The following appeared as part of a letter to the editor of a scientific journal.
"A recent study of eighteen rhesus monkeys provides clues as to the effects of birth order on an individual's levels of stimulation. The study showed that in stimulating situations (such as an encounter with an unfamiliar monkey), firstborn infant monkeys produce up to twice as much of the hormone cortisol, which primes the body for increased activity levels, as do their younger siblings. Firstborn humans also produce relatively high levels of cortisol in stimulating situations (such as the return of a parent after an absence). The study also found that during pregnancy, first-time mother monkeys had higher levels of cortisol than did those who had had several offspring."
Write a response in which you discuss one or more alternative explanations that could rival the proposed explanation and explain how your explanation(s) can plausibly account for the facts presented in the argument.
The argument contends that there are effects of birth order on the individual's level of stimulation. While the claim made in the given argument might seem well-founded at first glance, there are several assumptions and logical leaps in the reasoning that need to be addressed before we could determine the soundness of the conclusion drawn. However, there are some alternative explanations that need to be addressed before we can assess whether this recommendation is reasonable.
Firstly, there is a generalization flaw in the reasoning of the argument. A conclusion based on the study based on eighteen rhesus monkeys should not be drawn on entire mammals. What if another species of monkeys like Bengali monkeys do not follow the claim made.
Secondly, there is a causal flaw in the argument. The argument said that in encountering an unfamiliar situation, the first-born infant produces more cortisol hormone. What if there is another factor like code in the genes that signal the production of this hormone.
Thirdly, the argument said that during pregnancy, first-time mother monkeys had higher levels of cortisol than did those who had had several offspring. What is the guarantee that infants of these mother-monkeys also obtain higher levels of cortisol only because their mothers have higher levels of cortisol.
Upon highlighting these additional factors that can be pertinent to the claim drawn in the given argument, we can see that the argument makes several assumptions and fails to be persuasive. While the recommendation does highlight a potential reasoning, more information is required to assess the merits of the decision, otherwise, the argument remains unsubstantiated and open to debate.
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Comments
e-rater score report
Attribute Value Ideal
Final score: ??? out of 6
Category: Poor Excellent
No. of Grammatical Errors: 3 2
No. of Spelling Errors: 6 2
No. of Sentences: 13 15
No. of Words: 269 350
No. of Characters: 1415 1500
No. of Different Words: 139 200
Fourth Root of Number of Words: 4.05 4.7
Average Word Length: 5.26 4.6
Word Length SD: 2.912 2.4
No. of Words greater than 5 chars: 107 100
No. of Words greater than 6 chars: 83 80
No. of Words greater than 7 chars: 58 40
No. of Words greater than 8 chars: 39 20
Use of Passive Voice (%): 0 0
Avg. Sentence Length: 20.692 21.0
Sentence Length SD: 7.917 7.5
Use of Discourse Markers (%): 0.692 0.12
Sentence-Text Coherence: 0.379 0.35
Sentence-Para Coherence: 0.663 0.50
Sentence-Sentence Coherence: 0.132 0.07
Number of Paragraphs: 5 5
Grammar and spelling errors:
Line 3, column 260, Rule ID: WHITESPACE_RULE
Message: Possible typo: you repeated a whitespace
Suggestion:
...ali monkeys do not follow the claim made Secondly there is a causal flaw in the a...
^^^^^
Line 5, column 36, Rule ID: PHRASE_REPETITION[1]
Message: This phrase is duplicated. You should probably leave only 'the argument'.
Suggestion: the argument
... Secondly there is a causal flaw in the argument The argument said that in encountering an unfamiliar...
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Line 5, column 261, Rule ID: WHITESPACE_RULE
Message: Possible typo: you repeated a whitespace
Suggestion:
...at signal the production of this hormone Thirdly the argument said that during pr...
^^^^^
Line 7, column 123, Rule ID: ENGLISH_WORD_REPEAT_RULE
Message: Possible typo: you repeated a word
Suggestion: had
...r levels of cortisol than did those who had had several offspring What is the guarantee...
^^^^^^^
Line 7, column 302, Rule ID: WHITESPACE_RULE
Message: Possible typo: you repeated a whitespace
Suggestion:
...r mothers have higher levels of cortisol Upon highlighting these additional facto...
^^^^^
Transition Words or Phrases used:
also, first, firstly, however, if, second, secondly, so, third, thirdly, well, while
Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments
Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 14.0 19.6327345309 71% => OK
Auxiliary verbs: 8.0 12.9520958084 62% => OK
Conjunction : 3.0 11.1786427146 27% => More conjunction wanted.
Relative clauses : 10.0 13.6137724551 73% => More relative clauses wanted.
Pronoun: 18.0 28.8173652695 62% => OK
Preposition: 35.0 55.5748502994 63% => OK
Nominalization: 16.0 16.3942115768 98% => OK
Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 1426.0 2260.96107784 63% => OK
No of words: 269.0 441.139720559 61% => More content wanted.
Chars per words: 5.30111524164 5.12650576532 103% => OK
Fourth root words length: 4.0498419064 4.56307096286 89% => OK
Word Length SD: 2.87489691446 2.78398813304 103% => OK
Unique words: 137.0 204.123752495 67% => More unique words wanted.
Unique words percentage: 0.509293680297 0.468620217663 109% => OK
syllable_count: 450.0 705.55239521 64% => OK
avg_syllables_per_word: 1.7 1.59920159681 106% => OK
A sentence (or a clause, phrase) starts by:
Pronoun: 0.0 4.96107784431 0% => OK
Article: 1.0 8.76447105788 11% => OK
Subordination: 0.0 2.70958083832 0% => More adverbial clause wanted.
Conjunction: 0.0 1.67365269461 0% => OK
Preposition: 1.0 4.22255489022 24% => More preposition wanted as sentence beginning.
Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 1.0 19.7664670659 5% => Need more sentences. Double check the format of sentences, make sure there is a space between two sentences, or have enough periods. And also check the lengths of sentences, maybe they are too long.
Sentence length: 269.0 22.8473053892 1177% => The Avg. Sentence Length is relatively long.
Sentence length SD: 0.0 57.8364921388 0% => The essay contains lots of sentences with the similar length. More sentence varieties wanted.
Chars per sentence: 1426.0 119.503703932 1193% => Less chars_per_sentence wanted.
Words per sentence: 269.0 23.324526521 1153% => Less words per sentence wanted.
Discourse Markers: 84.0 5.70786347227 1472% => Less transition words/phrases wanted.
Paragraphs: 5.0 5.15768463074 97% => OK
Language errors: 5.0 5.25449101796 95% => OK
Sentences with positive sentiment : 0.0 8.20758483034 0% => More positive sentences wanted.
Sentences with negative sentiment : 1.0 6.88822355289 15% => More negative sentences wanted.
Sentences with neutral sentiment: 0.0 4.67664670659 0% => More facts, knowledge or examples wanted.
What are sentences with positive/Negative/neutral sentiment?
Coherence and Cohesion:
Essay topic to essay body coherence: 0.120649118253 0.218282227539 55% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.120649118253 0.0743258471296 162% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.0 0.0701772020484 0% => Sentences are similar to each other.
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.0652740160445 0.128457276422 51% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.0511646482035 0.0628817314937 81% => OK
Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 138.0 14.3799401198 960% => Automated_readability_index is high.
flesch_reading_ease: -210.02 48.3550499002 -434% => Flesch_reading_ease is low.
smog_index: 0.0 7.1628742515 0% => Smog_index is low.
flesch_kincaid_grade: 109.4 12.197005988 897% => Flesch kincaid grade is high.
coleman_liau_index: 14.94 12.5979740519 119% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 21.15 8.32208582834 254% => Dale chall readability score is high.
difficult_words: 71.0 98.500998004 72% => More difficult words wanted.
linsear_write_formula: 58.0 12.3882235529 468% => Linsear_write_formula is high.
gunning_fog: 109.6 11.1389221557 984% => Gunning_fog is high.
text_standard: 110.0 11.9071856287 924% => The average readability is very high. Good job!
What are above readability scores?
---------------------
Rates: 50.0 out of 100
Scores by essay e-grader: 3.0 Out of 6
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Note: the e-grader does NOT examine the meaning of words and ideas. VIP users will receive further evaluations by advanced module of e-grader and human graders.