Mettl Critical Thinking 4

Question 1

A company's HR director says: 'Our top performers all drink coffee, so we should encourage all employees to drink coffee to improve performance.' The weakest point in this argument is:

Accepted Answer

Top performance may cause coffee drinking, not the reverse—or both may share a common cause.

Answer

The argument ignores reverse causality and confounding variables—high performers may simply have habits that include coffee without coffee causing their success.

Question 2

Which of the following best defines a 'red herring' fallacy?

Accepted Answer

Introducing an irrelevant topic to distract from the original issue

Answer

A red herring diverts attention from the real issue by raising something unrelated.

Question 3

A researcher concludes: 'Because no studies have proven that this supplement is harmful, it must be safe.' This reasoning is flawed because:

Accepted Answer

Absence of evidence of harm is not the same as evidence of safety.

Answer

The 'appeal to ignorance' fallacy treats a lack of disproof as proof of the positive claim.

Question 4

A CEO argues: 'We've always done it this way, and the company has been profitable.' Which fallacy is this?

Accepted Answer

Appeal to tradition

Answer

Appealing to tradition assumes that past practice is justified simply because it is established, ignoring whether alternatives might be better.

Question 5

In a logical argument, what is the role of a 'premise'?

Accepted Answer

A statement offered as evidence or reason to support the conclusion

Answer

Premises are the supporting statements from which a conclusion is derived.

Mettl Practice Test

Mettl Practice Test

Mettl Critical Thinking 4