Newsletter for community-center volunteers: Retired persons who regula

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Newsletter for community-center volunteers: Retired persons who regularly volunteer their time to help others generally display fewer and milder effects of aging than their nonvolunteering contemporaries: in social resources, mental outlook, physical health, economic resources, and overall functioning, they are found to be substantially stronger than nonvolunteers. Volunteering is often described as doing good works to improve the lives of others. How good to know that there is evidence that it can equally benefit your own well-being!

The inference drawn above is unwarranted because

(A) the center has a self-interested motive to attract new volunteers

(B) it interprets “well-being” as including the factors of social and economic resources, mental outlook, physical health, and overall functioning

(C) some of those who do not volunteer might be older than some volunteers and so could not be considered their peers

(D) growing older might not necessarily result in a change in mental outlook

(E) those with better resources, health, outlook, and functioning are more able to work as volunteers

exc4libur · Answer

argument
= volunteers x non are better off
= helping others also helps you
= win-win situation

ans (E) if those already better off are usually volunteers, then the conc falls, since it is biased.

SudhanshuC · Answer

Answer E

Conclusion  = Evidence is there that volunteering benefits one’s own well being.

What if the person is already well - this will clearly undermine the contribution of volunteering.

This is what option E implies.

flyhigh99 · Answer

is E trying to say that those who have better resources are the ones that can manage to volunteer or does it mean that if someone already has the resources (& a good well-being) then they wouldn't volunteer? Language and intention is confusing me

Ann-Mary · Answer

Can someone pls explain. The way its written is sooo confusing

shaun97 · Answer

Newsletter for community-center volunteers: Retired persons who regularly volunteer their time to help others generally display fewer and milder effects of aging than their nonvolunteering contemporaries: in social resources, mental outlook, physical health, economic resources, and overall functioning, they are found to be substantially stronger than nonvolunteers. Volunteering is often described as doing good works to improve the lives of others. How good to know that there is evidence that it can equally benefit your own well-being!

Let's extract the required information : 
1.  Premise  : People who regularly volunteer display less signs (than non-volunteers) of aging in  social resources, mental outlook, physical health, economic resources, and overall functioning.
2.  Inference drawn  : Volunteering in some way(milder aging) benefits the volunteer as well.

We are required to find a reason why inference drawn is unwarranted.

Pre-Thinking  : Author's drawn inference :  volunteering  ->  less aging

What if ?  less aging  ->  volunteering  ?  ( people with lesser aging are the ones who can volunteer as they have money, energy etc. )   This will undermine the inference drawn.

Clearly, answer  E  goes along the lines of this pre-thinking.

ManifestDreamMBA · Answer

The answer matches the argument as highlighted below. For the specific question you have, it's the former. The idea is to explain why the conclusion isn't right, so it doesn't make sense to think volunteering can benefit well being when people are already better

Newsletter for community-center volunteers: Retired persons who regularly volunteer their time to help others generally display fewer and milder effects of aging than their nonvolunteering contemporaries: in social resources, mental outlook, physical health, economic resources, and overall functioning, they are found to be substantially stronger than nonvolunteers. Volunteering is often described as doing good works to improve the lives of others. How good to know that there is evidence that it can equally benefit your own well-being!

The inference drawn above is unwarranted because

(A) the center has a self-interested motive to attract new volunteers

(B) it interprets “well-being” as including the factors of social and economic resources, mental outlook, physical health, and overall functioning

(C) some of those who do not volunteer might be older than some volunteers and so could not be considered their peers

(D) growing older might not necessarily result in a change in mental outlook

(E)  those with better resources, health, outlook, and functioning are more able to work as volunteers

ManifestDreamMBA · Answer

Think of it this way(using a simple analogy). Someone is saying X got fit. how do you refute it? You say, cmon, X were already fit

rahul5657 · Answer

(A) The center has a self-interested motive to attract new volunteers.
The passage is from a newsletter for volunteers, so the center may indeed want more volunteers.
However, the argument is about whether volunteering improves well-being, not about the center’s motives.
Incorrect.

(B) It interprets “well-being” as including the factors of social and economic resources, mental outlook, physical health, and overall functioning.
The passage defines well-being broadly but does not make an error by doing so.
The problem isn’t in the definition—it’s in assuming that volunteering causes these benefits.
Incorrect.

(C) Some of those who do not volunteer might be older than some volunteers and so could not be considered their peers.
Even if some non-volunteers are older, that does not explain why volunteers seem healthier.
Age difference is not the key issue—the issue is whether volunteering causes better health or if healthier people just tend to volunteer.
Incorrect.

(D) Growing older might not necessarily result in a change in mental outlook.
This does not address the argument’s main flaw.
Even if mental outlook did change with age, the question remains: Did volunteering cause better mental outlook, or were healthier people more likely to volunteer?
Incorrect.

(E) Those with better resources, health, outlook, and functioning are more able to work as volunteers.
This directly weakens the argument.
If healthier, wealthier, and more socially active people are simply more likely to volunteer, then volunteering is not necessarily the cause of their well-being.
Correct...

Newsletter for community-center volunteers: Retired persons who regula

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Newsletter for community-center volunteers: Retired persons who regula

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