Summarize Argument
Lie-detector tests that can detect the physiological reactions produced when someone lies are a guaranteed method for determining if someone is lying. This is because when someone lies, corresponding physiological reactions occur.
Notable Assumptions
The author assumes that the physiological reactions produced by lying are not also triggered by other actions or behaviors. In other words, while lying is a sufficient condition for these physiological reactions, the author assumes it is also a necessary condition.
A
Lie-detector tests can measure only some of the physiological reactions that occur when someone is lying.
This does not affect the argument. The stimulus does not assume that lie-detector tests can measure all the physiological reactions—it assumes that, of the reactions the tests can measure, the tests’ ability to detect them is sufficient for determining if someone is lying.
B
People are often unaware that they are having physiological reactions of the sort measured by lie-detector tests.
This does not affect the argument. People being unaware of their physiological reactions should not affect the ability of the tests to detect these reactions.
C
Lying about past criminal behavior does not necessarily produce stronger physiological reactions than does lying about other things.
This does not affect the argument. The stimulus does not differentiate between the strengths of physiological reactions. As long as the lie-detector tests can detect the reactions, the author argues that they are a sure way of detecting if someone is lying.
D
For people who are not lying, the tension of taking a lie-detector test can produce physiological reactions identical to the ones that accompany the act of lying.
This weakens the argument. It attacks the author’s assumption that lying is the only cause of the physiological reactions. (D) suggests that there are other sufficient conditions that can produce the physiological reactions associated with lying.
E
When employers use lie-detector tests as part of their preemployment screening, some candidates tested are highly motivated to lie.
This does not affect the argument. We have no reason to believe that an individual’s motivation to lie (or lack thereof) should influence their physiological reactions when lying.
Summarize Argument
The executive concludes that his company is unlikely to sell 100,000 books this year. Why? Because none of their individual titles will sell 100,00 copies.
Identify and Describe Flaw
This is the cookie-cutter flaw of confusing a part with the whole. Even if none of the 12 titles individually sells 100,000 copies, their combined sales could easily exceed 100,000. (If, for example, they sold 10,000 copies each.)
A
the publishing company will sell considerably fewer than 100,000 copies of the novel
Poor sales of the novel would support the executive’s conclusion that the company won’t sell 100,000 books, so this can’t be the flaw.
B
the publishing company will not make a profit even if it sells more than 100,000 books
The conclusion is about whether the company will sell 100,000 books, not whether it will be profitable, so this is irrelevant.
C
what is true of the overall profitability of a publishing company is not true of its profitability in a particular year
The conclusion is about whether the company will sell 100,000 books, not whether it will be profitable, so this is irrelevant.
D
what is true of the sales prospects of the publishing company’s individual titles is not true of the sales prospects of the group of titles as a whole
This is the cookie-cutter flaw of confusing a part with the whole. The executive does this by failing to realize that the combined sales of all titles could reach 100,000, even if none do so individually.
E
the publishing company will sell even fewer books if it does not advertise its books efficiently
Selling even fewer books would support the executive’s conclusion that the company won’t reach its goal, so this can’t be the flaw.
Thelma: This glut of middle-aged workers will lead many people to form their own companies. They will work hard and thus increase economic productivity, improving the quality of life even if many of the companies ultimately fail.
Speaker 1 Summary
Claude concludes that economic productivity and the quality of life will diminish. This is because of a causal chain: the high number of middle-aged people in the workforce will lead to fewer opportunities for promotions, which will decrease people’s incentive to work hard.
Speaker 2 Summary
Thelma concludes that quality of life will improve. This is because of her own causal chain: the large number of middle-aged workers will lead people to form new companies, which will lead those people to work hard, which will increase economic productivity.
Objective
We’re looking for a point of agreement. The speakers agree that there’s a high number of middle-aged people in the workforce and that this can influence people’s decisions regarding work.
A
The quality of life in a society affects that society’s economic productivity.
Neither speaker expresses an opinion. Claude doesn’t indicate a causal relationship between economic productivity and quality of life. Thelma indicates that more economic productivity will improve quality of life, but doesn’t say the relationship can be reversed.
B
The failure of many companies will not necessarily have a negative effect on overall economic productivity.
Claude expresses no opinion. He doesn’t discuss failing companies.
C
How hard a company’s employees work is a function of what they think their chances for promotion are in that company.
Thelma expresses no opinion. She doesn’t discuss promotions or how people react based on their perception of chances of promotion. She does believe people will form their own companies, but that doesn’t mean this decision is influenced by the chances of promotion.
D
The number of middle-aged people in the workforce will increase in the coming years.
Neither expresses an opinion. They both agree that there currently is a high number of middle-aged people in the workforce, but they don’t speak to whether the number of these people will increase in the future.
E
Economic productivity will be affected by the number of middle-aged people in the workforce.
This is a point of agreement. The speakers disagree about whether productivity will go up (Thelma thinks this) or down (Claude thinks this), but they both agree that there will be some effect on productivity from the number of middle-aged people in the workforce.
Summarize Argument: Phenomenon-Hypothesis
The author concludes that producing characters more automatically frees up mental resources for other activities. This is based on a study of 100 first-graders who received after-school lessons in handwriting, which showed that those whose composition skills had improved the most had learned to write letters the most automatically.
Notable Assumptions
The author assumes that in the study, the improvement in how automatically students could write letters contributed to improved composition skills. The author also assumes that the mechanism underlying this relationship was that writing letters more automatically freed up mental resources that could be used for composition. Another assumption is that the correlation observed among the students who composition skills had improved the most also existed for other students who had improved their composition skills.
A
Among the first-graders who received the after-school lessons in handwriting, those who practiced the most learned to write letters the most automatically.
(A) tells us why the students who learned to write letters most automatically were able to do so. But this doesn’t help connect writing letters automatically to improved composition skills.
B
The first-graders who wrote letters the most automatically before receiving the after-school lessons in handwriting showed the greatest improvement in their composition skills over the course of the lessons.
We already know there’s a correlation in the study between the most improved composition skills and learning to write letters the most automatically. (B) doesn’t reveal any new information that suggests a causal connection.
C
Over the course of the lessons, the first-graders who showed greater improvement in their ability to write letters automatically also generally showed greater improvement in their composition skills.
This strengthens by showing that the correlation observed among the ones who had learned to write letters the most automatically was also observed among the broader group.
D
Before receiving the after-school lessons in handwriting, the 100 first-graders who received the lessons were representative of first-graders more generally, with respect to their skills in both handwriting and composition.
Representativeness wasn’t an issue because the author’ didn’t assert that every first-grader could achieve the same results observed in the experiment. The conclusion was simply that there’s a causal relationship between writing letters more automatically and freeing mental resources.
E
Among the first-graders who received the lessons in handwriting, those who started out with strong composition skills showed substantial improvement in how automatically they could write letters.
We already know there’s a correlation in the study between the most improved composition skills and learning to write letters the most automatically. (E) doesn’t reveal any new information that suggests a causal connection.