In One Study, Hospital Patients' Immune Systems Grew Stronger When the Patients Viewed Comic Videos

Question: In one study, hospital patients' immune systems grew stronger when the patients viewed comic videos. This indicates that laughter can aid recovery from illness. But much greater gains in immune system strengthen occurred in the patients whose tendency to laugh was greater to begin with. So hospital patients with a greater tendency to laugh are helped more in their recovery from illness even when they laugh a little than other patients are helped when they laugh a greater amount.

The argument is most vulnerable to criticism on the grounds that it:

1. Overlooks the possibility that the patients whose tendency to laugh was greater to begin with laughed more at the comic videos than did the other patients
2. Fails to address adequately the possibility that the patients whose tendency to laugh was greatest to begin with already had stronger immune systems than the other patients
3. Presumes, without providing justification, that hospital patients have immune systems representative of those of the entire populations
4. Takes for granted that the gains in the immune system strength did not themselves influence the patients' tendency to laugh
5. Presumes, without providing justification, that the patients whose tendency to laugh was greatest to begin with recovered from their illnesses more rapidly than the other patients

“In One Study, Hospital Patients' Immune Systems Grew Stronger When the Patients Viewed Comic Videos”  is a GMAT critical reasoning topic. This GMAT Critical Reasoning topic has been taken from the book ‘ Manhattan Prep's GMAT Foundations of Verbal, 7th Edition​’. In this particular topic, candidates are asked to select the most appropriate explanation that states the role that boldface plays. In this question, the candidates need to provide an option that supports the argument provided in the passage. GMAT critical reasoning tests the logical and analytical skills of the candidates. Critical reasoning in GMAT requires candidates to find the strengths and weaknesses of the argument, or find the logical flaw in the argument.  The GMAT CR section contains 10 -13 GMAT critical reasoning questions out of 36 GMAT verbal questions.

Answer: A
Explanation:

Question Type: Flawed Reasoning

Reasoning: with a greater tendency to laugh are helped more in their recovery from illness even when they laugh a little than other patients are helped when they laugh a greater amount

Analysis: The question has deep meaning. The author wants us to find the error in the argument. 

Candidates can answer this GMAT critical reasoning question by either finding a piece of evidence that would weaken the argument or logical flaws in the argument.

The argument is most vulnerable to criticism on the grounds that it:

1. Correct.
   -We are not given in the argument that people with a higher tendency to laugh laughed little. It is logical that those with a higher tendency to laugh actually laughed more.
2. Incorrect.
   -Fails to address adequately the possibility that the patients whose tendency to laugh was greatest to begin with already had stronger immune systems than the other patients
3. Incorrect.
   -Presumes, without providing justification, that hospital patients have immune systems representative of those of the entire population. Definitely not true. The argument talks about hospital patients only. It does not conclude about the entire population anyway.
4. Incorrect.
   -Not true. The argument talks about "tendency to laugh was greater to begin with". So the study measured the "tendency to laugh" in the beginning and then saw what kind of improvements were obtained. What happened to their tendency to laugh after gaining immune system strength is irrelevant
5. Incorrect.
   -Presumes, without providing justification, that the patients whose tendency to laugh was greatest to begin with recovered from their illnesses more rapidly than the other patients.

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