单选题 18.Psychologist: In a study, researchers gave 100 volunteers a psychological questionnaire designed to measure their self esteem. The researchers then asked each volunteer to rate the strength of his or her own social skills. The volunteers with the highest levels of self-esteem consistently rated themselves as having much better social skills than did the volunteers with moderate levels. This suggests that attaining an exceptionally high level of self-esteem greatly improves one's social skills.
The psychologist's argument is most vulnerable to criticism on which of the following grounds?

A、 It fails to adequately address the possibility that many of the volunteers may not have understood what the psychological questionnaire was designed to measure.
B、 It takes for granted that the volunteers with the highest levels of self-esteem had better social skills than did the other volunteers, even before the former volunteers had attained their high levels of self-esteem.
C、 It overlooks the possibility that people with very high levels of self-esteem may tend to have a less accurate perception of the strength of their own social skills than do people with moderate levels of self-esteem.
D、 It relies on evidence from a group of volunteers that is too small to provide any support for any inferences regarding people in general.
E、 It overlooks the possibility that factors other than level of self-esteem may be of much greater importance in determining the strength of one's social skills.

【正确答案】 C

【答案解析】Argument Evaluation
Situation In a psychological study of 100 volunteers, those found to have the highest self-esteem consistently rated themselves as having much better social skills than did those found to have moderate self-esteem.
Reasoning What is wrong with the psychologist citing the study's results to justify the conclusion that exceptionally high self-esteem greatly improves social skills? The psychologist reasons that the study shows a correlation between very high self-esteem and how highly one rates one's social skills, and that this correlation in turn suggests that very high self-esteem improves social skills. This argument is vulnerable to at least two criticisms: First, the argument assumes that the volunteers' ratings of their own social skills are generally accurate. But very high self-esteem might in many cases result from a tendency to overestimate oneself and one's skills, including one's social skills. Second, the argument fails to address the possibility that good social skills promote high self-esteem rather than vice versa, as well as the possibility that some third factor (such as a sunny disposition or fortunate circumstances) promotes both high self-esteem and good social skills.
A An experiment's subjects do not have to understand the experiment's design in order for the experimental results to be accurate.
B To the contrary, the argument concludes that the volunteers with the highest self-esteem attained their enhanced social skills as a result of attaining such high self-esteem.
C Correct. As explained above, very high self-esteem may often result from a tendency to overestimate oneself in general, and thus to overestimate one's social skills.
D A group of 100 volunteers is large enough for an experiment to provide at least a little support for at least some inferences regarding people in general.
E As explained above, the argument overlooks the possibility that some third factor may play a significant role in determining the strength of one's social skills. But even if some factor other than self-esteem is more important in determining the strength of social skills, that would still be compatible with very high self-esteem being of some importance in improving one's social skills.
The correct answer is C.