have higher stress levels as a result. - it may be or may not be true.

(D) Engaging in exercise can directly lower one's blood pressure. - Usage of most people (51 % to 100) who calm their minds by exercise doesn't imply must be true situation.

(E) For at least some people, engaging in exercise can cause their stress levels to be reduced. - correct. Most people can be translated into some people (at least).

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