#11 - Career consultant: The most popular career advice

[Administrator]

Complete Question Explanation

Flaw. The correct answer choice is (A)

This career consultant presents the following flawed argument:

• Premise: A study of managers showed that the self-deprecating were seen as more even handed by their employees.
  
  Conclusion: It is wrong to advise playing up ones strengths and downplaying one's weaknesses to one's employer.

From this we can see that the author is drawing a conclusion about how you should act in front of your boss, based on research concerning the best way to act in front of your employees. The correct answer choice should highlight this leap in logical argumentation.

Answer choice (A): This is the correct answer choice. The author bases a conclusion about how one should act in front of superiors, on a premise which concerns how one should act in the presence of employees.

Answer choice (B): There is no reason to specify the source of the positive perception, because the flaw is found in the divergence between premise and conclusion.

Answer choice (C): There is no obligation for the author to consider this possibility, so this is not the flaw reflected in the stimulus.

Answer choice (D): The author does not make any such conclusion regarding nonhumerous self-deprecation, so this answer choice cannot relay the argument's flaw.

Answer choice (E): This would not necessarily be a flaw, and it is certainly not the flaw in this case, as the author critiques the entire piece of advice, though ineffectively so.

[lathlee]

what''s the type of the flaw ? haha

[lathlee]

Is this faulty comparison or inappropriate comparison flaw? or use of uncertain words flaw?

[Claire Horan]

Hi lathlee,

I don't find that insisting on a label for every flaw is helpful in reaching the correct answer, but, if you insist, I would call it "overgeneralization." The overgeneralization label, though, won't help me locate an answer choice as well as summarizing the flaw in my own words: "Just because a particular way of behaving is helpful for people in a particular role or relationship doesn't mean that same way of behaving is helpful to others outside of that role/relationship/status."

[lilmissunshine]

Hello,

(A) is clearly the best answer choice but I wanted to ask why (E) is incorrect. It seems that the conclusion only attacks part of the career advice, namely "downplaying one's weaknesses", while leaving the other part - "emphasizing one's strengths" intact. Would that make (E) right?

Thanks a lot in advance!

[Adam Tyson]

First things first, lilmissunshine - you have already answered your own question! As you said, answer A is the best answer, and that by itself is what makes E a wrong answer, since we are supposed to pick the best answer and not just one that is "right" or "good". If A is the best, then the other four are wrong answers!

Now, as to WHY E is not the best answer, it is because it doesn't actually describe a flaw. It's true that the evidence only addressed the "downplaying one's weaknesses" aspect of the popular advice, but that doesn't make it a bad argument. Imagine an analogous argument here:

"Some people say that in order to get into Harvard Law School you have to have a high LSAT score and also have at least one parent that attended Harvard."

If I were to attack that argument by saying that those people are wrong because many students get into Harvard Law even though neither of their parents went there, would my argument be bad because I neglected to address the LSAT issue? Not at all! Those folks said you need both, and I showed that you don't need both. That's not a flaw, but a solid method of argumentation. Answer E describes something that is not, therefore, a flaw, and since we are supposed to be picking an answer that describes a flaw, it fails that test.

An answer being true doesn't make it the best answer, or even necessarily a good one, lilmiss! It still has to do what the stem asked us to do!

Keep at it, you're doing great!

[lilmissunshine]

Thanks a lot Adam!

[simonsap]

EMPLOYERS VS EMPLOYEES.
DUHHHHHHHH. Read Carefully!!!