Q4 - Because quitting smoking is very

[ManhattanPrepLSAT1]

This question asks us to find the answer choice that does not offer support for the argument. 4 of the 5 answer choices will support it, the one that doesn't is correct.

The argument concludes that the key to quitting smoking is to replace an unhealthy activity with a healthy one. Why does the author believe this to be the case? First, quitting smoking is stressful and leads to weight gain, so it's difficult to do. Second, in a study, a comparison was made that showed a higher success rate for those who tried to quit smoking and included aerobic exercise than those who only tried to quit smoking.

Incorrect Answers
(A) provides support through the first premise by suggesting that one of the factors that makes quitting smoking difficult (weight gain) is mitigated by aerobic exercise.
(B) provides support through the second premise by helping to reduce the likelihood that the study was biased.
(D) provides support through the first premise by suggesting that another factor that makes quitting smoking (stress) is mitigated by aerobic exercise.
(E) provides support through the second premise by showing that the effects of aerobic exercise were not temporary - remember the conclusion is about quitting smoking (a permanent change).

This leaves answer choice (C) as the correct answer. Answer choice (C) might actually weaken the argument. If nonsmokers (lets say folks who have quit smoking) do not gain weight when they stop exercising, this severs the connection between the healthy activity and one of the issues that would make quitting smoking so difficult. If exercise does not prevent weight gain, how is it that exercise helps people quit smoking?

[WaltGrace1983]

I made this question a lot harder on myself because I put that first sentence out of my head and only remembered to go back to it during review, trying to validate to myself why (A) and (C) are not both right. Now it makes a lot more sense!

How would this all fit together in the argument though?

(Quitting smoking is stressful and causes weight gain → Quitting smoking is difficult to do)

The study said that 40% of people who traded smoking with aerobic exercise quit
→
The key to quitting would be to replace one unhealthy activity with a healthy one

Where do we fit the bolded? It's not exactly a premise that would support the conclusion but it is definitely not a conclusion itself. Can a stimulus have two arguments that we have to strengthen?

[christine.defenbaugh]

Interesting question, WaltGrace1983!

I don't see any good reason to throw out the first sentence as a premise. Be careful of the tendency to 'overbackgroundize' things - i.e., relegate something to the category of 'background info' when it's really a functional premise. This tends to happen as we get more and more critical of reasoning, and looking to this premise we can immediately see that it does not, by itself, fully support the conclusion. But that doesn't mean it's not a premise! That simply means there's a yawning gap of an assumption in play.

Also, if you treat the first sentence as an independent argument, it suggests the "quitting is difficult" is a conclusion to be debated. We're not really questioning whether or not smoking is actually difficult - that's a given. The stress and weight gain are just the specific reasons that it's difficult. Furthermore, if you were to say that a conclusion was that "quitting is hard", then you'd be looking to support the fact that it is hard, when really we want to support the idea that exercise may make quitting easier.

However, the idea that the stimulus could have two arguments is worth exploring. The stimulus here does have two arguments, but not quite in the way that you meant. Because there are two premises, we could think of each premise forming a separate argument with the (solitary) conclusion. So, taking just the first premise, that core would look like this:

PREMISE: Smoking is stressful and causes weight gain (i.e., it's hard)
CONCLUSION: Trading smoking for exercise makes quitting easier

How in the world can we make that leap!? Well, we must be assuming that exercise helps reduce stress and/or weight gain. That's exactly what (A) and (D) support!

Essentially, answers (A) and (D) support the argument that contains the first sentence as it's premise, while answers (B) and (E) support the argument that contains the study itself as the premise - but both of these 'arguments' have the same conclusion.

The complete core would essentially just be:

PREMISES: 1) Smoking is stressful and causes weight gain (i.e., it's hard)
2) Study showed exercisers had a lot quit at one month mark, non-exercisers had none
CONCLUSION: Trading smoking for exercise makes quitting easier

Does that help a bit?

[WaltGrace1983]

Absolutely! I find that when I return to these questions later after one of you guys have commented (I read the question before I read your comments), the question seems significantly easier. Hopefully thats a sign that I am actually LEARNING rather than REMEMBERING.

Anyway, yes that makes a lot of sense. I think I am starting to see a pattern in some of these strengthen EXCEPT questions. They tend (not always though) to have a lot of information, i.e. many premises and lots of gaps. I guess that would make sense considering we are supposed to find a lot of supporting evidence. Thanks, Christine.

[seychelles1718]

This leaves answer choice (C) as the correct answer. Answer choice (C) might actually weaken the argument. If nonsmokers (lets say folks who have quit smoking) do not gain weight when they stop exercising, this severs the connection between the healthy activity and one of the issues that would make quitting smoking so difficult. If exercise does not prevent weight gain, how is it that exercise helps people quit smoking?

I picked C because I thought C is irrelevant to what we are concerned, as it talks about "nonsmokers," while we are only concerned with how replacing unhealthy activity with healthy one helps "smokers" quit smoking...

Based on mattsherman's explanation, are we supposed to assume "nonsmokers" as those who quit smoking? what about those who had never smoked before? Alos, can we really infer from C that "exercise does not prevent weight gain"? I think it's just saying nonsmokers who regularly worked out did not gain even with no exercising.

Any ideas?

[ohthatpatrick]

I think you're right. Matt's explanation is a little weird.

We really don't care about nonsmokers, unless we start talking about them quitting a DIFFERENT unhealthy activity with a healthy one as a means of quitting the unhealthy activity.

For example, you could strengthen the argument by saying
(C) Nonsmokers who tried to quit heavy alcohol consumption habits had an easier time doing so when they instead chose to meditate during the hours when they would normally start drinking.

But we definitely don't care whether or not stopping your gym regimen leads to weight gain. We only care if enacting a gym regimen prevents weight gain. And we definitely wouldn't jump from 'nonsmokers' to 'former-smokers who have since quit'.

Good catch.

[jeanne'sjean]

For example, you could strengthen the argument by saying
(C) Nonsmokers who tried to quit heavy alcohol consumption habits had an easier time doing so when they instead chose to meditate during the hours when they would normally start drinking.

Have a quick question.

If this rewritten AC is right, does that mean the conclusion of the argument is "Quitting will be an easier thing if replacing an unhealthy activity with a healthy one"? But I think the conclusion is around quitting SMOKING...

Any thoughts?

Thanks in advance!

[HughM388]

I don't find (E) more relevantly supportive than (C), and I'd argue, successfully, that's it's probably less supportive.

So what if 38% of people in the second group hadn't smoked in twelve months? Without knowing the data for the first group that number isn't very interesting. It's quite possible that, in the absence of exercise, it takes a month to begin having success with quitting, and that twelve months out there's no difference between groups.

Moreover, I am potentially very interested in what happens when people who are used to exercising regularly (either for a month or six months or twelve months) stop exercising. Once the smokers have quit, they're nonsmokers, and it's highly reasonable not to be particularly optimistic about their prospects for continuing to maintain exercise regimens indefinitely. If, when these new nonsmokers stop exercising, they start gaining weight, they may likely go back to smoking as an aide to weight loss.

So (C) is at least as relevant to an assessment of the argument about quitting smoking and exercise; and it's quite probably more relevant than is (E).