How to stop falling for the equivocation flaw in RC? Forum

[Louis1127]

I have noticed that while taking PTs, in the rush of time, I end up committing the equivocation flaw on answer choices ALOT.

Do you all have any tips on avoiding this? Upon slow, untimed review, my mistakes stick out like a sore thumb and I feel stupid. But in the rush of time, these falsely equivocated answers just seem so attractive.

Here is an example by what I mean. I committed the following mistake:

The answer choice said “To offer evidence that the behavior of tadpoles is unexplainable” and I equivocated that with “To offer support that the inclusive kin theory cannot explain certain behaviors of tadpoles”.

These two ideas are very different, but in the rush of time, I falsely equivocated them. As stated before, I do this alot on RC.

Any help is much appreciated!

[WaltGrace83]

Sometimes (when I remember to), I will circle the two key words in the premise and the conclusion. For example....

37.4.15 (#185 in Cambridge NA)

Threat of harsh punishment → Decreases guilt or shame → Increases further commitment of transgressions
→
Increasing severity of legal penalties → may amplify people's tendency to ignore welfare of others

If I saw this question in real life, right away I would circle "ignore welfare of others" in the conclusion to tell myself that I should have something about ignoring the welfare of others. Because "commitment of transgressions is at the end of the chain," I would circle "increases" and "transgressions," telling myself that I should have something about "transgressions."

This circling visually cues me for when I re-check the answer. I have been trying to get out of the habit of eliminating 4, peering at the "right" answer and thinking "okay that looks good!," and moving on. Instead, I have been trying to double check my answer by fitting it between the P and C to see if it works. I think this helps my accuracy because I have caught myself a few times and it only takes 5 seconds to do this.

Just some thoughts - they might help and they might not.



EDIT: just realized you said "RC."

.....it's early.

[Louis1127]

Haha, still very helpful, Walt!

As Papercut likes to say "RC and LR aren't that different"