LSAT 156 | Section 4 | Logical Reasoning: Q4

LR Question 4 Explanation

QUESTION TEXT: Overcrowding inclines human beings toward aggressive …

QUESTION TYPE: Strengthen – EXCEPT

CONCLUSION: As population grows, aggressive behavior (including war and crime) will increase.

REASONING: Overcrowding leads to aggressive behavior, and population growth leads to more overcrowding.

ANALYSIS: This is an EXCEPT question. Four answers should support the link between overcrowding and aggression, and one should not.

The argument is basically: more people → more overcrowding → more aggression. So anything that strengthens either link (population → overcrowding, or overcrowding → aggression) will help.

But one answer will weaken or at least fail to support that chain. The key vulnerability is whether aggression really depends on overcrowding. If aggression can happen without overcrowding, then overcrowding is not doing as much explanatory work as the argument claims.

So the correct answer is the one that shows aggression occurs even without overcrowding.

___________

1. This strengthens. It links population size to overcrowding, supporting the first step of the argument.
2. This strengthens. It shows population growth and aggression increasing together, supporting the overall trend.
3. CORRECT. This weakens the argument. If aggression occurs even without overcrowding, then overcrowding is not a necessary cause.
4. This strengthens. It supports the example used in the argument by confirming it involves overcrowding.
5. This strengthens. It generalizes the overcrowding → aggression link across species.