PrepTest 146, Section 2, Question 22
In a recent study, one group of participants(57 more words not shown)
Which one of the following,(6 more words not shown)
- AIn another study,(23 more words not shown)
- BAnother study's members(20 more words not shown)
- CParticipants who were(20 more words not shown)
- DIn studies of(25 more words not shown)
- EA third group(24 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
Were these groups comparable before they watched anything? If the people watching themselves were already more enthusiastic runners, their extra exercise wouldn't show that the video motivated them.
I'd also wonder about the running required to make those recordings. Perhaps trying the treadmill made some participants realize they enjoyed running. Then doing the activity, rather than watching themselves do it, could explain the change. We aren't told enough about how the groups were set up to dismiss those possibilities.
What we’re looking for
For the weaken question, I'd look for a reason to doubt that watching the recordings caused the extra exercise. A difference between the groups or some other source of motivation could do that.
Working the answers
- A
A weightlifting recording being more effective than a running recording wouldn't show that the running recording has no effect. Both could motivate people, with one motivating them more. The conclusion doesn't claim that watching yourself run is the most effective possible way to encourage exercise.
- B
This describes people becoming more willing to give after hearing about people they identify with. It doesn't give us a reason to doubt the exercise finding. If anything, it illustrates how identifying with someone doing an activity might influence behavior, which is compatible with the proposed motivational effect.
- C
These participants were already highly motivated, so they may have had little room to increase their exercise. They could also be a small part of the study. Suppose they made up 1 percent of the participants and the other 99 percent increased their exercise. No change in the small, already-motivated group would be perfectly compatible with the claim that watching yourself can motivate more exercise.
- DCorrect
This takes a different route from my predictions: what if the reported increase isn't an actual increase? Participants watching their identical twin saw someone who looked like them, and afterward they exaggerated their own time spent on the observed activity. That gives us reason to worry about the accuracy of the exercise reports.
The original evidence is what participants said they did, not a direct measurement of their daily exercise. If watching someone who looks like you can distort that report, then watching yourself run might lead you to overstate your exercise too. The twin study doesn't prove that this happened in the treadmill study, or that nobody exercised more. It makes the jump from extra reported time to extra actual exercise less secure.
- E
Reporting more time sitting after watching yourself sit is another reported behavior change. It doesn't tell us whether that report is accurate. The result could fit a genuine influence on behavior or a change in how people report it. Unlike D, E doesn't establish overreporting and thus doesn't give us the same reason to distrust the original evidence.
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