"为我所用"小组第十三次作业argument53

rienziUID: 2402391

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: 432          TIME: 00:30:00          DATE: 2008-4-8 11:42:35



    The arguer concludes that the increasement of melatonin, a hormone, from a pregnant woman can cause shyness to her future infancy and this shyness can even influence him or her during the whole life. To support this conclusion, the result of a study which was done thirteen years ago has been quoted by the arguer. The arguer has also explained the study and showed us the follow-up result of it this year to further his prove of the conclusion. But through carefully scrutiny, it is not difficult to pick out some fatal fallacies from this passage.
    Firstly, we can focus on the details of the study that has been quoted by the arguer. We can see that only 25 infants were included. It is obvious that the number is too small to lead to the conclusion that all the infants will be influenced by the melatonin hormone of their mother before birth to become shy in their life. Besides this problem, the environments where these infants showed signs of mild distress should also be concerned deeply. The arguer tells us that those infants would show unfamiliarity in an unusual odor or a tape recording with unknown voice. But how about other unfamiliar stimuli? It is highly likely that an unusual odor or a werid tape recording is unfamiliar to all the infants and they can cause mild distress of all the infants. In this case, the study which was done thirteen years ago fails to support the arguer's conclusion.
    Secondly, the arguer presents that those infants in study were more likely than others to have been conceived in early autumn but he fails to say why. That is to say, the born time of those 25 infants are not unknown by us to make it clear. For this reason, we can not link the signs of mild distress shown by those infants to the mothers' increased production of melatonin in autumn. Some other factors can also lead the easy shyness of those infants. Before we can logically tie the increasement of melatonin of the mothers to their infants, we can not conclude that the shyness if caused by the hormone.
    Thridly, the arguer's statement that more than half of these children in the survey showed signs of distress earlier this year can not lead to his final conclusion either. As has been discussed above, half of 25 infants is still a small number for us to make any conclusion about all the infants.
    Given the discussion above, the arguer's conclusion is ineffective. More should be done or be concerned to support it.