Q2 - Brian: I used to eat cheeseburgers

[smiller]

Question Type:
Flaw

Stimulus Breakdown:
Premises:
1. Brian used to eat fast-food cheeseburgers almost every day.
2. Brian stopped eating cheeseburgers.
3. Brian started eating a diet of lean meats, vegetables, and fruits.
4. Since changing his diet, Brian feels better, his blood pressure is lower, and his cholesterol level is lower.

Conclusion:
Eating bread and meat in the same meal is unhealthy.

Answer Anticipation:
Do you see the most obvious flaw in Brian's argument, one that pops up in LR all the time? If you're thinking, "correlation does not prove causation," you are correct! It's possible that avoiding cheeseburgers caused the improvements in Brian's health, but that's not guaranteed to be the cause. All we know is that the improvements happened after Brian stopped eating cheeseburgers. That, by itself, doesn't prove a causal relationship. It's entirely possible that something else was the cause.

Correct answer:
(D)

Answer choice analysis:
(A) Which statement in the stimulus is coming from a self-appointed expert? Brian's argument relies on his own observations and experience, but he never claims to be an expert. And we have no idea who made the claim Brian read about eating bread and meat in the same meal. We don't know if that person was an expert or not. This answer doesn't clearly match any of the facts that we're given.

(B) Brian isn't just basing the argument on what he read. He's mainly basing his conclusion on evidence about his change in diet and how his health has changed. The conclusion isn't just restating a premise.

(C) We don't know if anything Brian did—cutting cheeseburgers out of his diet and switching to lean meats, fruits, and vegetables—must occur in order for someone to feel healthier or lower their blood pressure and cholesterol. This answer is describing a conditional logic flaw that doesn't occur in Brian's argument.

(D) Brian's conclusion states that eating bread and meat in the same meal is unhealthy, but that's not the only change that he made to his diet. He also started eating other foods, and it's very possible that those other foods were the main cause of the changes in his health.

(E) Brian's conclusion isn't just based on the results that other people experienced. It's based directly on what Brian experienced himself. This answer ignores all of the evidence that Brian provides based on his own experience.

Takeaway/Pattern:
The "Correlation vs. Causation" flaw appears frequently in LR. Any time an argument concludes that one thing causes another (eating bread and meat in the same meal causes health problems), look closely at the premises. Do they describe two things happening at the same time? Or do they describe one thing happening after another? In either case, it's likely that the correct answer will somehow highlight this as a "Correlation vs. Causation" flaw.

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