SAT Reading & Writing · Cross-Text Connections
**Text 1** Clinical trials comparing mindfulness meditation programs to no treatment at all have found that participants in the meditation…
**Text 1**
Clinical trials comparing mindfulness meditation programs to no treatment at all have found that participants in the meditation programs reported meaningful reductions in anxiety and stress symptoms.
**Text 2**
Trials that instead compared mindfulness programs to another active, credible activity, instead of to no treatment at all, found smaller differences in benefit between the two groups, and some researchers note that negative experiences during meditation may be underreported in the research literature.
Which choice best describes the relationship between the findings in Text 1 and Text 2?
Clinical trials comparing mindfulness meditation programs to no treatment at all have found that participants in the meditation programs reported meaningful reductions in anxiety and stress symptoms.
**Text 2**
Trials that instead compared mindfulness programs to another active, credible activity, instead of to no treatment at all, found smaller differences in benefit between the two groups, and some researchers note that negative experiences during meditation may be underreported in the research literature.
Which choice best describes the relationship between the findings in Text 1 and Text 2?
Answer and explanation
Answer: B: The size of meditation's apparent benefit depends partly on what it's being compared against, larger relative to doing nothing, smaller relative to another credible active alternative.
The key structural difference between the two sets of trials, comparison to no treatment versus comparison to another active alternative, is exactly what explains the different effect sizes reported in each. B names that comparison-dependent pattern directly. A overstates Text 2 into a complete denial of benefit it doesn't make. C misreads both texts, which discuss the same conditions, anxiety and stress. D ignores the real qualification Text 2 adds regarding smaller effects and underreported downsides.
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