PrepTest 142, Section 4, Question 7
In a study of heart patients awaiting treatment(60 more words not shown)
Which one of the following(5 more words not shown)
- Astress sometimes reduces(8 more words not shown)
- Bthe pain experienced(8 more words not shown)
- Cthe severity of(21 more words not shown)
- Dstress is probably(13 more words not shown)
- Eheart patients suffering(29 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
Wait—which group felt less pain? The patients who were still uncertain about their treatment. The patients who knew what treatment they would receive were more likely to feel pain.
Now add the assumption the argument gives us: uncertainty is more stressful. Put the two facts together, and the more stressed group was less likely to experience pain. That's surprising, but we need to follow the stated comparison instead of replacing it with what we expected.
What we’re looking for
Could something else explain it? Perhaps patients with more severe problems were assigned treatment sooner, and that severity explains their greater pain. That's a possible objection to treating this study as conclusive proof of a cause. But the question asks us to finish the argument being made. Its intended inference goes from greater stress with less pain to the possibility that stress sometimes reduces pain.
Working the answers
- ACorrect
This follows the direction of the comparison: more uncertainty, hence more stress under the stated assumption, accompanied by less pain. 'Sometimes' keeps the conclusion limited. We don't have to claim stress always prevents pain or that every patient in the uncertain group was pain-free.
- B
Less pain accompanying greater stress doesn't establish that pain itself benefits patients. We would need some reason why experiencing pain helps them. Neither group comparison gives us that.
- C
Pain and the severity of the underlying heart condition are different things. The study tells us who was more likely to experience pain, not whose disease became more severe. It also doesn't say that information was deliberately withheld. C adds a harmful effect on the condition that the passage never reports.
- D
Both groups already have reduced blood flow to the heart. The comparison concerns their uncertainty and their pain. It doesn't establish whether stress caused the reduced blood flow or resulted from it, so we can't decide that causal direction here.
- E
This resembles the alternative explanation we considered: perhaps more painful or severe cases are more likely to need surgery. But we weren't given evidence establishing that relationship. Knowing what treatment one will receive isn't the same as needing surgery; some known treatments could be nonsurgical. E supplies a new explanation rather than completing the argument about stress and pain.
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