Patients Wearing Tinted Eyeglasses are Prone to Depression and Hypochondria GMAT Critical Reasoning

Question: Doctors in Britain have long suspected that patients who wear tinted eyeglasses are abnormally prone to depression and hypochondria. Psychological tests given there to hospital patients admitted for physical complaints like heart pain and digestive distress confirmed such a relationship. Perhaps people whose relationship to the world is psychologically painful choose such glasses to reduce visual stimulation, which is perceived as irritating. At any rate, it can be concluded that when such glasses are worn, it is because the wearer has a tendency to be depressed or hypochondriacal.

The argument assumes which one of the following?

1. Depression is not caused in some cases by an organic condition of the body.
2. Wearers do not think of the tinted glasses as a means of distancing themselves from other people.
3. Depression can have many causes, including actual conditions about which it is reasonable for anyone to be depressed.
4. For hypochondriacs wearing tinted glasses, the glasses serve as a visual signal to others that the wearer’s health is delicate.
5. The tinting does not dim light to the eye enough to depress the wearer’s mood substantially.

“Patients Wearing Tinted Eyeglasses are Prone to Depression and Hypochondria GMAT Critical Reasoning” - comes with five options. The candidates need to choose the one which is correct. GMAT critical reasoning tests the logical and analytical skills of the candidates. To answer the question, a candidate can find a piece of evidence that would weaken the argument. In this section of the GMAT Verbal, candidates get 65 minutes to answer 36 MCQ questions. In this GMAT Critical Reasoning question, candidates need to assume the argument based on the provided passage..

Answer: E

Model Answer 1

Explanation- The argument's conclusion is that "when a person wears tinted glasses, that person has a tendency to be depressed or hypochondriacal." How did the debate arrive at this conclusion? Because the argument made use of two stated statements/premises.
First, psychological tests confirmed doctors' suspicions that patients who wear tinted glasses are more likely to suffer from depression.
Second, if a person has a psychologically painful relationship with the world (this type of description can be assumed to be depression), he or she may wear tinted glasses. In either case, the argument
concludes that when a person wears tinted glasses, it is because he or she is predisposed to depression; in other words, wearing tinted glasses does not cause depression.
To reach the general conclusion mentioned in the argument, we must assume this assumption (wearing tinted glasses does not make the wearer depressed).
Now lets evaluate our options

1. Depression is not caused in some cases by an organic condition of the body.
   The argument uses two examples to demonstrate that depressed people wear tinted glasses. We must introduce new information so that the tinted glasses have no effect on depression. Choice A, on the other hand, states that in some cases, depression is not caused by an organic condition of the body. It means that depression is caused by a non-organic condition. As a result, we can conclude that tinted glasses (depending on whether they are organic or not) may or may not cause depression. We can ignore this option because there are so many things we must assume here.
2. Wearers do not think of the tinted glasses as a means of distancing themselves from other people.
   The argument is unconcerned with the wearers' feelings about whether or not they want to distance themselves from others. As a result, it is somewhat out of context.
3. Depression can have many causes, including actual conditions about which it is reasonable for anyone to be depressed.
   Because the debate isn't about many causes of depression, we can ignore this option.
4. For hypochondriacs wearing tinted glasses, the glasses serve as a visual signal to others that the wearer’s health is delicate.
   Because the argument does not address how others perceive the wearer's health condition.it is somewhat out of context.
5. The tinting does not dim light to the eye enough to depress the wearer’s mood substantially.
   This option indicates that the tint on the glasses does not depress. If we assume this, we can safely reach the argument's conclusion.

The correct answer is E

Model Answer 2

Explanation- The Other way to approach this question is as follows-
This argument's conclusion is causal in nature ("because" is the indicator): Glasses = glasses are worn, Depression = tendency to be depressed or hypochondriacal. The answer options are intriguing because they all relate to either the cause or the effect, or both.
Answer options (A) and (C) are similar in that they both talk about what causes depression (the cause of the cause). However, the author makes no assumptions about what causes depression, only that it
causes a person to wear glasses. As a result, both of these responses are incorrect.
Answer options (B) and (D) both analyze the implications of wearing glasses (the effects of the effect). This, once again, is not part of the author's argument. Answer choices (A), (B), (C), and (D) are incorrect because they discuss issues that occur either "before" or "after" the causal relationship in the conclusion.
Answer choice (E) is a Defender, which rules out the possibility of the stated relationship being reversed (Type D in the Assumptions and Causality discussion). Remember that if the glasses actually cause the wearer to be depressed, this situation would be detrimental to the author's argument, so the author assumes it does not exist.
The correct answer is E

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