LSAT 152 | Section 1 | Logical Reasoning: Q23

LR Question 23 Explanation

QUESTION TEXT: Male boto dolphins often carry objects such as weeds …

QUESTION TYPE: Parallel Reasoning

CONCLUSION: Carrying objects is likely a mating display.

REASONING: If it was play behavior, females and juveniles would also do it, but only males do.

ANALYSIS: The argument is using the absence of an expected indicator to undermine one explanation, and therefore suggesting the likelihood of another explanation.

The structure is:

• If X -> we would expect Y.
• Not Y.
• So probably not X.

The answer should match that structure.

___________

1. This is a different structure. It’s saying: If X (traffic) -> Y (late). I expect not Y, therefore likely not X. There’s no rejection of a hypothesis because an expected sign is missing.
2. There are no competing hypotheses here. It’s just a clean conditional chain.
3. This is affirming the pattern: If X -> Y. Y, so probably X. We needed not Y.
4. CORRECT. This is the same structure. If hypothesis X were true -> expect evidence Y. Not Y, so therefore probably not X.
5. This is just applying a conditional. No competing hypothesis is undermined by missing evidence.