Question about a logic reasoning question. Forum

[ioannisk]

I'm taking the Free PT for extra practice, and I find on section 3 LR, Question 13 has two viable answers: Answers B and D.

The answer is B. Why?

Here's the Link:
http://www.lsac.org/docs/default-source ... ptjune.pdf

The question is on page 18.

[Howl]

At first glance, D is super tempting, but I think that after careful examination of the main conclusion you'll see why D does not necessarily strengthen the argument.

Main conclusion: Thus, cognitive psychotherapy is likely to be MORE effective at helping patients overcome psychological problems than are forms of psychotherapy that focus on changing unconscious beliefs and desires.

D says that if a psychotherapy that focuses on changing the patient’s unconscious beliefs and desires is effective, then it must also help change beliefs that are under the patient’s direct conscious control. However, it mentions nothing of degree - in D's case, the psychotherapy could be effective, and that effectiveness could be 80% from changing unconscious beliefs and 20% from changing conscious ones. This hypothetical would be contrary to the main conclusion. Do you see?

I hope it helps.

[iamgeorgebush]

The gap in the reasoning here is between the premise following "since" in the last sentence and the conclusion. Who's to say that psychotherapy that addresses unconscious issues can't be effective through changing unconscious beliefs that aren't under the patient's direct psychological control, e.g., hypnotherapy? You're looking for something that addresses the "only conscious beliefs are under patient's direct psychological control --> therapy that focuses on changing patients' conscious beliefs is more effective than other types" gap; in other words, you want an AC that says something along the lines of "therapy is only effective when it focuses on beliefs directly under the patient's control" (but since it's a strengthen question, it'll probably be a weaker version of this statement).

B directly addresses this gap (in weaker terms than I stated, as expected since it's a strengthen question).

D does not. For one, the conclusion of the argument is not concerned with what might be helpful; it is concerned with the focus of the therapy. Maybe hypnotherapy is effective and focuses on unconscious beliefs and desires but also helps change beliefs directly under the patient's direct control. Watch out for the term shift from "help" to "focus."

What was your thinking about why D might be the answer?

[iamgeorgebush]

At first glance, D is super tempting, but I think that after careful examination of the main conclusion you'll see why D does not necessarily strengthen the argument.

Main conclusion: Thus, cognitive psychotherapy is likely to be MORE effective at helping patients overcome psychological problems than are forms of psychotherapy that focus on changing unconscious beliefs and desires.

D says that if a psychotherapy that focuses on changing the patient’s unconscious beliefs and desires is effective, then it must also help change beliefs that are under the patient’s direct conscious control. However, it mentions nothing of degree - in D's case, the psychotherapy could be effective, and that effectiveness could be 80% from changing unconscious beliefs and 20% from changing conscious ones. This hypothetical would be contrary to the main conclusion. Do you see?

I hope it helps.

Not quite. Remember, for strengthen/weaken questions, you're (almost) always looking for a gap in the reasoning. The credited response will address this gap; uncredited responses will not.

You do touch on one thing, though, that the argument leaves room for a psychotherapy to focus on changing unconscious desires but also help change conscious ones just a little bit, and still be effective and indeed more effective than a psychotherapy that focuses on changing conscious desires. Comes down to the term shift here.

[crazyvix]

The initial argument has a huge gap in its reasoning. Essentially, the author makes a point that cognitive therapy is more effective because it deals with the conscious, rather than the unconscious. We've been given no proof that dealing with conscious would necessarily do better than with unconscious. The author assumes that in order to be effective, a treatment must address mental processes that are under the control of the patient. So when an assumption is missing in a weaken/strengthen question, we can ALWAYS weaken/strengthen the initial argument by stating the assumption.

The rest of the explanation has been made quite clear by Mr. Bush

[Howl]

Not quite. Remember, for strengthen/weaken questions, you're (almost) always looking for a gap in the reasoning. The credited response will address this gap; uncredited responses will not.

You do touch on one thing, though, that the argument leaves room for a psychotherapy to focus on changing unconscious desires but also help change conscious ones just a little bit, and still be effective and indeed more effective than a psychotherapy that focuses on changing conscious desires. Comes down to the term shift here.

You're right of course I kinda took the lazy way out since it was a strengthen question and not an assumption/justify question (and the asker indicated that he was already deciding between B and D). But yes you should drill on finding the reasoning gap between the premises and conclusion since it's the cornerstone of like 90% of LR questions. Worse comes to worst, you can do quick hypotheticals on the ACs and see if you can come up with a situation that contradicts the main conclusion.

[ioannisk]

Do you guys approach strenghting questions the same way you approach assumption?

from what I understand, strengthening questions do not necessarily deal with assumptions. It can just be a statement that somewhat puts the argument in a more favorable light.

I thought D strenghtened the argument by sayng that an attribute that the other type of practice (the practice with focus on conscious beliefs) must exist in the other type of practice, thus strengthening the belief that the practice that focuses on conscious beliefs are better.

How am I wrong?

[ioannisk]

Well actually, the way I reasoned D is bad and B is better is that D doesn't really make you actually strengthen the core, which si to say one theory is better then the other.

B does, so it's correct.

[bp shinners]

Do you guys approach strenghting questions the same way you approach assumption?

Yep. Every strengthen/weaken question will have an assumption. If you're in a strengthen question, you need an answer that makes the assumption more likely to be true. If you're in a weaken question, you need an answer that makes it less likely to be true.

from what I understand, strengthening questions do not necessarily deal with assumptions. It can just be a statement that somewhat puts the argument in a more favorable light.

And the way you do that is by making the assumption questions more likely to be true. You'll always be dealing with an assumption.

[iamgeorgebush]

Do you guys approach strenghting questions the same way you approach assumption?

Yes. I have never seen a strengthen question with a credited response that does not help cover an assumption the argument makes.

How am I wrong?

1. Because it doesn't address a gap in the reasoning of the argument.

2. Because a therapy could both focus on changing unconscious beliefs AND help change beliefs directly under the patient's control, like I said before, win which case D would not help at all. To use the hypnotherapy example again, maybe hypnotherapy focuses on unconscious beliefs (e.g., racism) but also helps change beliefs directly under the patient's control (e.g., whether it's a good idea to hire someone based on race).

3. Because there's a term shift from "focus" to "help."