CR – Causal Reasoning (Set 1) 1

Critical Reasoning
CAUSAL REASONING
Set 1

1. Weight Gain
Most antidepressant drugs cause weight gain. While dieting can help reduce the amount of weight gained while taking
such antidepressants, some weight gain is unlikely to be preventable.

The information above most strongly supports which one of the following?

A A physician should not prescribe any antidepressant drug for a patient if that patient is overweight.
B People who are trying to lose weight should not ask their doctors for an antidepressant drug.
C At least some patients taking antidepressant drugs gain weight as a result of taking them.
D The weight gain experienced by patients taking antidepressant drugs should be attributed to lack of dieting.
E All patients taking antidepressant drugs should diet to maintain their weight.

2. A New Anticollision Device

The number of airplanes equipped with a new anticollision device has increased steadily during the past two years.
During the same period, it has become increasingly common for key information about an airplane’s altitude and
speed to disappear suddenly from air traffic controllers’ screens. The new anticollision device that operates at the
same frequency as air traffic radar is therefore responsible for the sudden disappearance of key information.

Which one of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument?

A The new anticollision device has already prevented a considerable number of mid-air collisions.
B It was not until the new anticollision device was introduced that key information first began disappearing
suddently from controllers’ screens.
C The new anticollision device is scheduled to be moved to a different frequency within the next two to three
months.
D Key information began disappearing from controllers’ screens three months before the new anticollision device
was first tested.
E The sudden disappearance of key information from controllers’ screens has occurred only at relatively large
airports.

3. Violent Crime
Violent crime in this town is becoming a serious problem. Compared to last year, local law enforcement agencies have
responded to 17% more calls involving violent crimes, showing that the average citizen of this town is more likely than
ever to become a victim of a violent crime.

Which one of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument?

A The town’s overall crime rate appears to have risen slightly this year compared to the same period last year.
B In general, persons under the age of 65 are less likely to be victims of violent crimes than persons over the age of
65.
C As a result of the town’s community outreach programs, more people than ever are willing to report violent crimes
to the proper authorities.
D In response to worries about violent crime, the town has recently opened a community center providing
supervised activities for teenagers.
E Community officials have shown that a relatively small number of repeat offenders commit the majority of violent
crimes in the town.
 CR – Causal Reasoning (Set 1) 2

4. Staying Home
Unlike newspapers in the old days, today’s newspapers and televised news programs are full of stories about murders
and assaults in our city. One can only conclude from this change that violent crime is now out of control, and, to be
safe from personal attack, one should not leave one’s home except for absolute necessities.

Which one of the following, if true, would cast the most serious doubt on the conclusion?

A Newspapers and televised news programs have more comprehensive coverage of violent crime than newspapers
did in the old days.
B National data show that violent crime is out of control everywhere, not just in the author’s city.
C Police records show that people experience more violent crimes in their own neighborhoods than they do outside
their neighborhoods.
D Murder comprised a larger proportion of violent crimes in the old days than it does today.
E News magazines play a more important role today in informing the public about crime than they did in the old
days.

5. Prenatal Care
Medical researcher: As expected, records covering the last four years of ten major hospitals indicate that babies born
prematurely were more likely to have low birth weights and to suffer from health problems than were babies not born
prematurely. These records also indicate that mothers who had received adequate prenatal care were less likely to
have low birth weight babies than were mothers who had received inadequate prenatal care. Adequate prenatal care,
therefore, significantly decreases the risk of low birth weight babies.

Which one of the following, if true, most weakens the medical researcher’s argument?

A The hospital records indicate that many babies born with normal birth weights are born to mothers who had
inadequate prenatal care.
B Mothers giving birth prematurely are routinely classified by hospitals as having received inadequate prenatal care
when the record of that care is not available.
C The hospital records indicate that low birth weight babies were routinely classified as having been born
prematurely.
D Some babies not born prematurely, whose mothers received adequate prenatal care, have low birth weights.
E Women who receive adequate prenatal care are less likely to give birth prematurely than are women who do not
receive adequate prenatal care.

6. TV and Theta Brain Waves

Researcher: People with certain personality disorders have more theta brain waves than those without such disorders.
But my data show that the amount of one’s theta brain waves increases while watching TV. So watching too much TV
increases one’s risk of developing personality disorders.

A questionable aspect of the reasoning above is that if

A uses the phrase “personality disorders” ambiguously

B fails to define the phrase “theta brain waves”
C takes a correlation to imply a causal connection
D draws a conclusion from an unrepresentative sample of data
E infers that watching TV is a consequence of a personality disorder