LSAT 157 | Section 2 | Logical Reasoning: Q25

LR Question 25 Explanation

QUESTION TEXT: Columnist: Consent forms filled out by subjects prior to their…

QUESTION TYPE: Flawed Reasoning

CONCLUSION: Some medical ethicists’ claim that many test subjects resent being given placebos or ineffective medicine is false.

REASONING: Test subjects give consent to the risk of receiving ineffective substances.

ANALYSIS: The columnist here is assuming that because people gave consent to a risk, they must not resent it when that risk occurs. But that doesn’t really make sense with what we know about people. You might accept the risk of something, but still be disappointed that it happened. Imagine that you were going on a roller coaster, and you signed a waiver saying that you accept risk of injury. You’d be pretty frustrated if you got injured, even though you accepted the risk.

The correct answer will highlight that people might not be happy with a result just because they accepted the risk.

___________

1. This is not what the author does at all. Look for an answer that matches the flaw we described above.
2. Nobody is talking about the scientific value of placebos – just that people are unhappy when they get them.
3. We don’t have any evidence to suggest that a sample is unrepresentative here. Plus, it doesn’t match the flaw we already found.
4. CORRECT. See above analysis.
5. This is not the flaw the columnist makes. The columnist is actually making a factual claim about whether people resent placebos, not an ethical claim about the use of placebos generally.

Recap: The question begins with “Columnist: Consent forms filled out by subjects prior to their”. It is a Flawed Reasoning question. Learn how to master LSAT Flaw questions on the LSAT Logical Reasoning question types page.