LSAT 108 | Section 3 | Logical Reasoning: Q11

LR Question 11 Explanation

QUESTION TEXT: The everyday behavior of whales …

QUESTION TYPE: Necessary Assumption

CONCLUSION: Using trained sea lions with cameras will allow biologists to study whales’ everyday behavior.

REASONING: Whales behave unusually when new stimuli (e.g. divers or submarines) are introduced. But they’re used to sea lions being nearby.

ANALYSIS: The argument relies on the idea that whales are used to sea lions, so they’ll behave normally around the trained sea lions.

But the sea lions in the experiment won’t be the exact same as the ordinary sea lions. They’ll be carrying cameras, following human commands, and swimming alongside the whales in a particular way.

If the trained sea lions behave in ways that whales aren’t used to, then the whales might still react unusually.

So the argument needs to assume that the trained sea lions’ behavior falls within the range of normal sea lion behavior that whales already encounter.

Otherwise, the sea lions become another novel stimulus, and the whole plan falls apart.

___________

1. This tells us whales sometimes react aggressively to divers and submarines. The argument already says whales behave unusually around novel stimuli. We don’t need to know the specific type of unusual behavior.
2. CORRECT. If the whales weren’t used to the trained sea lions, then the sea lions themselves become novel stimuli, and the biologists can no longer assume they’ll observe normal whale behavior.
   Negation: The behavior of the trained sea lions will not be behavior that whales are used to.
3. Whether the sea lions know they’re carrying cameras doesn’t matter. Whales don’t care about the sea lions’ mental states.
4. Being able to film whales more closely would make the method more useful, but the conclusion is about whether the whales will behave normally, not about camera quality.
5. The argument only needs whales to be accustomed to sea lions, not to prefer them. I can be accustomed to noisy construction outside my apartment without preferring it. Preference is much stronger than necessary.