3 23 Argument200 [peresistence小组] 第二十一次作业~

cicicamusUID: 2347182

TOPIC: ARGUMENT200 - Statistics collected from dentists indicate that three times more men than women faint while visiting the dentist. This evidence suggests that men are more likely to be distressed about having dental work done than women are. Thus, dentists who advertise to attract patients should target the male consumer and emphasize both the effectiveness of their anesthetic techniques and the sensitivity of their staff to nervous or suffering patients.
WORDS: 417          TIME: 00:35:00          DATE: 2008-3-25 11:05:39

Before accepting the arguer's suggestion to the dentists' advisement, the evidence given in the argument should be considered more carefully. The arguer asserts that because men are more easily to faint than women while visiting the dentist, so the dentists advertise to attract patients are supposed to focus on men rather than women. However, after scrutiny, it might turn out to be not the case.

To begin with, the statistics provided in the argument fails to indicate the truth. The arguer just informs us three times more men than women faint while treating by the dentist, but he/she does not provide the total number of the men and the women visiting the dentist. It is entirely possible that the total number of men patients is much larger than women, say, the ratio of the number is ten to one, which means the number of women faint would be actually larger than men. Without being told the significant information about the number of men and women patients, the arguer's conclusion is unwarranted.

Secondly, the arguer assumes that the target of the advertisement should be on male consumers, yet it remains unjustifiable. We have no idea that the psychology of the consumers. Perhaps the reason why fewer women come to visit the dentist is not because they have better teeth than men but they are afraid of the pain about dental work thus dare not to see dentists. On the contrary, male consumers have no such worry. As long as they get the teeth problems, they would visit the dentists as soon as possible. If so, the policy of attracting consumer would be completely fail since they falsely choose the targets. Women are the potential consumers who are more likely to be persuaded to see dentists rather than men.

Thirdly, good anesthetic techniques and sensitivity of the staff to nervous or suffering patients does not follow the fact that male consumer will be attracted. Again, the arguer fails to consider the consumers' psychological characteristics. Common sense tells us that the inert of men is afraid of falling into contempt. If the dentists emphasize on the fact that men are more likely to be distressed than women and then assert they have more effective measures to prevent it happen, the male consumers might feel uncomfortable about this fact and revolt against it. The result might be that many of them would avoid coming to the dentist.

To sum up, the argument is not justifiable as it stands. To make it more reliable, the arguer should provide respectively the total number of men and women patients. If he/she wish to attract more consumers, the psychological characteristics of the consumers should be first taken into consider.

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