LSAT 148 – Section 3 – Question 14

You need a full course to see this video. Enroll now and get started in less than a minute.

Ask a tutor

Target time: 0:49

This is question data from the 7Sage LSAT Scorer. You can score your LSATs, track your results, and analyze your performance with pretty charts and vital statistics - all with a Free Account ← sign up in less than 10 seconds

Question
QuickView
Type Tags Answer
Choices
Curve Question
Difficulty
Psg/Game/S
Difficulty
Explanation
PT148 S3 Q14
+LR
+Exp
Flaw or descriptive weakening +Flaw
Causal Reasoning +CausR
Sampling +Smpl
A
11%
155
B
2%
151
C
83%
164
D
3%
155
E
1%
154
140
148
156
+Medium 149.233 +SubsectionMedium

Researchers recently studied the relationship between diet and mood, using a diverse sample of 1,000 adults. It was found that those who ate the most chocolate were the most likely to feel depressed. Therefore, by reducing excessive chocolate consumption, adults can almost certainly improve their mood.

Summarize Argument: Phenomenon-Hypothesis
The author concludes that adults can improve their mood by reducing excessive chocolate consumption. This is based on a study that found people who ate the most chocolate were the most likely to feel depressed.

Identify and Describe Flaw
The author assumes that the explanation for the correlation between people who eat the most chocolate and likelihood of depression is that chocolate causes depression. This overlooks alternate explanations. For example, maybe depression causes people to eat chocolate. Or maybe there’s a third factor that tends to lead both to depression and to consuming chocolate.

A
It improperly infers from the fact that a substance causally contributes to a condition that a reduction in the consumption of the substance is likely to eliminate that condition.
The evidence does not establish a causal relationship. So there is no “fact that a substance causally contributes to a condition.”
B
It draws a conclusion about the population as a whole on the basis of a sample that is unlikely to be representative of that population.
We’re told the study is based on a “diverse sample of 1,000 adults.” And the conclusion is about adults. We have no reason to think that the sample is unlikely to representative of adults.
C
It draws a conclusion about a causal relationship between two phenomena from evidence that merely suggests that there is a correlation between those phenomena.
The author concludes that there is a causal relationship between chocolate consumption and mood. But the evidence only presents a potential correlation between chocolate consumption and mood.
D
It confuses a condition that is necessary for establishing the truth of the conclusion with a condition that is sufficient for establishing the truth of the conclusion.
There is nothing presented as necessary for the truth of the conclusion. The finding concerning those who ate the most chocolate being the most likely to feel depressed is not necessary for a causal relationship between chocolate consumption and mood.
E
Its conclusion is worded too vaguely to evaluate the degree to which the premises support the truth of the conclusion.
The conclusion is not too vague to evaluate the level of support provided by the premises. The premises do not guarantee the conclusion, because there are alternate explanations for the correlation between chocolate consumption and depression.

Take PrepTest

Review Results

Leave a Reply