Argument53【超越自我小组】第13次作业

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53. 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.

By studying a group of 25 children on two different stages: infant and teenage, and the acquaintance of melatonin, the author concludes that suffering shyness during infancy is attributed to the increased levels of melatonin before birth and this syndrome continues affecting later life; however, these evidences lend none credible support to the conclusion.

First, the author unreasonably assumes that mild distress expressed by infants when exposed to unfamiliar stimuli is merely due to their shyness. However, it needs not be the case. The author fails to consider that the mild distress exhibited by infants during some unfamiliar stimuli may not due to their shyness, but it is just some typical physical response. It is also possible that the researchers misinterpret the meaning of sign expressing by infants.

Furthermore, the author is failing to consider other alternatives to the influence of a child personality during his/her growth. Such alternative may include the fact that children have different socialization during their growth or different living circumstances. It is true that these children are received different types of education. For example, certain of them may receive education in school where they learn how to cooperate, communicate and negotiate with their peers. On the contrary, others may teach by their parents or custodians at home where they communicate, and interact with adults. It is surely that these children’ personalities and interpersonal skills would be utterly different and influence their response to the test. It is also possible that certain children’ families are single parent families which will strongly affect the development of these children. Without ruling out these possible alternatives, the author cannot reasonably bolster that shyness found on more than half children on second test is due to the increase of melatonin of their mother during pregnancy and this behavior will continues in children’ later life.

Finally, no convincing evidence has been provided by the author to substantiate that the increased levels of melatonin of mother before birth will lead to distress or shyness on her baby. It is mentioned in the argument that melatonin will only affect some brain function. However, it does not indicate the level of melatonin that would cause any affect to the brain. It is possible that the increased levels of melatonin are still very safe for mother and her fetus. It is also possible that the melatonin produced by mother will not transfer to fetus during pregnancy. In short, the author cannot persuasively uphold his conclusion that the increased levels of melatonin are the reason for shyness observed on certain children.

To sum up, the reasoning for substantiating the author’s conclusion seems unconvincing as presented above. In order to persuade the audience, the author should provide concrete information about the effect of melatonin on fetus, and information regarding to the impact of shy behavior and children growing environment.

[ 本帖最后由 apjack 于 2008-8-19 02:23 编辑 ]