LSAT 130 – Section 3 – Question 19

LSAT 130 - Section 3 - Question 19

September 2009

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Question QuickView	Type	Tags	Answer Choices	Curve	Question Difficulty	Psg/Game/S Difficulty	Explanation
PT130 S3 Q19	+LR +Exp	Flaw or descriptive weakening +Flaw Sampling +Smpl	A 55% 165 B 5% 154 C 3% 156 D 7% 159 E 30% 161	150 161 172	+Hardest	145.135 +SubsectionEasier

Recent studies have demonstrated that smokers are more likely than nonsmokers to develop heart disease. Other studies have established that smokers are more likely than others to drink caffeinated beverages. Therefore, even though drinking caffeinated beverages is not thought to be a cause of heart disease, there is a positive correlation between drinking caffeinated beverages and the development of heart disease.

Summarize Argument

The author concludes that there’s a positive correlation between drinking caffeinated beverages and the development of heart disease. This is based on the fact that studies show there’s a correlation between smoking and heart disease, and a correlation between smoking and drinking caffeinated beverages.

Identify and Describe Flaw

Even if A is positively correlated with B, and A is also positively correlated with C, this doesn’t imply that B is correlated with C.

Here, drinking caffeinated beverages might have no correlation or even a negative correlation with heart disease. Even if smokers are more likely to drink caffeine than the average person, and more likely to have heart disease, the ones who drink caffeine might not be the ones with heart disease. The caffeine-drinkers might be less likely to have heart disease among the smokers.

smokers who drink caffeinated beverages are less likely to develop heart disease than are smokers who do not drink caffeinated beverages

If the smokers who drink caffeinated beverages are less likely to develop heart disease than the ones who don’t drink such beverages, this is evidence there’s actually a negative correlation between drinking caffeinated beverages and heart disease among the people who smoke.

something else, such as dietary fat intake, may be a more important factor in the development of heart disease than are the factors cited in the argument

The argument doesn’t concern what causes heart disease. The author is simply trying to establish a correlation on the basis of related correlations. But the author doesn’t assume that anything is the cause of something else.

drinking caffeinated beverages is more strongly correlated with the development of heart disease than is smoking

This possibility doesn’t help show why caffeinated beverages might not be positively correlated with heart disease. If anything, it does the opposite, suggesting that there might be a positive correlation between caffeinated beverages and heart disease.

it is only among people who have a hereditary predisposition to heart disease that caffeine consumption is positively correlated with the development of heart disease

(D) might show that genetic factors play a causal role in heart disease and undermine a hypothesis that caffeine consumption causes heart disease. But (D) presents evidence of a positive correlation between caffeine and heart disease, which supports the author’s conclusion.

there is a common cause of both the development of heart disease and behaviors such as drinking caffeinated beverages and smoking

The existence of a common cause doesn’t undermine the possibility of a positive correlation between heart disease and caffeinated beverages. If anything, it supports the existence of a correlation by explaining why they might be correlated.

LSAT 130 – Section 3 – Question 19

LSAT 130 - Section 3 - Question 19

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LSAT PrepTest 130 Explanations

Section 1 - Logical Reasoning

Section 2 - Reading Comprehension

Section 3 - Logical Reasoning

Section 4 - Logical Reasoning

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