PrepTest 126, Section 1, Question 22
Psychologist: It is well known that becoming angry(69 more words not shown)
Which one of the following(8 more words not shown)
- AThose who are(17 more words not shown)
- BMedication designed to(14 more words not shown)
- CPeople with permanently(12 more words not shown)
- DThose who discover(14 more words not shown)
- EThe physiological factors(12 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
A temporary rise in blood pressure during anger is one claim. A lasting pattern of high blood pressure in easily angered people is another.
The passage gives us the first connection as a fact. For the second, the study finds that the two traits go together. That doesn't by itself tell us which causes which. What if permanently high blood pressure contributes to an irritable temperament? Or what if a third factor produces both?
Imagine, for purposes of testing the argument, a physical trait that makes someone prone both to high blood pressure and to anger. The two would be linked even if the person's psychology weren't causing the blood-pressure problem. Adding the link between lasting high blood pressure and heart disease wouldn't settle that missing direction.
What we’re looking for
We're asked to weaken the conclusion that psychological factors can cause heart disease. My prediction is either a reversed connection or a common physical cause. We need to challenge the proposed route from personality to disease, while accepting the study's observed association.
Working the answers
- A
Recovering from heart disease is different from developing it. A relationship between anger and recovery doesn't establish an alternative explanation for why easily angered people have permanently high blood pressure. It doesn't undermine the particular causal route the psychologist proposes.
- B
This could be tempting: perhaps people take blood-pressure medication and the medication makes them angry. But B doesn't say that. Affecting mood could mean making someone calmer or producing some other change, and we aren't told which study participants use the medication. To get the weakening story, we'd have to supply those missing facts ourselves.
- C
This connects a tranquil personality with avoiding heart disease even among people who already have permanently high blood pressure. That is consistent with personality making a difference to the disease risk, rather than evidence against it. C doesn't offer the alternative cause we're looking for.
- D
Learning you have heart disease could make you frustrated. But that is a response to discovering the disease, not an explanation for the study's association between an easily angered personality and permanently high blood pressure. We aren't told that the people in the study had discovered heart disease. D needs an extra connection to challenge the evidence the psychologist actually uses.
- ECorrect
The same physiological—physical—factors generally cause both permanently high blood pressure and a tendency toward anger. That supplies the common cause we considered. The study's personality/blood-pressure link could arise because both have that physical source, rather than because the personality produces the blood-pressure condition. The observed association therefore gives weaker support for the psychologist's conclusion.
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