LSAT 144 | Section 4 | Logical Reasoning: Q5

LR Question 5 Explanation

QUESTION TEXT: Scholar: Recently, some religions have updated the…

QUESTION TYPE: Flawed Reasoning

CONCLUSION: Any similar modernization will lead to an increase in worship.

REASONING: There was a correlation between modernizations and attendance.

ANALYSIS: This question has a classic LSAT flaw: correlation/causation. Correlation is when two things happen at the same time. One thing could be the cause of the other, but there are alternatives. With any correlation, there are four possibilities:

1. Reform causes attendance.
2. Anticipated attendance causes reform
3. A third cause (A charismatic new Pope?) leads to both reform and attendance
4. It’s a coincidence

Since this is a flaw question, you just have to pick the answer that abstractly says “it mistakes correlation for causation.”

___________

1. Who cares? The scholar was only predicting what would happen if a religion updated its texts.
2. The scholar didn’t say whether messages have to be kept the same. Their prediction was only about a link between reform and attendance.
3. CORRECT. See the analysis above. It’s possible that the increases in attendance had another cause.
4. The scholar didn’t say modernization was the only way. They only argued that it was a possible way to increase attendance.
5. The author didn’t assume this. Something can’t be the flaw if it wasn’t in the stimulus.