V04-17

Question

Making use of a study identifying how often and for what reasons the average person’s mind wanders, a government agency which studies the causes of traffic accidents has announced the creation of a series of mental exercises designed to increase concentration while driving. An agency spokesperson has stated that, once the exercises have been published, fatal accidents are expected to decrease by 30% in the first year alone.
 
The agency’s expectation rests on which of the following assumptions about the causes of most fatal traffic accidents?

A. Most fatal accidents involve the average person.
B. Most fatal accidents are reported immediately to the government agency studying them.
C. Most fatal accidents are caused by lack of concentration while driving.
D. Fatal accidents can only be prevented once the mental exercises have been published.
E. Fatal accidents occur with a frequency that can be predicted by the government agency.

Bunuel · Answer

Official Solution:

Making use of a study identifying how often and for what reasons the average person’s mind wanders, a government agency which studies the causes of traffic accidents has announced the creation of a series of mental exercises designed to increase concentration while driving. An agency spokesperson has stated that, once the exercises have been published, fatal accidents are expected to decrease by 30% in the first year alone.
 
The agency’s expectation rests on which of the following assumptions about the causes of most fatal traffic accidents?

A. Most fatal accidents involve the average person.
B. Most fatal accidents are reported immediately to the government agency studying them.
C. Most fatal accidents are caused by lack of concentration while driving.
D. Fatal accidents can only be prevented once the mental exercises have been published.
E. Fatal accidents occur with a frequency that can be predicted by the government agency.

Situation: A government agency plans to prevent fatal traffic accidents through the use of mental exercises designed to increase concentration.
 
 Reasoning:   Which option identifies the assumption underlying the agency’s expectation?  The first sentence of the passage states that the government agency will use data from a study on mind wandering to develop exercises that improve concentration while driving. The agency expects that fatal traffic accidents will decrease as drivers’ concentration increases. Therefore, the assumption underlying the expectation is that most fatal traffic accidents are caused by lack of attention.
 
A.  The average person  is mentioned in the first sentence as the object of a previous study, not as the cause of fatal accidents.
 
B. This claim is not made in the passage.
 
C. The government will use the results of a study on mind-wandering to help improve the concentration of drivers; if drivers’ concentration is improved, the agency expects, fatal traffic accidents will decrease.
 
D. This is a distortion of a detail in the second sentence.
 
E. Though an expected amount of decrease in accidents is quoted, the passage does not claim that the government agency can predict the future frequency of fatal traffic accidents.

Answer: C

ajit_223 · Answer

In option C - "Most fatal accidents are caused by lack of concentration while driving." Use of most seems a stretch.

First, even if lack of concentration is reason for only 31% of accident, then also argument is valid.

Second, option A provides a case where negation will break apart the argument - if the study is for average's first mind, while only drunk or insane people cause accident.

bb · Answer

This question has been updated and revised

chaitanyapatil · Answer

ajit_223  Answer choice A seems an extra stretch, the argument studies what causes the accidents and how often the causes are responsible for the accidents. It never mentions or even hints at the possibility that the study concerned only average persons' minds. Regarding the 31%, the agency expects to reduce fatal accidents by 31% only in the first year of the implementation itself. The program may become so successful that it eliminates the occurrence of most fatal accidents on the road in a few years.

RiyaGangar · Answer

I don’t quite agree with the solution. How can it be MOST fatal accidents are caused by lack of concentration while driving?

bb · Answer

Hello and thank you for the feedback. The question asks about an assumption that is not stated in the argument and based on this line:   a government agency which studies the causes of traffic accidents has announced the creation of a series of mental exercises designed to increase concentration while driving.

It would be plausible and likely that the assumption is indeed that the most accidents are caused due to lack of concentration since this is what the agency came up with and plans to reduce the accidents with. That's the most logical one.

Note that this is not MUST BE TRUE question type, so we do not have to defend 30% and there could be a more likely candidate that is 31% contributor. That's not what we are worried about here and not what the question asks - it asks among the 5 options, which is the likely assumption.

RiyaGangar · Answer

Thank you for your reply. But isn't assumption supposed to be must be true? If it has to be could be true, it should have been a strengthen question right?

bb · Answer

You are partially correct, I have to clarify my statement a bit 😇 They work in opposite ways. The assumption feeds into the argument, so it is a statement that we will assume is true without doubting it. Must be true comes out of the argument, so it will be a statement that we will try to break. For example: When she goes to the store, she buys a lot of apples. Therefore, she must love apples. Assumption : she buys the apples for herself and not someone else. This seems solid right? But do we know that she buys the apples for herself? We don't! The assumption is assumed to be true and we take it at face value without doubting it or evaluating it against evidence. We evaluate the rest of the argument and see how it works with the assumption, but assumption is not doubted. must be true question: When she goes to the store, she buys a lot of applies for herself. Must be true: she must love apples Is it true though? Maybe she does but maybe she gives they away - we can't tell if she buys them for herself or family. We must doubt every angle and in this case, we can't tell that it is indeed true. Do you see the difference in approach? The assumption is not questioned itself, rather we question how it fits into the argument. Maybe someone else can do a better job of explaining

V04-17

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