PT151.S4.Q11

SECTION 1 · rc

PASSAGE 1
Question 1 Question 2 Question 3 Question 4 Question 5 Question 6

PASSAGE 2
Question 7 Question 8 Question 9 Question 10 Question 11 Question 12 Question 13 Question 14

PASSAGE 3
Question 15 Question 16 Question 17 Question 18 Question 19 Question 20 Question 21

PASSAGE 4
Question 22 Question 23 Question 24 Question 25 Question 26 Question 27

SECTION 2 · lr

Question 1 Question 2 Question 3 Question 4 Question 5 Question 6 Question 7 Question 8 Question 9 Question 10 Question 11 Question 12 Question 13 Question 14 Question 15 Question 16 Question 17 Question 18 Question 19 Question 20 Question 21 Question 22 Question 23 Question 24 Question 25 Question 26

SECTION 3 · lr

Question 1 Question 2 Question 3 Question 4 Question 5 Question 6 Question 7 Question 8 Question 9 Question 10 Question 11 Question 12 Question 13 Question 14 Question 15 Question 16 Question 17 Question 18 Question 19 Question 20 Question 21 Question 22 Question 23 Question 24 Question 25

SECTION 4 · lr

Question 1 Question 2 Question 3 Question 4 Question 5 Question 6 Question 7 Question 8 Question 9 Question 10 Question 11 Question 12 Question 13 Question 14 Question 15 Question 16 Question 17 Question 18 Question 19 Question 20 Question 21 Question 22 Question 23 Question 24 Question 25

PrepTest 151 - Section 4 - Question 11

Question

Explanation

Analytics

Show summary

Support A new treatment for muscle pain that looked very promising was tested in three separate studies. ████████ ███ ███████ ████ █████████ ██ ██████ ███ ████ ███ █████ ███████ ███ ████████ ██████████████ ██████ ██ ███ █████████ ██ ████████ ███ ████████ ██████████

Method of Reasoning

The argument proceeds by describing problems with some of the positive evidence behind a judgment that a new treatment for muscle pain is effective. Because it may lack compelling positive evidence, the argument concludes that the new treatment is likely ineffective.

Identify and Describe Flaw

This is a cookie-cutter example of an argument attempting to establish the falsehood of a proposition by citing problems with the evidence in favor of that proposition. The flaw lies in assuming that a proposition is false simply because there’s a lack of compelling evidence for it. Given that the positive evidence for the drug’s effectiveness is problematic, the argument should simply conclude that the drug’s effectiveness is uncertain. The drug could still be effective even if a few of the studies supporting that judgment are flawed.

Show answer

11.

The flawed nature of the ████████ █████ ███ ████ ███████████ ██ ████████████ ██ ██████ █████ ██ ████████ ██████████ ██ █████ ████████ ████

since the judges ██ █ ██████ ███████ ███ ███ ████ ███████ ████████ ███ █████████ █ ███████ ███ ████ ████ ███ ██ ████████ █ ███ ███

This attempts to establish the falsehood of a proposition based on the lack of compelling evidence in favor of it. The cake’s victory in this contest may not prove that it’s a good cake, but it’s wrong to assume that it’s therefore a bad cake.

since some people ███ ████ ██████ █████ ███ █████ ████ ████████ ████ ████ ██████ ███ ███████ █████ ████ ████████ ████

Wrong flaw. This assumes that because certain people don’t achieve a particular outcome (catching fish), those people aren’t seeking that outcome. The stimulus cites a lack of positive evidence rather than an outcome.

since some foods ████ ████ ██████ ███████████ ██████ ██████ ███ ███████ █████ █████ ██ █████ █████ ███ ████████ ████████████

Wrong flaw. This is a part-to-whole fallacy since it assumes that some people’s entire diets lack nutrition because certain parts of their diets do. The stimulus cites a lack of positive evidence in an attempt to prove a proposition false.

since all scarves ███ ██ █████ ████████ ███████████ ██ ██ ██████ ████ ████ ███████ ████ █████ ████████ ████ ████ ██████ ██████████

Wrong flaw. This assumes something about the origin of a phenomenon based on what can be observed about the phenomenon today. The stimulus cites a lack of positive evidence for a proposition to support its conclusion that the proposition is false.

since all members ██ ███ ████ ███████ ████ █ █████████ █████ ██ ███ ██████ ████████████ ███ ███████████ ████████ ████ ████ ██ ██████ ██ ██ █████████ ██████ ██ █████████████

Wrong flaw. This assumes something about the motivations of people pursuing a particular course of action. The stimulus isn’t concerned with anyone’s motivation—it assumes that a proposition is false because it lacks compelling positive evidence.

Difficulty

Question

87% of people who answer get this correct

This is a low-difficulty question.

CURVE

Score of students with a 50% chance of getting this right

25% 120

134

75% 149

Analysis

Question Stem Tags

Parallel flawed method of reasoning

Stimulus Tags

Lack of support v. false conclusion

Answer Popularity

Popularity Avg. score

87%

162

156

157

153

159

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