[a习作temp] 【kaleidoscope】小组第6次作业 Argument56 by Azoi [复制链接]

azoi
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电梯直达

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发表于 2009-8-12 11:55:23 |只看该作者 |倒序浏览

TOPIC: ARGUMENT53 - Thirteen years ago, researchers studied a group of 25 infants who showed signs of mild distress when exposed to unfamiliar stimuli such as an unusual odor or a tape recording of an unknown voice. They discovered that these infants were more likely than other infants to have been conceived in early autumn, a time when their mothers' production of melatonin-a hormone known to affect some brain functions-would naturally increase in response to decreased daylight. In a follow-up study conducted earlier this year, more than half of these children-now teenagers-who had shown signs of distress identified themselves as shy. Clearly, increased levels of melatonin before birth cause shyness during infancy and this shyness continues into later life.
WORDS: 425
TIME: 0:30:00
DATE: 2009/8/11

In the article, the author argues that by observing the result of a research relating to 25 children we can conclude that melatonin would cause children shyness during infancy and ever since. The contention may seem plausible at the first glance. However, we find this argument not well-reasoned after a scrutiny over the author's reasoning processes.

To begin with, the author doesn't provide any detailed information about the 25 infants, such as their race and their family background, rendering the results of the research lack of credibility. If the infants were not chosen in a random way, the accuracy of the research would be under doubt. For instance, if the children are all picked from the low altitude areas, there would be no much change of the daylight during early autumn in their residence, thus it would be far-fetched to relate melatonin to the children’s personality. What’s more, whether 25 samples are sufficient in proving any scientific theory is what I still take leave to doube.

Secondly, the author has committed the fallacy of hasty assumption in attributing the shyness to melatonin, for he fails to rule out other possibilities which may cause the same result. It's entirely possible that the children's parents are all of the shy type, who would genetically pass this character to their offspring. Or perhaps during early autumn, there's other hormones generated by the mother which would make the infant shy. Without some more talking points showing that melatonin is the major factor controls the shyness of an infant, this contention would be totally unwarranted.

Thirdly, even assuming melatonin is the very reason for the children's shyness, the author doesn't provide any telling evidences proving that melatonin would have the effect to maintain their shyness in their later life. Maybe the children were raised up in a rather dull atmosphere, for example their parents were too busy to take care of them, leaving them at home without much playing mates and friends to play and talk. Or perhaps the children suffered from some kind of domestic violence, which would make them don't want to talk to others. Such situations would contribute much in shaping the children'sintroverted characters.

In sum, if the author wants to make his article more persuasive, he should conduct a more comprehensive research containing much more children from all kinds of family to ensure the randomness of the children. And he also need to conduct some rigorous researches indicating that other factors only play a minor role compared to melatonin in shaping the children’s shy character.

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atticuswang
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沙发

发表于 2009-8-12 20:36:20 |只看该作者

TOPIC: ARGUMENT53 - Thirteen years ago, researchers studied a group of 25 infants who showed signs of mild distress when exposed to unfamiliar stimuli such as an unusual odor or a tape recording of an unknown voice. They discovered that these infants were more likely than other infants to have been conceived in early autumn, a time when their mothers' production of melatonin-a hormone known to affect some brain functions-would naturally increase in response to decreased daylight. In a follow-up study conducted earlier this year, more than half of these children-now teenagers-who had shown signs of distress identified themselves as shy. Clearly, increased levels of melatonin before birth cause shyness during infancy and this shyness continues into later life.
WORDS: 425
TIME: 0:30:00
DATE: 2009/8/11

In the article, the author argues that by observing the result of a research relating to 25 children we can conclude that melatonin would cause children shyness during infancy and ever since. The contention may seem plausible at the first glance. However, we find this argument not well-reasoned after a scrutiny over the author's reasoning processes.

To begin with, the author doesn't provide any detailed information about the 25 infants, such as their races and their family background, rendering the results of the research lack of credibility. If the infants were not chosen in a random way, the accuracy of the research would be under doubt. For instance, if the children are all picked from the low altitude areas, there would be no much change of the daylight during early autumn in their residence, thus it would be far-fetched to relate melatonin to the children’s personality. What’s more, whether 25 samples are sufficient in proving any scientific theory is what I still take leave to doubt.

Secondly, the author has committed the fallacy of hasty assumption in attributing the shyness to melatonin, for he fails to rule out other possibilities which may cause the same result. It's entirely possible that the children's parents are all of the shy type, who would genetically pass this character to their offspring. Or perhaps during early autumn, there's other hormones generated by the mother which would make the infant shy. Without some more talking points showing that melatonin is the major factor controls the shyness of an infant, this contention would be totally unwarranted.

Thirdly, even assuming melatonin is the very reason for the children's shyness, the author doesn't provide any telling evidences proving that melatonin would have the effect to maintain their shyness in their later life. Maybe the children were raised up in a rather dull atmosphere, for example their parents were too busy to take care of them, leaving them at home without much playing mates and friends to play and talk. Or perhaps the children suffered from some kind of domestic violence, which would make them don't want to talk to others. Such situations would contribute much in shaping the children's introverted characters.

In sum, if the author wants to make his article more persuasive, he should conduct a more comprehensive research containing much more children from all kinds of family to ensure the randomness of the children. And he also need to conduct some rigorous researches indicating that other factors only play a minor role compared to melatonin in shaping the children’s shy character.

Remarks: 论述得挺好的！

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