LR Question 22 Explanation
QUESTION TEXT: Advertisement: Hypnosis videos work to alter behavior…
QUESTION TYPE: Flawed Reasoning
CONCLUSION: Mesmosis’ video work really well!
REASONING: The videos pretend to send a command 1,000 times to the subconscious. To be effective, subconscious commands have to be repeated many times.
ANALYSIS: The stimulus says that it’s “as if” the instructions are sent 1,000 times! So they’re not sent 1,000 times!
Imagine this: you need to study a lot in order for your subconscious to master the LSAT. An hypnosis company has a tape that makes your brain “think” it has studied a lot. How effective do you think this would be? (Likely, not very effective)
___________
- CORRECT. This is subtle, but it addresses the flaw I discussed above. Instructions must be repeated many times. But the tapes only make it feel as if the instructions were sent 1,000 times. They actually weren’t! So the tapes fail the requirement the author lists.
- The author didn’t say effectiveness is proportional! It’s more like effectiveness only happens after a certain point.
Like, suppose a certain food is toxic unless cooked for 30 minutes. The food is not healthy “in proportion” to cooking time. It is unhealthy before 30 min, and healthy after 30 min.
Proportional means one thing increases directly and gradually as another thing increases. - The conclusion was that the tapes are very effective. It didn’t say only the tapes are effective. There could be other techniques which work.
- This describes a circular argument. It will almost never be correct. It is very, very hard to make a true circular argument that doesn’t seem obviously wrong.
Example of flaw: The tapes are effective because they are effective. - This is a different argument. And really dumb. The stimulus was dumb, but in a different way. This is basically saying something will succeed as long as you can’t think of a reason why it wouldn’t.
Example of flaw: My tapes are guaranteed to work. After all, they’re new, and haven’t failed yet!
Recap: The question begins with “Advertisement: Hypnosis videos work to alter behavior”. It is a Flawed Reasoning question. Learn more about LSAT Flaw questions in our guide to LSAT Logical Reasoning question types.
More Resources for Flaw Questions
- Flaw drills: Use these to practice making examples of abstract flaws.
- Intro Course lesson: This intro course lesson covers Flaw questions.
- Mastery Seminar lesson: This LR Mastery seminar lesson covers flaw questions.
I chose “A” for a different reason. The stimulus says that the videos’ first instruction is “to experience each subsequent instruction as if it has been repeated 1,000 times.” However, this first instruction may not work as intended without being repeated multiple times. So, assuming that instructing this step just once would do the job of making the subject feel as if each subsequent instruction is repeated 1,000 times is overlooking “a requirement that it states for the effectiveness of directions to the subconscious.”
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Responding to Esther’s original comment here! I see the point, but I think the flaw is actually more straightforward (and I think Esther is getting at the same idea as Graeme, just from a different angle).
The stimulus claims that for subconscious directions to be effective, they must be repeated many times. But the Mesmosis videos don’t actually repeat the subsequent instructions. They just include a single command telling the subconscious to treat later instructions as if they had been repeated. So even if that initial command works, the required repetition never actually works.
We don’t even need to question whether the first instruction is effective. The ad’s reasoning fails even if we assume the initial instruction works perfectly, because the videos don’t actually repeat the subsequent commands. They only simulate repetition by telling the subconscious to treat them as if they had been repeated. But the argument itself states that repetition is what’s required for effectiveness. So regardless of how persuasive the first instruction is, the core flaw is that the required repetition never actually happens. So we don’t need to go as far as your and Esther’s reasoning.
Hope that helps!
Thanks for the reply and glad this board is active. This site is awesome.