PT150.S4.P2.Q8 > Analytics

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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.

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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.

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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

Which one of the following ████ ██████████ █████████ ███ ████ █████ ██ ███ ████████

Question Type

Main point

The author focuses on some psychologists’ belief that we infer our own thoughts. P1 presents an experiment that some psychologists believe supports this belief. P2 presents the psychologists’ explanation for why we believe we know our own thoughts directly. And P3 presents what the psychologists say is a potential mechanism for how we infer our own thoughts.

Only experts within █ █████ ██████ ████ ██████████████ ███ ██████████ ██████ ██ █████ ███ █████████ █████ ██████ ████ █████ █████ ███ ████████ ██ ████ ██ ███████ █████████

This misdescribes the psychologists’ view. They don’t say that only experts have noninferential access to their own thoughts. They say that everyone infers their own thoughts.

In opposition to ███ ██████ ██████ ████ ████████ ███ ████████ ██████████ ████ █████████████ █████ ████ ██████ █████ ████ █████ ███ ████████ ████

This best captures the main point, which is that some psychologists believe people infer their own thoughts. This is best expressed at the end of P1.

82%

In response to ███ ██████ ██████ ████ ████████ ███ ████████ ██████████ ████ █████████████ █████ ████ ████ ██████ ██ ██ ████████ █████████ ████ ███ █████████ ██ ████ █████ ███ ████████ ███████████

The psychologists actually believe that our ability to make quick and reliable inferences explains why we think we directly perceive our thoughts.

14%

Some psychologists have ████████ ██████████ ██████████ ███████ ██ ████ ██ ████████ ███████████ ██ █████ ███ ████████ ██ █████ ████ ██ ██████████

This doesn’t capture the broader point that some psychologists believe we infer our own thoughts. The issue of expertise in making inferences from our own thoughts is discussed in P2, but it’s part of developing the psychologists’ view that we infer our own thoughts. So (D) is too narrow to be the main point.

Some psychologists hold ████ ██████ ███ ████ ██ ████ ██████████ █████ ████ ████ ███ ████████ ████ ███ █████ ██████ ██ █████████ █████ ███ ████████ █████████

The psychologists say that people aren’t making inferences about their own thoughts based only on their own external behavior. Since (E) is not supported, it can’t be the main point.

PrepTest 150 - Section 4 - Passage 2 - Question 8

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