Logical reasoning PrepTest 106 · Section 3 · Question 18

Question prompt

The human brain and Remaining source text redacted.
Why the credited answer is right

Credited answer: C

The notes below walk through why it fits the stem and how to eliminate the rest.

Argument or Facts

Argument

Valid or Flawed

Flawed

Question Type

Principle Questions / Strengthen Questions

Stimulus Summary

The brain evolved to help people survive, so aesthetic judgments are adapted to our environment, and so they should be evaluated in terms of survival.

Answer Anticipation

These abstract and philosophical questions are pretty difficult to parse, so we should focus on what we know about this question type to focus on the elements that’ll help with our anticipation.
Principle (Strengthen) questions generally reach a judgment based on details presented in the premises, and the correct answer connects those details to the judgment.
Looking at the conclusion here, it’s about how aesthetic judgments must be evaluated - it must be done in terms of how well they help people survive. Why is that the criteria for judgment? The premises say that survival is relevant because that’s what the human brain evolved to assist with.
So connecting those ideas, we get:
If an ability evolved for a particular purpose, it should be judged based on how well it promotes that purpose.

Answer choices

  1. A
    All human adaptations to Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A is not credited
    This answer connects from the intermediate conclusion to the premise, reversing the logic in the stimulus. Additionally, it doesn’t connect to the main point about judgment at all.
  2. B
    Human capacities that do Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B is not credited
    The conclusion is about the criteria on which a capacity is being evaluated, so capacities that can’t be evaluated are out of scope.
  3. C
    If something develops to Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C matches the stem
    This answer matches our anticipation, connecting the premise to the judgment in the conclusion. The human brain evolved to assist in self-preservation, through its aesthetic judgments. The conclusion is that aesthetic judgment should be evaluated based on how it helps with survival.
  4. D
    Judgments that depend on Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D is not credited
    The argument isn’t about truth or falsity, so this answer is out of scope.
  5. E
    Anything that enhances the Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E is not credited
    The stimulus is about self-preservation, not the proliferation of the species.

What this tests

Question analytics

Based on historical answer selection rates for this question.

Answer choice distribution

  1. A 21%
  2. B 5%
  3. C Credited 69%
  4. D 2%
  5. E 3%

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