Peter: Recent evidence suggests that Support moderate alcohol consumption has certain beneficial effects on health. ██ ███████████ ███████ ███████ ██ ████████████ ███████████ ██ ███ █████ ████ ███ ███████ ████████ ████ ███ █████ ████████ █████ ███████ ███████████ ███ ██ ████████ ███████████
This argument features sampling error – a very common flaw in arguments involving scientific studies. While the initial evidence cited applies to moderate alcohol consumption, Peter’s conclusion applies to alcohol consumption of all kinds – a much broader category.
This is an overgeneralization from the evidence, because there is reason to think a narrow focus on moderate alcohol consumption is unrepresentative of alcohol consumption writ large.
You should always be on the hunt for subtle conceptual shifts like this one. If you manage to spot one, you can move into the answer choices with high hopes of finding it highlighted in the correct answer, as happens here.
Side Note: “On Balance”
Lots of people missed this question because they read “on balance” to mean “moderate.” Like if you’re drinking alcohol on balance that means you’re doing it in a balanced / moderate way.
If that’s you, you’ve just gotta make a note that “on balance” doesn’t mean that. It means all things considered.
Remembering “on balance” in particular is higher priority than your typical “I gotta learn this obscure vocab word,” because the phrase often indicates weighing factors reasoning, another common LSAT concept you should aspire to recognize on sight.
(In fact, this stimulus is an excellent example of flawed net effect reasoning. That just happens not to be the crux of the question in this instance. For more, see (E)’s explanation.)
Which one of the following ████ ██████████ █████████ █ ████ ██ ███ █████████ ██ ███████ █████████
It takes for ███████ ████ ██████ ██████ ██ ███████ ███████ ███████ ████ ███████ ██ ██ ██████████ ██ █████ ███████
(A) is wrong because the author doesn’t make this assumption. Peter’s argument doesn’t require people to drink alcohol specifically for the health effects, since his conclusion is just about whether those effects exist.
My personal meme for this type of wrong answer choice in a Flaw question is “if you come at the king, you best come correct.” If an answer choice accuses the author of making an assumption, you gotta be really really sure the author actually makes that assumption.
It draws a ██████████ █████ ██ ███████ ██████ ██████ ████ ██ ██████████ ████████
This points to a different common flaw – appealing to an inappropriate authority. But the “recent evidence” Peter cites is scientific opinion, not popular belief as (B) claims.
It fails to ████████ ███████ ██ █████████ ███ ████ ██████████ ███████ ████ ██ ███ ███████ ████████
If you picked (C), the lesson for you is to maintain a laser focus on the precise conclusion. Peter’s conclusion is that drinking alcohol is net-positive, not that alcohol is the only or the best means of achieving certain health benefits.
It draws a ██████████ █████ ███████ ███████████ ██ ███████ ████ █ ███████ █████ ████████ ███████ ████████████
(D) captures the link assumption between moderate alcohol consumption and alcohol consumption in general. For more detail on this, read the analysis section.
It fails to ████████ ████ ███████ ███ ████ ██ ██████ ██ ████ ████████ ████ █████ ███████ ██ █████ ███████
(E) suggests Peter’s argument could fail if alcohol isn’t more beneficial than he says it is.
That’s most tempting through a net effect lens, which is an entirely appropriate way to view this stimulus: Peter supports a conclusion about alcohol’s overall health effects by citing a single benefit.
With net effect in mind, here’s a clean way to capture where (E) goes wrong:
Peter cites one benefit of alcohol that gives its score +1, and concludes alcohol’s overall score is net-positive.
The legitimate problem with that reasoning is that there might be -2s or -3s out there that could make alcohol’s overall score net-negative.
(E) says the problem is the absence of other potential +1s or +2s. But that doesn’t directly threaten alcohol’s net-positive status.
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