Logical Reasoning

PT124 · S2 · Q10 Those who have the ability to

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Those who have the ability to fully concentrate are always of above-average intelligence.

Statements

conditional (always - necessary, Right side)

Ability to fully → above average concentrate intelligence

most (usually accompanied by)

Most people who are successfully trained in speed-reading experience an increased ability to concentrate.

Evaluate

On Must Be False, the correct answer contradicts something we were explicitly told or something we can derive by combining ideas.

In this case, we can't really derive anything by combining ideas, since the two sentences didn't have any Overlapping Ideas.

Yes, they both talk about "ability to concentrate", but one of them is talking in Absolute language about whether or not one has the ability to fully concentrate. The other sentence is speaking in Relative language about whether someone has an improved ability to concentrate.

Since those aren't matching concepts, we can't really derive anything by combining the two claims.

Goal

Thus, it seems like the correct answer will probably contradict one of the two explicit claims:

1. Someone has the ability to fully concentrate but isn't of above-average intelligence.

or

2. Being successfully trained in speed-reading never / rarely is associated with an increased ability to concentrate.

On Must Be False, students often confuse a "Bad Inference" with a contradiction. The former is not what we want. The latter is.

10.

If the statements above are true, then each of the following could be true EXCEPT:

  1. Correct

    Some people can speed-read, and

    Why this is right

    This contradicts the first sentence. The detail it includes about speed-reading it totally irrelevant. It has nothing to do with why we're picking this answer. This is saying that there are people who have the ability to fully concentrate but aren't of above-average intelligence.

    Skill tested: Must be False · how this choice captures the argument's function is the move to repeat next time.

    72% picked this

  2. All people who can speed-read

    Compatible

    To contradict this, we would need information that there is at least one person who can speed-read who is average or below-average intelligence. We weren't told the intelligence level of any speed-readers, so we can't contradict this.

    14% picked this

  3. Many people of above-average intelligence

    Compatible

    To contradict this, we would need to know that "all, or almost all, people of above-average intelligence are able to fully concentrate". That's almost what the first sentence says, but it would require a reversal of the first sentence. The first sentence says "all people who can fully concentrate are of above-average intelligence", but what would contradict this answer is hearing that "all people of above-average intelligence can fully concentrate". Another way of seeing how this is compatible is thinking that if we're given Ppl who are A are always B Does it contradict do say "many people who are B are not A"? No, we could say Ppl who are NBA stars are always athletic. It doesn't contradict to say that "many athletic people are not NBA stars".

    10% picked this

  4. Some people with little ability

    Compatible Out of Scope

    Compatible Out of Scope: little ability to concentrate To contradict this, we'd need to know one of or more of these two things: - people with little ability to concentrate are always of average or better intelligence - people with little ability to concentrate can never speed-read We weren't told either of those facts. In fact, we weren't told anything about people with "little ability to concentrate".

    4% picked this

  5. All people who can speed-read

    Compatible

    To contradict this, we would need to know that "there is at least one person who can speed-read, but can't concentrate at all". We were never told that.

    1% picked this

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