PT150.S4.P2.Q13 > Analytics

Hide analysis

Common sense suggests that we know our own thoughts directly, but that we infer the thoughts of other people. ███ ██████ ███████ ██ ██████████████ ███ ███████████ █████ ███ ██████ ██ █████ ██ ███████ ████████ ███ ███ ██████ ██ ██████ ███

Standard assumption · We know our own thoughts directly

For other people, we must infer their thoughts.

Counter-evidence · Children often describe their own thoughts incorrectly

(Not sure what this means. How can we even know that these descriptions are incorrect? Let's keep going.)

Psychologists' perspective · We infer our own thoughts and don't know them directly

(Not sure what this means, either. So, we make conclusions about what we think? Going to need the passage to explain things here.)

Analogy · Why do we mistakenly believe that we know our own thoughts directly? Consider the nature of expertise.

███████ █████████ ███████ ██ ██████ ███ ████ ███ █████████ ██ ███ ████ ██ █ ██████ ███ ███ ████ ██████████ ██ ████████ ██ ████ █████ ██ ███████ ██ ██ ████ ██ ██████ ████ ██ ███ ███ ██ █████ █████ ████████ ███ █████ █████████ █████████ ███████ ██████ ██ █████ ████ ████ ██████████ █████ █████ ███ █████████ █████ ███████ █████ ███ ███████ ██ ███ ███████ ███████████ ███████ █ ████████ ██ ████ ██ ███████ ████ █ █████████████ ████████████ ██ ██████ ██ ██████ ██ ██████ ██████████ ████ █████████████ ██████████ █████ ███ ████████ ████ ██ ████ ██ ██████ ████ ██ ███ ██████ █████ ████ ███████ █████ █████████ ██ ███ ███████████ ████ █████ ██ ██ ███ ███ ██ ██ ██ █████ ██ ███ ██████████████ ██ ████ ██ █████████ █████ ███████ ██ ███████ ██ ███ ██████████ ██ █████████

Elaborate on analogy · Expertise makes us think we see relationships directly, when we're really just making very quick inferences

Example: chess experts' ability to "see" whether a position is weak or strong. Experts make inferences so fast they don't notice they're making them. And we are experts in our own thinking, so we don't notice our own inferences.

Mistaken implication of psychologists' perspective · Might seem that psychologists are saying we infer our own thoughts based on observations of our own behavior

The phrase "perilously close" indicates the author thinks that it would be dangerous for someone to think we infer thoughts based on our own behavior.

████ ██ █████ █████ █████████ ██ ███ ██████ ████ ██ ████ ██████ ███ █████████████ ███████ ████ ██ ███ ███████ ████ ██ ████ ███ ██████████ █████ ████ ██ ███ ████████ ██ ████████ █████████ ████████ ████ ██ ███ ██████ ███████████████ ████████ ███ █████████████ ██████████ ███ █████████ ███ ████████ ██████████ ██ ████ ████████ ██████████ ████████ ███ ██ ███████ ███ ████████ ██ ████ █████ ███ ████████ ███████████ █████ ███████████ █████ ██ ██████████ ███ ██████ ████ ██ ████ ██ █████████ █████ ██ ████ ████ ███████████ ███ ████ █████ ████ ███ ███████ ██ ████████ ███ ████████ ██ █████████████████ ███ ██████████████

Clarification · Psychologists say we infer thoughts based on internal feelings and emotions

So, we're not making inferences based on seeing our own external behavior.

Passage Style

Phenomenon-hypothesis (RC)

Single position

13.

According to the psychologists cited ██ ███ ████████ ███ ████████ ██ ██████ █████████ ██ ███ ███ ████████ ██████ ████ ███ ████ ████

Question Type

Stated

The author tells us the psychologists’ explanation for why we think we have direct knowledge in P2: “From a psychological perspective, we become so expert in making incredibly fast introspective inferences about our thinking that we fail to notice that we are making them.”

we ignore the ████████ ████ ██ ███████ █████████ ███ ██████████ ██ ███ ██████████ ██ ████ █████ ███ ███████ █████████

Ignoring feedback isn’t mentioned as the reason psychologists claim we believe we know our own thoughts directly.

knowledge of our ███ ████████ ██ ███████ ██████████ ███ ██ ███ ██████████ ███ ██ ██████ ████████ █████████ █████ ████ ██ ███ ███ ████

The psychologists say that our own thoughts are always inferred through our expert inference-making. So it’s not correct to say that they believe knowledge of our own thoughts is “usually unmediated due to our expertise.” (”Unmediated” means direct.)

25%

we are unaware ██ ███ ███████████ █████████ ████ █████ ██ ██ ██████ █████ ██ ███ ████████

Suppoted. This is the closest answer to the idea that we’re so expert at inference-making that we don’t notice we’re making inferences.

63%

our inferences regarding ███ ███ ████████ ███ █████████ █████████ █████████ ██ ███ ███ ███████████ ██ ███ █████

The accuracy of our inferences isn’t mentioned as the reason psychologists claim we believe we know our own thoughts directly.

our inferences regarding ███ ███ ████████ ███ █████████ ███████ ███ ██████████ ██ ███ ███ ███████████ ██ ███ █████

Uncertainty regarding our inferences isn’t mentioned as the reason psychologists claim we believe we know our own thoughts directly.

Answer five questions and we'll estimate your score.

It takes about five minutes.

Take the free diagnostic

More free LSAT prep: Sample LSAT questions Full-length diagnostic & practice test All free LSAT resources

PrepTest 150 - Section 4 - Passage 2 - Question 13

Answer five questions and we'll estimate your score.

Difficulty

Analysis

Answer Popularity

Question history

Confirm action

PrepTest 150 - Section 4 - Passage 2 - Question 13

Answer five questions and we'll estimate your score.

Difficulty

Analysis

Answer Popularity

Question history

Want to know why the right answer is right?