PT121.S2.P4.Q23

PrepTest 121 - Section 2 - Passage 4 - Question 23

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P1

Leading questions—questions worded in such a way as to suggest a particular answer—can yield unreliable testimony either by design, as when a lawyer tries to trick a witness into affirming a particular version of the evidence of a case, or by accident, when a questioner unintentionally prejudices the witness's response. ███

Problem · Leading questions
Can produce unreliable testimony.
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Solution · Judge can disallow leading questions in the courtroom
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Problem · Leading questions outside the courtroom
A witness's beliefs can be affected by leading questions asked by lawyers, police, reporters, or others before the witness gets in the courtroom.
P2

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Details of problem · New "facts" that don't conflict with memories can become part of memories
If the new "facts" correspond with our memory, they'll be interpreted as reinforcing our memory. If the new "facts" involve a gap in our memory, we may use them to fill in the gap.
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Example · "How fast was the car going when it passed the stop sign?"
The witness may not have seen a stop sign, but when asked this question, may falsely recall seeing one.
P3

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Details of problem · Farther removed from event, more tangential detail -> higher chance new "fact" blends with original memory
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Significance of problem · Tangential details can be critical in the courtroom
Example: Suspect's shirt color or hairstyle might be tangential to witness of robbery. But these are critical to identifying the correct suspect. These kinds of details are exactly the kind susceptible to influence from leading questions.
Passage Style
Problem-analysis
Single position
Show answer
23.

In discussing the tangential details ██ ███████ ███ ███████ █████████ █████ ████████ ████████████ ██ █████████ ████ █████ ████████ ████████████ ██ ███ █████████ █████ ███ █████████ ██ ███ █████████ ████ ████████ ██ ████ ███████ █████████ ██ █████ ███ ██ ███ ██████████

a

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This involves the idea that some important things can be replaced by other things. But this doesn’t present two different contexts. And it doesn’t present a context in which some things are not important.

3%
b

For the purpose ██ ██████ █ ████ █████████ ███████ ████████ ██ ████████ ██ ████ █████ ██ ██████████ ███████ ███ ███ ███ ████████ ██ █████████ ██ ████████████████ ██████████ ████ █████ ██ ██████████ ██████ ███ ██████████ ██ █████ ██████████████

This doesn’t involve the same thing being unimportant in one context but important in another. Rather, in two different contexts (two different kinds of drinks), something is either present or not present.

7%
c

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This doesn’t involve the same thing being unimportant in one context, but important in another. Grape skins are different from the skins of apples and other fruit, because grape skins are important for raisins. But we don’t get a context in which grape skins are unimportant. If you consider “skins” generally to be the same “thing” and don’t make a distinction between grape skins and other skins, then (C) is still wrong because it presents two situations in which what we do with the skins is important. But it doesn’t present a situation in which skins are tangential — meaning that what we do with the skins doesn’t matter. What we do with the skins matters for both apples and grapes.

12%
d

For purposes of ██████ ███ ███████████ █████ ████ ██ ███ ██████ ██ █████ ███ ██ ███████ ███████ ██████ ████████ ███ ███ ████████ ██ ██████████ ███ ████ ██ ██ █████████ ████ ██ ███ ██████

This is most analogous, because it’s the only answer that involves the same thing being unimportant in one context, but important in another. Wheat germ is not important for purposes of flavor and appearance, but it is important for nutrition.

70%
e

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This doesn’t involve the same thing being unimportant in one context but important in another. Rather, it provides multiple reasons removing fat is important.

9%

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