Summary
People in democratic societies more often blame politicians than they do other powerful figures who are at least as responsible for society’s problems. This is because people in democratic societies believe they have more power over politicians than powerful figures, not necessarily because politicians are more familiar.
Strongly Supported Conclusions
People are more likely to blame a person if they feel they have power over that person.
A
Often the people who have the most power in a society are not the people who are generally perceived by the public as having the most power.
We don’t know whether the public inaccurately perceives the level of power possessed by a group. We only know that the public is likely to blame politicians for society’s problems because the public believes they possess power over politicians.
B
People tend to ascribe more power to a person with whom they are familiar than to one with whom they are unfamiliar.
We don’t know whether people assign more power to a person that is familiar. We only know that the public is likely to blame politicians for society’s problems because the public believes they possess power over politicians.
C
To the extent that a person is well known to the public, that person is more likely to be blamed for the woes of society.
The argument concludes that politicians are more likely to be blamed by the public because of the public’s belief of possessing power over the politicians, not necessarily because the politicians are publicly known.
D
Publicly known people are usually not held sufficiently responsible for the problems they cause.
We don’t know whether publicly known people are usually not sufficiently held responsible for problems. We only know key factors for the likelihood of the public to assign blame.
E
People are more inclined to blame a publicly known person if that person is someone over whom they feel they have power.
The primary reason for the public to assign blame to a person is whether that person is someone the public feels they have power over.
Summary
The author concludes that gesturing helps speakers quickly find the phrases they want. This is supported by an experiment.
A group of randomly selected people was divided into two groups. One group was allowed to gesture while describing action-packed scenes from cartoons. Another group was NOT allowed to gesture while describing those scenes.
There was a correlation between gesturing and speaking more quickly, as well as repeating one’s self less often.
A group of randomly selected people was divided into two groups. One group was allowed to gesture while describing action-packed scenes from cartoons. Another group was NOT allowed to gesture while describing those scenes.
There was a correlation between gesturing and speaking more quickly, as well as repeating one’s self less often.
Missing Connection
The conclusion brings up the new concept of “helping speakers quickly find the phrases they want.” The premises don’t say anything about helping speakers quickly find the phrases they want. Rather, the premises simply describe an experiment in which those who gestured while describing scenes from a cartoon spoke more quickly and repeated themselves less. But the correlation between gesturing and speaking quickly / repeating less often doesn’t prove a causal relationship. We want to establish that the experiment proves gesturing “helps speakers quickly find the phrases they want.”
A
Ordinarily almost everyone regularly gestures when speaking quickly and with little repetition, regardless of the topic being discussed.
(A) doesn’t establish that gesturing helps people quickly find the phrases they want. It simply establishes that most people under ordinary conditions regularly use gestures. But it doesn’t create a causal relationship between gesturing and speaking more quickly / repeating one’s self less often.
B
The cartoons were chosen by those who conducted the experiment and were selected from a variety of sources.
The origin of the cartoons that were described has no impact on the reasoning. We want to establish that gesturing helps people find phrases more quickly. (B) doesn’t do that.
C
Any form of behavior correlated with quicker speech and less repetition in speech helps speakers find the phrases they want quickly.
The premises describe an experiment in which gesturing was correlated with quicker speech and less repetition. According to (C), then, the correlation observed in the experiment would establish that gesturing helps speakers find the phrases they want quickly.
D
Any form of behavior that helps speakers quickly find the phrases they want also enables them to speak more quickly and repeat themselves less than they would if they were not engaged in that behavior.
We want to prove that gesturing helps speakers quickly find the phrases they want. We don’t want an answer that tells us what happens IF gesturing helps speakers quickly find the phrases they want. In other words, we’re looking for “gesturing correlated with speaking quickly / less repeats → helps speakers find phrases quickly.” (E) puts “helps speakers find phrases quickly” on the left side of the arrow.
E
Of the subjects who were allowed to gesture, those who spoke the most quickly and repeated themselves least were among those who gestured the most.
(E) might strengthen the argument by strengthening the correlation between gesturing and speaking faster / repeating less. But it doesn’t prove, with 100% certainty, a causal relationship.