PT120.S3.Q25

PrepTest 120 - Section 3 - Question 25

Show analysis

A corporation created a new division. ██ █████ ███ ██████████ ████ ██████████ ████████ ███ ████████████ █████ ████████ ████ █████ ███ ████ ██████████ ██████████ ███ ████████ ███████ ████ ███ ███████████ ███ ████ ██████ █████ ███ ███ ████████ ████ ████ ████ █████ ███ ████ ██████████ ██████████ ███ ████████ █████████ ███ ███████████ ███ ████ ████████

Each Worker Is Great, So the Division Is Great?

A corporation created a new division and staffed it by rigorously screening applicants. The people they selected were among the most effective, efficient, and creative workers the corporation had ever hired. The author concludes that the new division itself must be among the most effective, efficient, and creative divisions the corporation had ever created.

The flaw is a part-to-whole error. The author assumes that because each individual in the division has certain qualities, the division as a whole must have those same qualities. But that doesn't follow. A group of individually excellent workers could still form a dysfunctional division if, for example, their skills overlap too much, they clash with one another, or they lack a coherent structure. Individual excellence doesn't automatically produce collective excellence.

The Part-to-Whole Gap
👤
Worker A
effective
efficient
creative
👤
Worker B
effective
efficient
creative
👤
Worker C
effective
efficient
creative
therefore...?
The Division
👤
👤
👤
? effective   ? efficient   ? creative
Great individuals ≠ great group
Anticipation

Since this is a Parallel Flaw question, we need to find an answer that commits the same part-to-whole error: concluding that a group has a property because each individual member of the group has that property. Specifically, we want:

  1. A premise establishing that each part/member has some quality.
  2. A conclusion claiming that the whole group therefore has that quality.

The flaw must be the same type, though the subject matter will be different.

User Avatar Analysis by Kevin_Lin
Show answer
25.

The flawed pattern of reasoning ██ █████ ███ ██ ███ █████████ ██ ████ ███████ ██ ████ ██ ███ ████████ ██████

a

In order to ██████ ███ ████ ███████ ███ ███ █████████ ███████ █████ █ █████████ ████████ ███ ███████████ ██ ███ █████████ ██████ █████ █████████ ██████████ ███ ███████ ████████ ███ █████████ █████ ███ ██████ ████ ████ ██ ███ ███ ████ ██████ ████ ████████ ████ ███ ███ ████ ███████ ██ ███ ███████ ███ ████ ███████

b

Several salespeople were █████ ██████████ ██ ███████ ███ ███████ ██████ ██ ███ █████████ ██ ███ ██████ ██ ███████ ███ █████████ ████████ ███ ████ ███████████ ███ ██ ███ ███████████ ███ █████ ████ ███ ███████████ ███ ███████ ████████ ███ ███████ █████ ██ ███ ████████ ████ ███ █████████ ███████ ███ ██████ ██████████

c

A law firm ███████ ██ ███ █ ██████████ ███████ ██ ██████ ████ ██ ██████ ███ ████ █████████ ██ ██████ ███ ████ ███████ ███ ███████████ ███ ███████████ ██ ███████ █████ █████ ████ █████ ██ ████ ██████████ ██████ ███████ ██ ██████ ████ ███████████ ███ ████ █████ █ █████ ██ ███ ███████ ███ ███████ █████████ ██████ ████████ ███ █████████ ██ ████ ████ █████ ██ ███ ███████ █████ ██ █████████ ████ ███ ███ ████ ████ ████ ███████ ███ ██ ███ ████ ██████████ ████████████

d

To put together ████ ██████ ███ ████████ ██████ ███ ████ ███████ ██ ███ ██████ ████ █████████ ████ ██ ████ ████ ███ ██ ████ ████ ███ ████ ████ ███ ██ ████ ████ █████ ████ ██████ ██ ███ ███ █████ ███ ███ ██ ███ ████ ███████ ██ ███ ██████ ████ █████ ██ ███████ ████ ███ ███ ████████ █████ ███ ███ ███ ████ █████ ████ █████

e

Various schools chose █████ ██ ████████ ██ ███████ ██ █ ██████ ███████████ ████ ████████ ████ █████████ █ ████████ ███ ████████ ███ ███████ ██████████ █████ ███ ███████ ██████ ████ ███ ███ ███ ███ █████ ████████ ███████ ████ ██████ █████ ███ ████ ██████████ ███████ ████ ███ ███████ ███████ ██████ ██ ███ ███████ ███ ████ █████

Confirm action

Are you sure?