QUESTION TEXT: Some researchers claim that people tend to…
QUESTION TYPE: Method of Reasoning
CONCLUSION: If rejecting the researchers’ claim, it is insufficient to point out that the correlation is far from universal.
REASONING: Some researchers claim that people gesture less when articulating abstract concepts. Rejecting this because it’s not universal is insufficient because people don’t always universally agree on what is abstract.
ANALYSIS: This one is a bit obtuse. The author is arguing against people who reject the claim on the basis that not everyone gestures less for abstract concepts. The author says that the reason for this is because people don’t treat the same words as abstract or physical, and uses comprehension as an example.
Essentially, the author gives a claim, gives a reason people have dismissed the claim, and then argues against the reason for dismissal using “comprehension” as an example.
___________
- The author isn’t saying the word is ambiguous – they say that people perceive it in different ways.
- The claim about the use of gestures is the psychological generalization.
- CORRECT. The author does exactly this – cites differing perceptions of “comprehension” to show why the correlation isn’t universal. It turns out, according to the author, that this is people gesturing more for physical words. It just didn’t seem like it because those people don’t think of the words in the same way.
- The author isn’t refuting an alternative explanation – the author is refuting an argument that the claim is false.
- The author isn’t offering a reason to believe more evidence is needed.
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