LSAT 155 | Section 2 | Logical Reasoning: Q17

LR Question 17 Explanation

QUESTION TEXT: Psychiatrist: Psychological stress is known both to cause …

QUESTION TYPE: Flawed Reasoning

CONCLUSION: Overcoming negative emotions could improve physical health.

REASONING: Negative emotions are caused by psychological stress, which also impairs physical health.

ANALYSIS: If you’re experienced with Flawed Reasoning questions, this should be nothing new. The author tells us that psychological stress causes both negative emotions and physical health issues. However, these two things are independent of each other. Treating one won’t automatically treat the other.

The argument has taken the fact that psychological stress causes two things and incorrectly concluded that addressing one of those two things will help the other. We can’t assume this. A parallel example might be “It’s super sunny today, which makes me sweaty and sunburned – so if I put on sunscreen, I won’t be sweaty”.

___________

1. This is incorrect. The two conditions don’t together have a certain effect, they are both caused by the same condition.
2. CORRECT. This is exactly the issue. We don’t have anything to suggest that negative emotions are causing physical health issues.
3. There’s only one cause here, with two results. So this answer cannot be correct.
4. There are not two conditions that together produce a certain effect in this argument, so this must be wrong.
5. This might look right at first glance, but it’s talking about removing a condition that causes another condition. But we don’t have that here – we’re removing a condition that’s caused by another condition. So this is wrong.

Recap: The question begins with “Psychiatrist: Psychological stress is known both to cause “. It is a Flawed Reasoning question. Learn how to master LSAT Flaw questions on the LSAT Logical Reasoning question types page.