When people engage in activities that help others, their brain releases endorphins, the brain's natural opiates, which induce in people...
GMAT Critical Reasoning : (CR) Questions
When people engage in activities that help others, their brain releases endorphins, the brain's natural opiates, which induce in people a feeling of well-being. It has been suggested that regular release of endorphins increases people's longevity. And a statistic on adults who regularly engage in volunteer work helping others shows that they live longer, on average, than adults who do not volunteer.
Which of the following most logically completes the argument?
Passage Analysis:
| Text from Passage | Analysis |
| When people engage in activities that help others, their brain releases endorphins, the brain's natural opiates, which induce in people a feeling of well-being. |
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| It has been suggested that regular release of endorphins increases people's longevity. |
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| And a statistic on adults who regularly engage in volunteer work helping others shows that they live longer, on average, than adults who do not volunteer. |
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Argument Flow:
The passage builds a potential causal chain: helping others → endorphins → longer life, then presents real statistics showing volunteers do live longer. However, the question stem introduces a 'However' that suggests this correlation might not prove causation.
Main Conclusion:
There is no explicit main conclusion in this passage - it's setting up premises for a conclusion that will be completed by the answer choices.
Logical Structure:
This is an incomplete argument that presents: (1) biological mechanism (endorphins from helping), (2) suggested connection (endorphins → longevity), and (3) supporting statistics (volunteers live longer). The question asks us to complete an alternative explanation for why the statistics would exist even without the proposed causal relationship.
Prethinking:
Question type:
Logically Completes - We need to find alternative explanations for why volunteers live longer that don't involve volunteering actually boosting longevity
Precision of Claims
The key claim is that volunteers live longer on average than non-volunteers. We need to explain this statistical difference without crediting volunteering itself as the cause of longevity
Strategy
Look for alternative causal explanations or confounding factors that could explain the longevity difference. The correct answer should show that even if volunteering doesn't actually increase lifespan, we'd still expect to see volunteers living longer due to some other reason
in the communities studied, women were much more likely to do regular volunteer work than men were, and women tend to live longer than men do.
This choice identifies a confounding variable that perfectly explains the statistical difference. If women volunteer more frequently than men, and women naturally live longer than men, then the volunteer group would have a higher proportion of women compared to the non-volunteer group. Since women have longer natural lifespans, we'd expect volunteers as a group to live longer - not because volunteering extends life, but because the volunteer population is skewed toward the longer-living gender. This gives us the exact alternative explanation we need.
the number of young adults who do regular volunteer work is on the increase.
The increase in young adult volunteers doesn't explain why current volunteers live longer than non-volunteers. This choice talks about trends in volunteering participation but doesn't address the longevity difference we're trying to explain through alternative means. It's completely irrelevant to explaining the existing statistic.
the feelings of well-being induced by endorphins can, at least for a time, mask the symptoms of various conditions and diseases, provided the symptoms are mild.
While this discusses endorphins masking symptoms, it doesn't provide an alternative explanation for why volunteers actually live longer. If anything, masking symptoms (rather than treating underlying conditions) might be harmful to longevity. This choice doesn't explain the statistical difference in lifespans.
it is rare for a person to keep up a regular schedule of volunteer work throughout his or her life.
The fact that people don't maintain volunteer schedules throughout life doesn't explain why those who do volunteer live longer. If anything, inconsistent volunteering would weaken any potential longevity benefits, making the statistic even more puzzling rather than providing an alternative explanation.
Some people find that keeping a commitment to do regular volunteer work becomes a source of stress in their lives.
Stress from volunteering commitments would potentially reduce longevity, not increase it. This choice works against explaining why volunteers live longer and doesn't provide the alternative explanation we need. It would make the longevity difference even more surprising.