LSAT 134 – Section 2 – Question 02

LSAT 134 - Section 2 - Question 02

October 2011

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Question
QuickView		 Type Tags Answer
Choices		 Curve Question
Difficulty		 Psg/Game/S
Difficulty		 Explanation
PT134 S2 Q02
+LR
+Exp
Flaw or descriptive weakening +Flaw
Causal Reasoning +CausR
A
0%
148
B
8%
153
C
0%
153
D
91%
163
E
0%
153
134
142
150
 +Medium 146.032 +SubsectionMedium

Psychologist: A study of 436 university students found that those who took short naps throughout the day suffered from insomnia more frequently than those who did not. Moreover, people who work on commercial fishing vessels often have irregular sleep patterns that include frequent napping, and they also suffer from insomnia. So it is very likely that napping tends to cause insomnia.

Summarize Argument: Phenomenon-Hypothesis
The psychologist concludes that napping tends to cause insomnia. This is based on the observation that, on commercial fishing vessels and in a study of university students, people who nap often tend to suffer from insomnia more often.

Identify and Describe Flaw
The psychologist observes a correlation between frequent napping and insomnia, and concludes that napping causes insomnia. This conclusion is flawed because it overlooks the alternative explanation that insomnia (and the resulting sleep deprivation) causes people to take naps more often.

A
presumes, without providing justification, that university students suffer from insomnia more frequently than do members of the general population
The psychologist doesn’t presume that university students suffer from insomnia more often than members of the general public.
B
presumes that all instances of insomnia have the same cause
The psychologist doesn’t claim that all instances of insomnia have the same cause, just that napping is one cause of insomnia.
C
fails to provide a scientifically respectable definition for the term “napping”
It’s not needed for the psychologist to define the term “napping”; the term clearly refers to short periods of sleeping during the day.
D
fails to consider the possibility that frequent daytime napping is an effect rather than a cause of insomnia
The psychologist’s argument only considers one possible causal relationship between insomnia and napping—that napping causes insomnia. This fails to consider the alternative causality that insomnia leads to more frequent napping.
E
presumes, without providing justification, that there is such a thing as a regular sleep pattern for someone working on a commercial fishing vessel
Whether or not commercial fishers can ever have regular sleep patterns is irrelevant to their role in the argument. What’s important is just that commercial fishers also display a correlation between napping and insomnia.

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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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