argument 53 求拍

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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.

The argument claim that shyness during infancy and this shyness continue into later life because of increased levels of melatonin before birth. To support this claim the arguer cites a study of 25 infants who show mild distress, among whom, now teenagers, over 50% consider themselves are shy. The speaker then point out that they were more likely be conceived in early autumn, a time when their mother produced more melatonin. A careful exanimation of this argument would inform us with several critical fallacies.

To begin with, the author fails to provide some direct evidences to prove that those infants were affected by the increased levels of melatonin their mothers produced. Firstly, based on the author’s statement, it must assume that the melatonin will be traveled from mothers’ bodies to the infants. But there is no information describe that the melatonin can not be evacuated just from the mothers’ metabolism systems. Secondly, if the assumption above is valid, there may be some other reasons instead of the fact that the pregnant mothers produced more melatonin in the early autumn for infants’ mild stress. Perhaps just because of the early autumn climate or those infants’ natural sensitivity, the infants performed like the argument said. Yet the author fails to establish this causal relationship.

Furthermore, the argument confuses mild stress and shyness. The author does not give a clear definition or some example behaviors of shyness. Different people like those teenager experimenters may give different definitions of the shyness. Some one consider that he blushes when he talks to strangers is shyness, while some one may think that his palms are all cold and sweating when he gives a speech in front of classroom. And just for this point, author should not simply equate shyness with mild stress which is the very normal performances when infants are exposed to unfamiliar stimuli. So I doubt the accuracy of that increased levels of melatonin before birth cause shyness during infancy instead of mild stress.

Finally, even if I believe that those teenagers are really shy, the author supplies no evidences to support that increased levels of melatonin is the only factor that cause shyness in those teenagers. The author overlooks that a person’s characters are formed by gene and many environmental influences. Perhaps those teenagers have a shy father or they grow up in a closed environment. These elements all can shape those teenagers as a shy person. Unless all other factors are exclude, the author can not convince me that this shyness that caused by the increased levels of melatonin continues into later life.

In summary, to make the argument more convincing, the arguer would have to prove that the increased levels of melatonin directly affect those infants. Moreover, before I accept the conclusion of the study, the author must give a clear definition of shyness and produce more evidence concerning only the increased levels of melatonin contributes to those teenagers’ shyness character.