Addiction to nicotine in cigarettes prevents many people from quitting

Question

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Addiction to nicotine in cigarettes prevents many people from quitting smoking. To make quitting easier, lawmakers in Tarnia passed legislation that will reduce the average quantity of nicotine per cigarette by half over the next five years. Since the lower a smoker's nicotine intake is, the easier it is for that person to quit, the proportion of Tarnians attempting to quit smoking who succeed in their efforts will probably increase significantly during these five years.

Which of the following is an assumption on which the argument depends?

a. The strength of a person's nicotine addiction depends only on the amount of nicotine that person regularly consumes.
b. Most of the cigarette smokers in Tarnia would quit smoking if they were not addicted to nicotine.
c. It is unlikely that many Tarnians who have not already become addicted to nicotine will become addicted to nicotine at some time over the next five years.
d. Tarnian smokers addicted to nicotine will not generally compensate for decrease in the amount of nicotine per cigarette by smoking more cigarettes.
e. All cigarettes currently sold in Tarnia contain the maximum amount of nicotine permitted by law.

GMATNinja · Accepted Answer

It doesn't matter if there are other factors affecting the strength of a person's nicotine addiction. As long as the amount of nicotine that a person regularly consumes is ONE of the factors affecting the strength of a person's nicotine addiction, reducing a person's nicotine consumption should reduce the strength of a person's nicotine addiction (if all other factors are held equal). The amount of nicotine regularly consumed does not even have to be the MAIN factor. As long as it affects the strength of a person's nicotine addiction, the author's argument could hold.

However, the argument rests on the assumption that smokers will continue smoking roughly the same number of cigarettes even after the nicotine content has been reduced, thus reducing the smokers' average regular nicotine consumption. But if those smokers simply smoke more cigarettes to maintain the same levels of nicotine consumption, then the strength of their addictions will not be changed.

I hope that helps. And you have excellent taste in baseball teams,  Masshole ! :-D

Kurtosis · Answer

Addiction prevents people to quit smoking.
Reduction in nicotine content per cigarette. 
Lower the nicotine intake, easier to quit --> Proportion of people attempting to quit smoking will increase.

We have to find an option that must be true in order for the conclusion to hold true.

a. The strength of a person's nicotine addiction depends only on the amount of nicotine that person regularly consumes. - Incorrect. Negate A: Strength of person's nicotine addiction does not depend only on the amount of nicotine that person regularly consumes. Negating A does not have any effect on the conclusion.

b. Most of the cigarette smokers in Tarnia would quit smoking if they were not addicted to nicotine. - Incorrect. Out of context. Option presents info about people not addicted to nicotine.

c. It is unlikely that many Tarnians who have not already become addicted to nicotine will become addicted to nicotine at some time over the next five years. - Incorrect. Out of context. Same error as in B.

d. Tarnian smokers addicted to nicotine will not generally compensate for decrease in the amount of nicotine per cigarette by smoking more cigarettes. - Correct. Negate D, conclusion breaks down.

e. All cigarettes currently sold in Tarnia contain the maximum amount of nicotine permitted by law. - Incorrect. Irrelevant.

Answer: D

chessgiants · Answer

yup, D is indeed the answer. The question mentions the proportion of addicted smokers; this can be interpreted as the number of addicted smokers. However, A talks about the degree of addiction on nicotine.

B,C,E are all Out of scope

B,C,E are all Out of scope

akela · Answer

Why is A wrong?

Conclusion:  the proportion of  Tarnians attempting  to quit smoking who succeed in their efforts will probably increase significantly during these five years.

Negating (A) gives:  The strength of a person's nicotine addiction DOES NOT depend SOLELY on the amount of nicotine that person regularly consumes. 
So, there might be other factors, phychological, for example. The conclusion is talking about  Tarnians, who are attempting to quit . So, if there are other factors, the proportion who succed WILL NOT increase significantly because of these other factors.

(D), on the other side is concerned with Tarnian smokers, not with those who are   trying to quit  . We don't care about smokers, the conclusion is concerned with those WHO ARE TRYING to quit. 
Smokers can compensate by smoking more, we don't care because the conclusion is about those who ARE TRYING TO QUIT.

IMHO, must be A

gmatdordie · Answer

A was tempting, but negating it wont affect the conclusion
as conclusion is talking about increase in nicotine-> increase in addiction, Less nicotene->Less addictione->easier for person to quit

But D is correct answer as negating D will break the conclusion

dcummins · Answer

Conclusion: The proportion of Tarnians attempting to quit smoking who succeed in their efforts will probably increase during the next 5 years.

Why?
- Lower a smoker's intake of nicotine, the easier it is for that person to quit.
- Government plans to reduce nicotine in cigarettes to 1/2 current levels over 5 years.

A is incorrect - strength of addiction is NOT dependent only on the amount of nicotine that person regularly consumes. This could be interpreted to weaken or strengthen, but its not too clear based on the info provided what effect.

B is incorrect - negated: it is not true that smokers would quit if they were not addicted to nicotine. This has no effect on the argument.

C is incorrect - the argument is made based on the current number of smokers and then a subset of this group - those looking to quit.

D is correct - If smokers do compensate for the decrease in nicotine by increasing their smoking intake then their intake of nicotine will not change. This weakens the argument when negated. D must be true in order for the argument to be true.

E is incorrect

sayan640 · Answer

Only option A and D are close.
The conclusion :- The proportion of Tarnians attempting to quit smoking who succeed in their efforts will probably increase significantly during these five years.
Lets negate option A.
The strength of a person's nicotine addiction DOES NOT depend only on the amount of nicotine that person regularly consumes.
There are other factors too. But "the amount of nicotine that person regularly consumes" is one of the factor and it's going to decrease.
So "The proportion of Tarnians attempting to quit smoking who succeed in their efforts will probably increase significantly during these five years".
So the conclusion follows even after negation.
Option A cant be assumption.

Lets negate option D.
 Tarnian smokers addicted to nicotine will generally compensate for decrease in the amount of nicotine per cigarette by smoking more cigarettes.
Then the amount of nicotine consumed will not decrease. And ""The proportion of Tarnians attempting to quit smoking who succeed in their efforts will probably NOT increase significantly during these five years". The conclusion cant follow after negating option D.

Option D is the answer.
Please give me KUDOs if you liked my explanation.

minalgambhir · Answer

CONCLUSION - Proportion of Tranias attempting to quit smoking who succeed increases during the next 5 years

PRE THINKING -

IN WHAT SCENARIO Proportion of Tarnias attempting to quit smoking who succeed do not increase in the next 5 years

GIVEN -

1) Addiction to nicotine prevents the person to quit smoking
2) Lawmakers of Tarnia have passed a regulation to reduce the average nicotine in cigarette by half in the next 5 years
3) Reduced nicotine makes it easy to quit smoking

FALSIFICATION QUESTION - The average number of cigarettes smoked by a person increase

ASSUMPTION - Average number of cigarettes smoked by a person do not increase

ANSWER CHOICE ANALYSIS -

A) Reiteration of the argument
B) Not related to conclusion
C) Must not be true for conclusion to hold true
D) CORRECT
E) Irrelevant

NathanMasky · Answer

Question Stem

Addiction to nicotine in cigarettes prevents many people from quitting smoking. To make quitting easier, lawmakers in Tarnia passed legislation that will reduce the average quantity of nicotine per cigarette by half over the next five years. Since the lower a smoker's nicotine intake is, the easier it is for that person to quit, the proportion of Tarnians attempting to quit smoking who succeed in their efforts will probably increase significantly during these five years.

Which of the following is an assumption on which the argument depends?

Breakdown of Argument

Premise : Nicotine which is present in cigarettes is addictive which makes quitting smoking difficult. 
 Conclusion : Reducing the amount of nicotine per cigarette will help reduce the addiction.
 Gap : People will not strive to get as many

Evaluating the Answer Choices

a. The strength of a person's nicotine addiction depends only on the amount of nicotine that person regularly consumes.

Irrelevant. We are not looking at micro level of how nicotine effects an individual rather how a law can reduce the number of people smoking.

b. Most of the cigarette smokers in Tarnia would quit smoking if they were not addicted to nicotine.

It is stated in the premise.

c. It is unlikely that many Tarnians who have not already become addicted to nicotine will become addicted to nicotine at some time over the next five years.

Irrelevant. The plan is to reduce the amount of people smoking. If individuals starting vaping (another source of nicotine) over the next five years, there may be more people addicted to nicotine whilst having less cigarette smokers.

d. Tarnian smokers addicted to nicotine will not generally compensate for decrease in the amount of nicotine per cigarette by smoking more cigarettes.

Let's negate: Tarnian smokers addicted to nicotine will generally compensate for decrease in the amount of nicotine per cigarette by smoking more cigarettes. This will break the plan and thus, the conclusion.

e. All cigarettes currently sold in Tarnia contain the maximum amount of nicotine permitted by law.

Whether cigarettes contain the highest amount of nicotine or not, does not change the fact that reducing the nicotine will help reduce cigarette smoking.

Thus, the final answer choice is D.

GmatKnightTutor · Answer

Addiction to nicotine in cigarettes prevents many people from quitting smoking. To make quitting easier, lawmakers in Tarnia passed legislation that will reduce the average quantity of nicotine per cigarette by half over the next five years. Since the lower a smoker's nicotine intake is, the easier it is for that person to quit, the proportion of Tarnians attempting to quit smoking who succeed in their efforts will probably increase significantly during these five years.

Which of the following is an assumption on which the argument depends?

a. The strength of a person's nicotine addiction depends only on the amount of nicotine that person regularly consumes. 
 b. Most of the cigarette smokers in Tarnia would quit smoking if they were not addicted to nicotine. 
 c. It is unlikely that many Tarnians who have not already become addicted to nicotine will become addicted to nicotine at some time over the next five years. 
 d. Tarnian smokers addicted to nicotine will not generally compensate for decrease in the amount of nicotine per cigarette by smoking more cigarettes. 
 e. All cigarettes currently sold in Tarnia contain the maximum amount of nicotine permitted by law.

Hey, people! Interesting passage. We begin with a statement that basically says nicotine in cigarettes is addictive and that this stops people from quitting smoking. That lawmakers in a certain country have passed a law that will reduce the nicotine per cigarette over the next half a decade. And that because the lower one’s nicotine intake is, the easier it is to quit, the ratio of people in this country successfully quitting is likely going to increase by a lot.

We’re asked to look for an assumption.

(D) Tarnian smokers addicted to nicotine will not generally compensate for decrease in the amount of nicotine per cigarette by smoking more cigarettes.
This is the answer. Let’s imagine smokers in this country because of this law could now only buy cigarettes that were 50% as strong. It’s true that this would reduce their nicotine intake – but only if they bought the same number of cigarettes. If, however, smokers started to buy TWICE as many of these low-nicotine cigarettes, their nicotine intake would remain the same. And addiction levels would therefore remain the same.

Addiction to nicotine in cigarettes prevents many people from quitting

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Addiction to nicotine in cigarettes prevents many people from quitting

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