LSAT 154 – Section 4 – Question 16

LSAT 154 - Section 4 - Question 16

September 2017

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Question
QuickView		 Type Tags Answer
Choices		 Curve Question
Difficulty		 Psg/Game/S
Difficulty		 Explanation
PT154 S4 Q16
+LR
Most strongly supported +MSS
Causal Reasoning +CausR
Sampling +Smpl
A
1%
147
B
12%
158
C
9%
157
D
3%
154
E
75%
165
143
152
161
 +Medium 147.301 +SubsectionMedium

Researchers investigating the accuracy of eyewitness accounts staged and made a video of a crime, and showed it to test subjects. A lineup of “suspects,” none of whom was the person playing the criminal in the video, was then shown to the subjects. When the subjects were not told that the suspect might not be in the lineup, 78 percent of them misidentified one or another of the persons in the lineup as the criminal. Only 38 percent of the subjects made misidentifications when they were told that the suspect might not be in the lineup.

Summary
Researchers staged a crime and showed a video of it to test subjects. A lineup of “suspects” was then shown to the test subjects. The person playing the criminal in the video was not in this lineup. When the test subjects were not told the suspect may not be in the lineup, most of them misidentified a person in the lineup as the criminal. When the test subjects were told that the suspect may not be in the lineup, less than half of them misidentified a person in the lineup as the criminal.

Strongly Supported Conclusions
The more likely people expect to see something, the more likely people are to think they see something not actually there.

A
Eyewitnesses are no more likely to accurately select a suspect from a lineup than are people who are given an accurate verbal description of the suspect.
This answer is unsupported. There was not a test group in the stimulus where people were given a vernal description of the suspect.
B
People tend to want to satisfy the stated expectations of those who ask them for information.
This answer is unsupported. We don’t know from the stimulus whether the researchers stated to the test subjects that they expected them to identify the suspect in the lineup.
C
When specifically directed by a person of authority to say that something is among a group of things when it is not, most people will comply.
This answer is unsupported. We don’t know from the stimulus whether the researchers specifically directed the test subjects in this way.
D
People fail to recognize the physical similarities among a group of people unless they are given information in addition to visual clues.
This answer is unsupported. We don’t know from the stimulus whether the test subjects failed to recognize any similarities between people.
E
People are less likely to think they see something that is not actually present the less they expect to see it.
This answer is strongly supported. This would explain the effect of the amount of misidentifications decreasing after the information told to the test subjects by the researchers.

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LSAT PrepTest 154 Explanations

Section 1 - Logical Reasoning

Section 2 - Logical Reasoning

Section 3 - Reading Comprehension

Section 4 - Logical Reasoning

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