Red is a color which has powerful effects on human beings as

Question

Red is a color which has powerful effects on human beings as well as animals. A group of psychologists carried out an experiment which confirms the subconscious effects of this color on human behavior. They provided selected sports teams at school and college level with either red or blue shorts and recorded the outcome of the games. The teams wearing red won in a disproportionate number of matches. The psychologists suggested that either the teams wearing red subconsciously felt themselves more powerful, or that the non-red teams were subconsciously intimidated by the red color.

Which of the following, if true, would most weaken the psychologists’ suggestion?

(A) Each team wore red in some matches and blue in others.

(B) The color blue has the subconscious effect of making human beings less competitive.

(C) The effect was only observed if all the team members wore white shirts.

(D) Red signifies danger in some cultures whereas it signifies happiness in others.

(E) In a subsequent study, teams with all-red outfits were more likely to report that they thought they would win no matter what color the opponents wore.

gmatstalker2012 · Answer

.......Just making a guess on this....think correct would be the option (C) as this weakens the suggestion that teams are winning of their RED shorts.

Please Expalin...

Jp27 · Answer

IMO B.

Conclusion - Red is a color which has powerful effects on human beings as well as animals
The only support for this hypothesis is drawn is from experiments conducted by the psychologists 
so the correct answer choice will mostly find fault with the experiment.
 
(A) Each team wore red in some matches and blue in others.
 OK so ? this doesn't affect our argument in any way.

(B) The color blue has the subconscious effect of making human beings less competitive.
 This weakens. Now if team blue felt inferior than the team Red, then the Reds won not because of the effects of red color but because blue color affected the opponents. Its like paying tennis with net down.

(C) The effect was only observed if all the team members wore white shirts.
 thought the observed results are valid only wen the teams wore white, the conclusion that "red is more powerful" is not weakened

(D) Red signifies danger in some cultures whereas it signifies happiness in others.
 Out of scope
 
(E) In a subsequent study, teams with all-red outfits were more likely to report that they thought they would win no matter what color the opponents wore.
 Strengthen the argument saying the REDs felt more powerful. 
 
What the OA dude?

Cheers

nelz007 · Answer

The answer is B great explanation jp27 kudos + 1

fozzzy · Answer

I picked C can someone explain this question. I don't understand why B is the correct choice.

Archit143 · Answer

Hi
I would like to help you with this;-

There are two effects described by the study of teams wearing either red or blue color jersey.
Either
1st effect:-

Winner feeling subconsciously more powerful

Or

2nd effect

Loser feeling less powerful subconsciously.

Now option C states desired result may be achieved only if white shirt is worn.....its an open ended statement full of flaws such as it does not answers which color jersey team will wear white shirt.
Also which effect will be more overpowering if white shirt is worn.
i mean it may be that the team in blue jersey may feel more down in morale and may lose the game...this is also helping in achieving the effect described in the study mentioned in the argument.

-----------------------------------------------------
If my post helped pls give kudos

fozzzy · Answer

Thanks for the reply! it was helpful.

jlgdr · Answer

But the passage talks about non-red teams, we can't assume that non red = blue. Why would we care about the color blue? What if there are no teams that wear blue outfits?

For me this is clearly out of scope. Its actually a trap. Since answer choice mentions something about the color blue, then answer choice B repeats something similar. But we miss the whole point. We should focus on what's written on the stimulus, not use any info given in another answer choice

For me D is the OA

Cheers
J

mejia401 · Answer

I don't think that's correct because because of deductive reasoning. 
Here is the conditional statement:
1) If Red -> then feel more powerful 
2) If feel more powerful -> then win
3) if red -> then win

Any claim that changes the conditional statement weakens the argument, and answer B reverses the logic.

Stimulus
Red -> then feel more powerful OR   if not more powerful -> then not red (blue)

The answer choice reverses the logic
If blue -> then team itself not powerful.

Thus, if blue feels less powerful by virtue of wearing blue, then the scientists hypothesis is weakened. It is in fact blue that makes teams lose, not seeing red on the other team. 
IMO B

Additionally, we can use premises not in the stimulus whenever the stem has "which of the following, if true."

Do you find my reasoning to be valid?

Regards,
Aa

Temurkhon · Answer

Argument says that it is because of red colour one team wins and because of non-red colour other loses

to weaken we should provide another reason for victory or defeat (may be out of colour)

option B says that it is because of blue colour one team wins or another loses

B

devikeerthansr · Answer

(A) Each team wore red in some matches and blue in others.
But red team won disproportionately

(B) The color blue has the subconscious effect of making human beings less competitive.
Weakens the argument Right answer

(C) The effect was only observed if all the team members wore white shirts.
White and red. Does not weaken

(D) Red signifies danger in some cultures whereas it signifies happiness in others.
striiiiiiike out!

(E) In a subsequent study, teams with all-red outfits were more likely to report that they thought they would win no matter what color the opponents wore.
strengthens the argument

Saharsh95 · Answer

This questions is an example of cause and effect weaken questions. As per the author's suggestion, red color is responsible for "powerful" effects which leads to winning the matches disproportionately. Therfore, to weaken the argument, we need to introduce an alternate cause to the phenomenon of winning/losing matches. Therefore, an alternate color (blue) also has been stated to have the potential of affecting the outcome of the match performance (not red alone or independently). It's not about the color but about the alternate cause producing a similar phenomenon.

Posted from my mobile device

VerbalBot · Answer

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Red is a color which has powerful effects on human beings as

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