PrepTest 139

Incorrect. While this answer does establish an outcome (enjoying the party) and concludes a motive (wanting to go to the party), that's a shift in terms that isn't present in the stimulus. There, the premise and conclusion were both about pleasure; here, there's a jump from enjoying the party to wanting to go. One could want to go to a party for reasons other than enjoying it.

Incorrect. This answer doesn't discuss an outcome—it discusses a present state of affairs.

Correct. Argument or Facts:
Argument

Valid or Flawed:
Flawed

Question Type:
Flawed Parallel Reasoning

Stimulus Summary:
Get what you want → Feel pleasure
Therefore - Desire → Pleasure

Answer Anticipation:
This is a weird argument. The stimulus establishes a conditional relationship, essentially restating it in the second sentence. That conditional statement establishes that the outcome of getting what you want is pleasure. From that, it concludes that the motive behind all desires is to get pleasure.

As we've seen in many other questions, motives are key to questions. Arguments tend to conflate motive, method, and outcome. Here, the argument establishes that the outcome of a type of action is pleasure, and so it concludes that the motive behind that action must be to get pleasure. That's mixing up motive and outcome, so let's find an answer that does the same.

Answer Explanation:
This answer discusses an outcome of eating pizza—getting a stomach ache. From the premise that this is always the outcome when this person eats pizza, it concludes that the person must want to get a stomach ache—in other words, the outcome determines the motive. That's the same flaw as the stimulus, so this is the correct answer.

Key Takeaway:
The LSAT frequently mixes up motive, action, and outcome. One can take action that runs counter to their motives, and an outcome can be unexpected and unaligned with the motives.

Incorrect. This answer jumps from what was true in the past to what will be true in the future—a separate flaw (the Gambler's fallacy).

Incorrect. This answer assumes an unwarranted comparison between soccer games and basketball games.