LSAT 134 – Section 1 – Question 05

LSAT 134 - Section 1 - Question 05

October 2011

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Question
QuickView		 Type Tags Answer
Choices		 Curve Question
Difficulty		 Psg/Game/S
Difficulty		 Explanation
PT134 S1 Q05
+LR
Flaw or descriptive weakening +Flaw
Causal Reasoning +CausR
A
97%
165
B
1%
151
C
0%
149
D
0%
152
E
2%
155
126
134
143
 +Easiest 147.067 +SubsectionMedium

Kennel club members who frequently discipline their dogs report a higher incidence of misbehavior than do members who rarely or never discipline their dogs. We can conclude from this that discipline does not improve dogs’ behavior; on the contrary, it encourages misbehavior.

Summarize Argument: Phenomenon-Hypothesis
The argument concludes that discipline encourages misbehavior in dogs. This is supported by an observed correlation: dogs who are frequently disciplined misbehave more often than dogs who are rarely disciplined.

Identify and Describe Flaw
Based on a correlation between discipline and misbehavior, the argument concludes that discipline causes misbehavior. However, this overlooks an alternative explanation: the possibility that misbehavior causes discipline. If a dog misbehaves a lot, its owner might react by disciplining it more often than they would discipline a dog that rarely misbehaves.

A
dogs’ misbehavior is the cause of, rather than the result of, frequent discipline
The argument assumes a causal relationship between misbehavior and discipline where discipline causes misbehavior. But this overlooks a more plausible alternative: frequent misbehavior prompts—in other words, causes—frequent discipline.
B
dogs learn from past experience how their owners are likely to react to misbehavior
Whether or not dogs learn how their owners will react to misbehavior isn’t relevant to the argument. The argument is about causally explaining a correlation between discipline and misbehavior, not about the exact mechanism for that relationship.
C
discipline does not cause misbehavior on the part of animals other than dogs
The argument only considers dogs, so other animals aren’t relevant.
D
kennel club members tend to be more skilled at raising dogs than are other dog owners
The argument doesn’t make any claims about the skill of kennel club members in raising dogs relative to other dog owners.
E
kennel club members are more likely to use discipline than are other dog owners
It doesn’t matter to the argument whether kennel club members are more likely to use discipline, only that members who do use discipline often tend to have worse-behaved dogs.

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LSAT PrepTest 134 Explanations

Section 1 - Logical Reasoning

Section 2 - Logical Reasoning

Section 3 - Logical Reasoning

Section 4 - Reading Comprehension

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