LSAT 151 – Section 2 – Question 14

LSAT 151 - Section 2 - Question 14

September 2018

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Question
QuickView		 Type Tags Answer
Choices		 Curve Question
Difficulty		 Psg/Game/S
Difficulty		 Explanation
PT151 S2 Q14
+LR
Strengthen +Streng
Causal Reasoning +CausR
A
2%
157
B
2%
155
C
86%
161
D
1%
157
E
8%
158
120
127
146
 +Easiest 147.144 +SubsectionMedium

Researcher: People are able to tell whether a person is extroverted just by looking at pictures in which the person has a neutral expression. Since people are also able to tell whether a chimpanzee behaves dominantly just by looking at a picture of the chimpanzee’s expressionless face, and since both humans and chimpanzees are primates, we conclude that this ability is probably not acquired solely through culture but rather as a result of primate biology.

Summarize Argument: Phenomenon-Hypothesis
The researcher hypothesizes that it’s because of primate biology—not just culture—that humans can tell whether a person is extroverted by looking at a picture of their neutral expression. Why? Because people can identify dominant chimpanzees by looking at similar pictures, and humans and chimpanzees are both primates.

Notable Assumptions
The researcher assumes only primate biology can explain this ability in humans, and not something else besides culture. She assumes abilities acquired through culture are not enough to allow humans to identify dominant chimpanzees through pictures of their neutral expressions. She also assumes humans have the ability to identify extroverted humans for the same reason they can identify dominant chimpanzees.

A
People are generally unable to judge the dominance of bonobos, which are also primates, by looking at pictures of them.
If anything, this weakens the researcher’s argument. It implies the ability to identify dominant individuals through pictures doesn’t extend to all primates—which suggests something other than primate biology is at play.
B
People are able to identify a wider range of personality traits from pictures of other people than from pictures of chimpanzees.
This is irrelevant. The researcher concludes primate biology allows humans to identify other extroverted humans—she makes no claim about other personality traits.
C
Extroversion in people and dominant behavior in chimpanzees are both indicators of a genetic predisposition to assertiveness.
This strengthens the researcher’s assumption that people are able to identify extroverted humans and dominant chimpanzees for the same reason. It implies humans in both cases are identifying genetically assertive individuals.
D
Any common ancestor of humans and chimpanzees would have to have lived over 7 million years ago.
This is irrelevant. It doesn’t change the fact that humans and chimpanzees are both primates, and the researcher credits primate biology—not a recent-ancestor relationship—for humans’ ability to identify extroverts.
E
Some of the pictures of people used in the experiments were composites of several different people.
If anything, this weakens the argument. It raises the possibility that humans aren’t actually that good at identifying extroverts among pictures of real people.

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LSAT PrepTest 151 Explanations

Section 1 - Reading Comprehension

Section 2 - Logical Reasoning

Section 3 - Logical Reasoning

Section 4 - Logical Reasoning

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