WeakenDiff: Easy

Logic Breakdown

Passage Summary: Babies who aren't played with or stimulated as much tend to sleep longer. Since sleep is good for a baby's growth, parents should probably stop stimulating them so much to ensure they get that extra rest.

Conclusion: Parents should decrease the amount of stimulation they provide to their infants.

Reasoning: A study found that six-month-olds with less stimulating routines sleep two hours more per day, and sleep is essential for a child's development.

Analysis: The argument assumes that more sleep is always better and that the benefits of those two extra hours outweigh any benefits provided by stimulation itself. It’s a classic case of a parent trying to optimize one variable while potentially ignoring another; perhaps those 'bored' babies are just sleeping because there is nothing better to do. To weaken this, look for an answer that suggests stimulation is just as vital for development as sleep is, or that the extra sleep observed in the study doesn't actually lead to better developmental outcomes.

Passage Stimulus

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1.

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

Correct Answer
E
If stimulation helps babies develop intellectually, then advising parents to reduce stimulation is not necessarily wise, even if it increases sleep. This directly undercuts the recommendation by introducing a serious developmental cost to the proposed action.
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