LSAT 2 | Section 2 | Logical Reasoning: Q1

LR Question 1 Explanation

QUESTION TEXT: Some people believe that witnessing violence in movies…

QUESTION TYPE: Parallel Reasoning

CONCLUSION: Violent movies do not discharge aggressive energy.

REASONING: The argument uses an absurd analogy to attempt to prove the point.

ANALYSIS: This is unusually difficult for a first question. The argument has the following structure:

1. A claim is made.
2. An analogous situation is presented.
3. The analogy is ridiculous, and is supposed to disprove the first situation.

Note that it isn’t technically a good argument. It’s possible violent movies do discharge aggressive energy: aggression is mainly psychological while hunger is mainly physical.

___________

1. Here, the analogy reinforces the argument.
2. Here there is no analogy. The second sentence simply presents new information that paints nationalism in a bad light.
3. There is no analogy. The second sentence merely asks a relevant question.
4. CORRECT. Here, an absurd analogy is presented that makes the initial argument sound bad but doesn’t quite disprove it. Economists might be able to control inflation by speaking with the head of the central bank, for example.
5. This argument is assuming that doctors have good interpersonal skills. Otherwise this isn’t even an analogy.

Recap: The question begins with “Some people believe that witnessing violence in movies”. It is a Parallel Reasoning question. Learn how to master LSAT Parallel questions on the LSAT Logical Reasoning question types page.