Logical reasoning PrepTest 119 · Section 4 · Question 19

Incorrect. This answer can justify a conclusion that reacting angrily ("hostile") is unreasonable ("do not warrant"), but it applies only to false insults (the only ones established as being based in ignorance), so it doesn't fully justify the conclusion.

Incorrect. This answer can justify a conclusion that reacting angrily is unreasonable, but it applies only to true insults, as the stimulus doesn't say that false insults are useful.

Correct. Argument or Facts:
Argument

Valid or Flawed:
Flawed

Question Type:
Strengthen with Sufficient Premise

Stimulus Summary:
Insult - An assertion someone has a bad characteristic
Insult true → Be grateful for info!
Insult false → Pity the person making it
Therefore - It's unreasonable to be angry at an insult

Answer Anticipation:
Strengthen with Sufficient Premise questions tend to have new concepts in the conclusion, and the correct answer attaches that new concept to some idea from the premises.

Here, the conclusion talks about insults, and the premises discuss them at great length. However, the conclusion also talks about reacting angrily to an insult, and how it's unreasonable. That's a new concept, so we need an answer that connects what the stimulus says about insults to that judgment.

What is said about insults? Three things. First, it's an assertion that someone has a bad characteristic. Second, if it's true, then the insulter should be thanked for providing useful information. Third, if it's false, then the person insulted should pity the person making it.

Since this is a Strengthen with Sufficient Premise question, we need to justify the conclusion completely—which means that we have to find an answer establishing that an angry reaction to any insult, whether true or false, is unreasonable. As such, we should be wary of answers that only apply to true or false insults.

What we can focus on is the reaction, though—since reacting angrily to an insult being unreasonable has to be present in any potential correct answer. When we get an answer that would allow that conclusion to be drawn, we can see if it also is broad enough to apply to any insult.

Answer Explanation:
An insult is either true or false, and therefore the premises establish that an insult should prompt either pity or gratitude. This answer allows us to reach the conclusion, therefore, that it's unreasonable to react to any insult—either true or false—with anger. It is therefore the correct answer.

Key Takeaway:
Strengthen with Sufficient Premise questions need to fully justify the conclusion. As such, make sure any answer you select deals with all possibilities—missing some means that you haven't found an answer fully justifying the conclusion!

Incorrect. This answer doesn't address whether anger is an unreasonable reaction to anything, and there's also no indication that insults are necessarily hostile or insensitive. Also, this answer is weaker than the conclusion ("some forms").

Incorrect. Pity is attached to people who lob false insults, but there's no indication that people who make them have an unreasonable characteristic, so this answer is out of scope.