PrepTest 126, Section 3, Question 3
Psychiatrist: Breaking any habit is difficult, especially when(55 more words not shown)
The conclusion of the psychiatrist's(14 more words not shown)
- Aa habit that(22 more words not shown)
- Bfor most people(17 more words not shown)
- Csome courses of(10 more words not shown)
- Dmost people who(9 more words not shown)
- Eeveryone who succeeds(13 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
A consequence tomorrow can feel more urgent than a consequence forty years from now. Imagine someone changing a habit because it makes them feel awful the next day, while putting off a change whose costs seem far in the future. That helps me understand the psychiatrist's point about immediate concerns motivating people to break habits.
Now apply that distinction to smoking. The argument puts social pressure on the immediate side and says successful quitters are more likely to be responding to that pressure than to health concerns. But where do the health concerns belong? We haven't been told. If someone's health concern is immediate too, the immediate-versus-long-term comparison doesn't separate the two motives.
What we’re looking for
We're filling in a reason that supports the conclusion. My prediction is that the health concerns generally lie further down the road for these quitters. That would let the psychiatrist apply the earlier comparison to social pressure and health. We don't need a claim that smoking can never cause an immediate problem.
Working the answers
- A
This compares how serious the health threats are, not when people worry about them. An addictive habit could pose a greater threat than another habit while its consequences still felt distant. The argument needs the immediate-versus-long-term distinction, not a ranking of dangerous habits.
- BCorrect
For most successful quitters, smoking doesn't create an immediate health concern when they quit. That gives the argument the missing contrast: social pressure is immediate, while their health concern generally isn't. Combined with the premise that immediate concerns are more likely to motivate successful habit-breaking, this supports the psychiatrist's conclusion. Notice that B concerns these people's situation when they quit; it doesn't claim that all smoking-related health problems always take decades to appear.
- C
Some unspecified actions can relieve social pressure while making health concerns worse. That doesn't tell us what motivates people to quit smoking or whether their health concerns are immediate. We shouldn't invent a connection between those unspecified actions and these quitters.
- D
Needing several attempts tells us that quitting can be difficult. It doesn't tell us which motive ultimately helps someone succeed. Someone could try repeatedly because of social pressure, health concerns, or a mixture of reasons.
- E
Even if those were the only two motives, which one would be more common among successful quitters? E doesn't say. Restricting the list to social pressure and health doesn't establish the comparison between them. We still need the timing distinction supplied by B.
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