LSAT 131 | Section 2 | Logical Reasoning: Q13

LR Question 13 Explanation

QUESTION TEXT: Bethany: Psychologists have discovered a technique

QUESTION TYPE: Principle – Justify

CONCLUSION: Psychologists should identify children prone to nightmares, and teach them to have pleasant dreams instead.

REASONING: Adults can learn to replace nightmares with pleasant dreams. And having nightmares as a child makes you likely to have them as an adult.

ANALYSIS: On principle/justify questions, all you need to do is find an answer that says “We should do the thing mentioned in the stimulus”.

So you just need to be clear on what was recommended: “We should identify kids prone to nightmares and teach them to have pleasant dreams. This will reduce the number of future adults prone to nightmares.”

___________

1. The stimulus didn’t say we should try to understand the tendency towards nightmares. It just said we should help teach children not to have nightmares.
2. This is the reverse of what might have been right. Had this said “we can teach kids stuff we teach adults”, this could have been the right answer.
3. CORRECT. This works. If you stop kids from having nightmares, they won’t grow into adults who have nightmares. This answer tells us we should pursue that goal.
4. The passage wasn’t about difficulty. It just said we should stop kids from having nightmares. The author didn’t bother with a cost-benefit analysis.
5. The author didn’t say this. They recommend using the anti-nightmare technique on kids prone to nightmares. But they might also think that other kids might also benefit.