LSAT 101 | Section 1 | Reading Comprehension: Q5

RC Question 5 Explanation

DISCUSSION: The first group of risk communicators thinks their job is to persuade the public to accept new technologies. See lines 1-5.

The authors think risk communicators should let people make information decision about technological risk. See lines 15-16.

___________

1. The risk communicators in the first paragraph don’t mention people becoming alarmed about new technologies. They only mention that people irrationally fear “exotic” risks. Exotic and new aren’t always the same thing.
2. This sounds like it’s referring to lines 21-24, where lay people compared risks to children and adults. In that case, it was the scientists doing the study who asked the lay people to make the comparison.
3. This is something that the risk communicators mentioned in lines 1-5 would say.
4. Lines 32-37 show that the authors do think that lay people can understand risk.
5. CORRECT. Lines 38-40 support this. The authors say that people process new information based on their existing values.
    
   This means that people can understand risk, if they have the right information and values. That contradicts the other risk communicators’ view, from lines 6-10. They think that lay people never understand technological risk.