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Difficulty: EasyStrengthen

A recent municipal study observed that neighborhoods with a high density of street-side flower beds experienced significantly fewer occurrences of public littering than neighborhoods with few or no flower beds. The city planning board concluded that the presence of well-maintained flower beds directly encourages residents and visitors to dispose of their trash properly.

Which of the following, if true, most strongly supports the city planning board's conclusion?

  1. A
    Neighborhoods with street-side flower beds are typically equipped with twice as many public trash receptacles as neighborhoods without flower beds.
  2. B
    All city residents who regularly maintain home gardens always dispose of their household waste in an environmentally conscious manner.
  3. When flower beds were introduced into several previously barren neighborhoods, the volume of litter discarded on those streets declined noticeably even though municipal street sweeping frequency remained unchanged.Answer
  4. D
    Public littering in urban commercial districts causes significant environmental harm to local plant and wildlife species.
  5. E
    A neighboring metropolitan area with an extensive budget for municipal sanitization has virtually no litter on its sidewalks.

Answer

Evidence demonstrating that introducing flower beds to barren neighborhoods led to a decline in litter while cleaning frequency stayed the same most strongly supports the conclusion.
The argument concludes that the presence of flower beds directly causes individuals to litter less. The correct response strengthens this claim by presenting a controlled scenario: when flower beds were added to neighborhoods that previously lacked them, littering decreased even though the frequency of street sweeping remained unchanged. This demonstrates the effect following the introduction of the cause while ruling out an alternative explanation.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the core premises and conclusion in the stimulus
Premise: Neighborhoods with flower beds have less litter. Conclusion: Flower beds directly cause people to dispose of trash properly.
Strengthening requires identifying the exact causal relationship the author attempts to establish.
2
Identify the reasoning gap or potential weaknesses
The argument assumes that the flower beds themselves caused the reduction in litter, rather than an unstated third factor (such as extra cleaning or more trash cans).
A valid strengthener will either provide direct evidence of causality or eliminate an alternative explanation.
3
Evaluate the answer choices for positive impact on the conclusion
The statement showing a before-and-after reduction in litter following the addition of flower beds while holding street cleaning constant directly validates the causal link.
Demonstrating that the effect occurs specifically when the cause is introduced reinforces the board's conclusion.

Key Concept

Causal Strengthening and Controlling for Confounding Variables
Estimated Time:1m 0s
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