Summary
Chiu concludes that, in feeling certain emotions, people’s morals aren’t always to blame. She supports this with an inference that people aren’t always responsible for certain emotions. This inference comes from the premises (two conditional statements).
Missing Connection
The conclusion is about moral blame, but the support doesn’t discuss this. Chiu has successfully supported the inference that people aren’t responsible for certain emotions. This inference leads to the conclusion if we assume that if someone isn’t responsible for something, then they are not morally blameworthy.
A
Individuals do not have control over their actions when they feel certain emotions.
This answer doesn’t address moral blameworthiness. Moral blameworthiness is in the conclusion, but we were not provided any information about this in the support. So, we need that concept to be in our answer choice.
B
If a person is morally blameworthy for something, then that person is responsible for it.
The contrapositive of this is, “If a person is not responsible for something, then they are not morally blameworthy.” This is a link that leads from what was inferred in the argument (people are not always responsible) to the conclusion.
C
Although a person may sometimes be unjustifiably angry, jealous, or resentful, there are occasions when these emotions are appropriate.
Appropriateness is irrelevant here. We cannot assume anything about the relationship between appropriateness and responsibility, or appropriateness and moral blame.
D
If an emotion is under a person’s control, then that person cannot hold others responsible for it.
(D) does not address moral blame. Without that, we cannot build a bridge from support to conclusion. Additionally, the ability to hold others responsible is irrelevant.
E
The emotions for which a person is most commonly blamed are those that are under that person’s control.
Knowing which emotions people are most commonly blamed for doesn’t allow us to conclude anything about whether someone is morally blameworthy.
"Surprising" Phenomenon
Despite only buying items at a 50%+ discount, the list-less shoppers spent much more money than the shoppers with lists.
Objective
The right answer will be a hypothesis that explains why the shoppers without lists spent so much more than the shoppers with lists, despite only buying discount items. The explanation will likely address how many items the respective groups bought, or else the average price the respective groups spent on an item.
A
Only the shoppers who used a list used a shopping cart.
This almost undermines the stimulus. A shopping cart would help shoppers carry more items. For the list-less shoppers to spend more money, they likely bought more items. This doesn’t help.
B
The shoppers who did not use lists bought many unnecessary items.
Even if they bought unnecessary items, we don’t know how many total items the list-less shoppers bought relative to the shoppers with lists. This doesn’t give us enough information to resolve the paradox.
C
Usually, only the most expensive items go on sale in grocery stores.
Those 50% off items were air fryers and high-quality steaks. Sure, the list-less shoppers were getting discounts. But they were splurging on expensive items, hence why they spent more than the shoppers with lists.
D
The grocery store in the study carries many expensive items that few other grocery stores carry.
Even if this is true, we don’t know if those expensive items were on sale and subsequently purchased by the list-less shoppers.
E
The grocery store in the study places relatively few items on sale.
If this is the case, then why did the list-less shoppers spend so much more than the others? If anything, this deepens the paradox.
Summary
The stimulus can be diagrammed as follows:
Notable Valid Inferences
Most successful entrepreneurs are not happy.
Most successful entrepreneurs don’t have leisure time.
A
Anyone who has no time for leisure activities works at least 18 hours a day.
This could be true. From the diagram, we see “18+ hrs/day→ /leisure time.” (A) says /leisure time→ 18+ hrs/day. (A) confuses the sufficient and necessary conditions. It’s not a MBT, but it could be true.
B
Some entrepreneurs who work at least 18 hours a day are successful.
This must be true. We already know that most successful entrepreneurs work 18+ hrs/day, so it is the case that some entrepreneurs who work 18+ hrs/day are successful.
C
Some happy entrepreneurs are successful.
This could be true. We know that most successful entrepreneurs are not happy, but this does not mean that there is no overlap between entrepreneurs that are successful and those who are happy. “Most” doesn’t mean “all.”
D
Some entrepreneurs who work at least 18 hours a day are happy.
This must be false. We know that all people who work 18+ hrs/day are unhappy. This means that all entrepreneurs who work that much are unhappy. It must be false that someone in this group is happy.
E
Some successful entrepreneurs work less than 18 hours a day.
This could be true. We know that most successful entrepreneurs work 18+ hrs/day, but most doesn’t mean all. It could definitely be the case that some successful entrepreneurs work less than 18 hrs/day.
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