Self-study
The effort involved in lying produces measurable physiological reactions such as a speedup of the heartbeat. █████ █████ ██ ███████████ ██ █████████████ ██████████ ████████████ █████ ████ ███ ██████ █████ █████████ ███ █ ████ ███ ██ ███████████ ████ ███████ ██ ██████
Summarize Argument
Lie-detector tests that can detect the physiological reactions produced when someone lies are a guaranteed method for determining if someone is lying. This is because when someone lies, corresponding physiological reactions occur.
Notable Assumptions
The author assumes that the physiological reactions produced by lying are not also triggered by other actions or behaviors. In other words, while lying is a sufficient condition for these physiological reactions, the author assumes it is also a necessary condition.
1.
Which one of the following ███████████ ██ █████ ████ █████████ ███████ ███ █████████
a
Lie-detector tests can ███████ ████ ████ ██ ███ █████████████ █████████ ████ █████ ████ ███████ ██ ██████
This does not affect the argument. The stimulus does not assume that lie-detector tests can measure all the physiological reactions—it assumes that, of the reactions the tests can measure, the tests’ ability to detect them is sufficient for determining if someone is lying.
Illusory inconsistency
Illusory inconsistency
Answer is attractive because it seems to (but doesn't actually) contradict the premises or conclusion.
b
People are often ███████ ████ ████ ███ ██████ █████████████ █████████ ██ ███ ████ ████████ ██ ████████████ ██████
This does not affect the argument. People being unaware of their physiological reactions should not affect the ability of the tests to detect these reactions.
c
Lying about past ████████ ████████ ████ ███ ███████████ ███████ ████████ █████████████ █████████ ████ ████ █████ █████ █████ ███████
This does not affect the argument. The stimulus does not differentiate between the strengths of physiological reactions. As long as the lie-detector tests can detect the reactions, the author argues that they are a sure way of detecting if someone is lying.
d
For people who ███ ███ ██████ ███ ███████ ██ ██████ █ ████████████ ████ ███ ███████ █████████████ █████████ █████████ ██ ███ ████ ████ █████████ ███ ███ ██ ██████
This weakens the argument. It attacks the author’s assumption that lying is the only cause of the physiological reactions. (D) suggests that there are other sufficient conditions that can produce the physiological reactions associated with lying.
e
When employers use ████████████ █████ ██ ████ ██ █████ █████████████ ██████████ ████ ██████████ ██████ ███ ██████ █████████ ██ ████
This does not affect the argument. We have no reason to believe that an individual’s motivation to lie (or lack thereof) should influence their physiological reactions when lying.