Verbal: Critical Reasoning Assumptions Flashcards

A city argues that adding bike lanes will reduce car accidents because cyclists will be safer. Which is a necessary assumption?

Answer: The presence of bike lanes does not increase overall traffic conflict

The conclusion fails if bike lanes introduce new conflicts that offset the safety gain.

An ad claims a supplement boosts memory because users scored higher on a test after taking it. What assumption does this rely on?

Answer: No other factor caused the score improvement

The causal claim assumes the supplement, not some confounding factor, produced the gain.

A manager concludes morale is high because few employees complained. The argument assumes that:

Answer: Employees feel free to voice complaints

Absence of complaints only signals morale if employees would actually speak up when unhappy.

A study of a single hospital shows a new drug works, so the company says it will work nationwide. The key assumption is that:

Answer: That hospital's patients are representative of the broader population

Generalizing from one sample assumes that sample resembles the larger group.

A pundit says lower taxes will raise government revenue because economic activity will increase. This assumes that:

Answer: The increase in activity outweighs the lost revenue per transaction

Revenue rises only if the growth effect exceeds the per-unit revenue loss.

A company claims its training reduced errors because error rates dropped after training began. A required assumption is that:

Answer: No simultaneous process change also reduced errors

The causal link breaks if another concurrent change caused the drop.

An editor argues a magazine should drop print because online readership is growing. The argument assumes that:

Answer: Print readers will not be lost without replacement

Dropping print is justified only if doing so does not sacrifice a valuable print audience.