LSAT and Law School Admissions Forum

Get expert LSAT preparation and law school admissions advice from PowerScore Test Preparation.

 Administrator
PowerScore Staff
  • PowerScore Staff
  • Posts: 8919
  • Joined: Feb 02, 2011
|
#23938
Complete Question Explanation

Method of Reasoning-CE. The correct answer choice is (B)

Whenever the stimulus begins by describing a widely held belief, you can be sure that the author’s conclusion will counter it. In this case, the author challenges the view that eating chocolate can cause acne by suggesting an alternate cause for both eating chocolate and having acne – stress. This method of argumentation is best illustrated in Answer choice (B).

Answer choice (A): The recent scientific studies provide counterevidence that call into question the position itself (i.e. that chocolate can cause acne), not the accuracy of the evidence advanced in its support. The author never suggested that people are mistaken in their belief that eating large amounts of chocolate is followed by an outbreak of acne.

Counterarguments rarely challenge the accuracy of the evidence supporting the opposing position. Usually, they seek to establish that this evidence is inconclusive, not that it’s inaccurate.

Answer choice (B): This is the correct answer choice. The recent scientific studies point to an alternative interpretation of the evidence that eating large amounts of chocolate is followed by an outbreak of acne.

Answer choice (C): Even though the author’s argument is based on scientific evidence, she does not invoke the superior authority of science in order to dismiss out of hand the position being challenged. The author’s counterargument is well-reasoned. This answer choice is incorrect.

Answer choice (D): Given that the author cites scientific studies that are recent, it would be premature to conclude that the widely held belief is inconsistent with well-established facts. This answer choice is incorrect.

Answer choice (E): This may seem like an attractive answer choice at first, since the author does provide a counterexample challenging an implicit assumption (i.e. that eating chocolate must be the only cause for the outbreaks of acne). However, the author never concluded that effects sometime precede their causes: this would be both illogical and inconsistent with her argument, which made no statement regarding the temporal sequence between the cause and the effect in question.
 kristinaroz93
  • Posts: 160
  • Joined: Jul 09, 2015
|
#19578
"It is widely believed that eating chocolate can cause acne. Indeed, many people who are susceptible..."

The stimulus states "It is likely that common wisdom has mistaken an effect for a cause". Does this imply the chocolate? Some thought chocolate caused acne, but its realy an effect of stress. So we thus mistook chocolate as a cause when it was really an effect of something else. Is that what is meant by the statement, I just want to make sure!

And while I understand why choice B is correct, I want to know if my understanding of choice E is also correct. So when it states "causes do not always precede effects", it is incorrect to say that, since it is not a situation where it turned out to be that the cause and effect were reversed (i.e. acne caused chocolate eating), but rather that there is an entirely new independant third explanation (stress) that caused both chocolate eating and acne. So because of this third factor,the stimulus has nothing to do with the idea that causes do not always precede their effects, since both factors were effects all along (when dealing with the relationship between acne and chocolate), and had no verified causal relationship between eachother.

Let me know if I am on the right track here =)
Best,

Kristina
 Emily Haney-Caron
PowerScore Staff
  • PowerScore Staff
  • Posts: 577
  • Joined: Jan 12, 2012
|
#19611
Hi Kristina,

Yep, you're totally right on track with the reasoning! Great job! I'm not sure I have anything to add; it seems like you really got this one. :-D

Get the most out of your LSAT Prep Plus subscription.

Analyze and track your performance with our Testing and Analytics Package.