Summarize Argument: Counter-Position
The stimulus can be diagrammed as follows:
Identify and Describe Flaw
The argument presumes, based on the fact that the press has a right to do something, that the press has an obligation to do that thing. The argument gives two sufficient for having the right to publish a story (that the story isn’t libelous and that the story is of interest to the public). When these two sufficient conditions are met, all we can say is that the press has a right to publish a story––the premises don’t say anything about what the press is obligated to do.
A
the press can publish nonlibelous stories about private individuals without prying into their personal lives
The argument doesn’t discuss whether or not the press is prying into people’s personal lives. In the context of the argument, we see that many people say that the press shouldn’t pry, but the author’s argument itself doesn’t discuss whether or not the press can (or should) pry.
B
one’s having a right to do something entails one’s having an obligation to do it
This is what the author presumes. The argument lays out the sufficient conditions for when the press has the right to publish stories; we don’t have the conditions to determine what the press is obligated to do. The obligation of the press is an assumption made by the author.
C
the publishing of information about the personal lives of private individuals cannot be libelous
The argument does not make this presumption. The argument gives a conditional conclusion for when stories about private individuals are not libelous––the author isn’t presuming that these stories cannot be libelous; he’s just only talking about the stories that aren’t libelous.
D
if one has an obligation to do something then one has a right to do it
This is a reversal of the assumption that the author does make. The author presumes that, if one has the right to do something, then one has the obligation to do it. (D) reverses the sufficient and necessary conditions of that relationship.
E
the press’s right to publish always outweighs the individual’s right not to be libeled
The author’s conclusion applies to stories that aren’t libelous––according to the author, the press has the obligation to publish when stories aren’t libelous (and are of interest to the public). If a story is libelous, the author’s conclusion doesn’t apply.
Summarize Argument
The author concludes that one type of memory doesn’t decline with age. This is because older people remembered to make calls at a specific time in a study, while college students generally had much more trouble.
Notable Assumptions
The author assumes that the results of the study can be explained by the two groups’ memories. However, if the group of older people wrote down a reminder for themselves, whereas the college group didn’t, then the study would in fact reveal a difference in effort between the two groups.
A
There was the same number of people in each group.
This helps explain that the number of lapses signifies a relative rate. If the group comprised of students had far more people than the group comprised of older people, then we would expect the student group to have far more lapses.
B
The same group of researchers answered the calls made by the callers in both study groups.
This is incredibly unhelpful. We don’t care if anyone answered the calls. We only care if the participants remembered to make the calls.
C
Among the college students there were no persons more than forty years old.
The college students didn’t include older people. Thus, the study isn’t compromised by overlap.
D
Both groups had unrestricted access to telephones for making the required calls.
This defends against a potential weakener—that the two groups had unequal access to phones. The students were able to make calls, but didn’t.
E
The members of the two groups received their instructions approximately the same amount of time before they were to make their telephone calls.
Let’s say the college students had received their instructions three days before having to make the call, while the older people had received their instructions three minutes before having to make the call. That wouldn’t be a very good study.
Summarize Argument: Phenomenon-Hypothesis
The author concludes that the average citizen of this town is more likely than in the past to become a victim of violent crime. (This is a restatement of the first sentence, which you could also view as the conlcusion). This conclusion is based on the fact that compared to last year, local law enforcement agencies have responded to more calls involving violent crimes.
Notable Assumptions
The author assumes that the increased calls involving violent crimes is due to an actual increase in violent crime. (It could be due to something else, such as a greater tendency among the population to call the police when they see violent crime.) The author also assumes that any increase in the number of violent crimes actually increased the rate of crime. It’s possible the population has just grown disproportionately, such that the rate of crime has actually gone down.
A
The town’s overall crime rate appears to have risen slightly this year compared to the same period last year.
The argument is about violent crimes, not just crimes generally, so there’s no clear impact. If anything, this might strengthen the argument by showing that the overall crime rate has increased, which might include violent crime, too.
B
In general, persons under the age of 65 are less likely to be victims of violent crimes than persons over the age of 65.
But the average person can still be more likely to be a victim this year, even if there are different likelihoods between different age groups.
C
As a result of the town’s community outreach programs, more people than ever are willing to report violent crimes to the proper authorities.
This provides an alternate explanation for the increased calls involving violent crimes. These calls might not reflect an increase in actual crimes, but just an increase in the willingness to call about violent crimes.
D
In response to worries about violent crime, the town has recently opened a community center providing supervised activities for teenagers.
The town’s response doesn’t reveal anything about the crime rate. Maybe the town thinks there’s been an increase in violent crime? That doesn’t suggest whether there has or hasn’t been an increase in violent crime.
E
Community officials have shown that a relatively small number of repeat offenders commit the majority of violent crimes in the town.
A small number of people committing most of the crimes can still lead to a higher violent crime rate compared to last year.
"Surprising" Phenomenon
Despite literally just being born, newborn infants are able to recognize faces versus other face-shaped images.
Objective
The right answer will be a hypothesis that explains how newborn infants posses the ability to recognize faces despite having virtually no experience seeing faces. This could be that they have an inherent ability to do so, or that they particularly remember the faces they saw around them when they were born.
A
Certain abilities of facial pattern recognition are innate in humans, rather than learned.
Infants have the innate ability to recognize faces, hence why they can recognize faces even as newborns.
B
The longer an infant stares at an object, the more interesting the infant finds that object.
Why do infants stare at images of faces more than other images? This answer choice doesn’t explain why they’re drawn to faces in the first place.
C
Infants learn to associate human faces with the necessities of comfort and nourishment.
Newborn infants haven’t learned anything at all. They’re newborns. This doesn’t make sense.
D
The less an infant stares at an object, the weaker the preference the infant has for that object.
Like (B), we need to know why infants are staring at faces more than other images. This answer doesn’t explain that.
E
Infants learn to associate the sound of human voices with the images of human faces.
Here, we have the same problem as in (C). Newborns haven’t learned anything.
A
The argument takes for granted that truly generous people are the most virtuous.
Neither the premise nor the conclusion concern who is the “most” virtuous. Whether generous people are more or less virtuous than others doesn’t affect the reasoning.
B
The argument attacks the character of those whose values are different from those of the columnist.
There’s no attack on the character of anyone. The argument concerns the trait of generosity, but the author doesn’t comment on whether any person or group has a particular character trait.
C
The argument takes for granted that a character trait is present only when manifested.
The argument assumes that a character trait (generosity) is present only when manifested (only if people are donating). This overlooks the possibility that a character trait can be permanent even if people do not show that trait through actions.
D
The argument generalizes from too small a sample of cases.
The premise concerns “most donors.” The author doesn’t conclude anything about all donors, or conclude anything about actions besides donation. So there’s no inappropriate generalization. We also don’t know anything about the # of donors, so can’t say any sample is “too small.”
E
The argument takes for granted that most people donate out of generosity.
The author notes that donating items “may” be a sign of generosity. This doesn’t imply the author believes most people who donate items are doing so because of generosity.
Summarize Argument
The teacher believes funding for children’s athletic programs should not be eliminated. Although critics point out that participating in competitive athletics may lead to feelings of inferiority, research shows that adults with these feelings tend to become more successful than those without them. Additionally, the teacher notes that competitive athletics can increase a child’s strength and coordination, further supporting the argument.
Identify Argument Part
It is one of two premises that support the conclusion that funding for children’s competitive athletic programs should not be eliminated.
A
It is mentioned as one possible reason for adopting a policy for which the teacher suggests an additional reason.
The teacher mentions the benefit of increased strength and coordination to support the conclusion and also suggests another reason (the development of feelings of inferiority leading to future success) to continue funding for athletic programs.
B
It is a claim that the teacher attempts to refute with counterarguments.
The teacher does not attempt to refute this. The teacher believes this statement and uses it to support their main conclusion.
C
It is a hypothesis for which the teacher offers additional evidence.
The teacher does not provide additional evidence for this claim. This claim is used as evidence to support the teacher’s main conclusion
D
It is cited as an insufficient reason for eliminating funding for children’s athletic programs.
This is not a reason to *eliminate* funding. This is utilized as a reason to *not eliminate* funding.
E
It is cited as an objection that has been raised to the position that the teacher is supporting.
This is not an objection to the teacher’s argument. The teacher uses it as support for their argument
Summarize Argument: Counter-Position
The author claims that reducing phenomena to mathematical expressions in the social sciences would be a mistake, despite what some social scientists assume. The predictions would leave out social science data that is not easy to reduce to those expressions, so the predictions of social phenomena would be inaccurate.
Identify Conclusion
The conclusion is the author’s opinion of using reducing phenomena to mathematical expressions in the social sciences: “this would be a mistake;”
A
The social sciences do not have as much predictive power as the natural sciences.
The author does not discuss predictive power, only what is compatible with being reduced to mathematical formulas for prediction.
B
Mathematics plays a more important role in the natural sciences than it does in the social sciences.
The author does not claim where math plays a more important role. He only claims that reducing phenomena to mathematical expressions for prediction purposes in the social sciences is a mistake.
C
There is a need in the social sciences to improve the ability to predict.
This is not contained in the stimulus. As part of the context, we know some social scientists want the power to predict accurately, but that is all. We don’t know anything about a need for improvement,
D
Phenomena in the social sciences should not be reduced to mathematical formulas.
This accurately paraphrases the conclusion. The author says “this” (reducing phenomena in the social to mathematical expressions) “would be a mistake” (should not happen).
E
Prediction is responsible for the success of the natural sciences.
In the context, we are told prediction is the “hallmark” of the natural sciences. This is an inaccurate paraphrase of that context.