Logical ReasoningDifficulty: Hard

PT127 S3 Q16 Explanation

Therapist: The ability to trust

A free, expert breakdown of this official LSAT Logical Reasoning question.

TopicsSufficient Assumption

Keep going in LSAT Lab

  • Save & drill this skill — build targeted practice sets from questions like this one

  • Video walkthroughs — watch every question solved step by step

  • 81 official LSATs — as questions, timed sections & full-length tests

Start practicing free

Free to start

Full official LSAT questions are available through LawHub. This page provides LSAT Lab's explanation, strategy, and review tools without republishing the full official question.

Stimulus

Therapist: The ability to trust other people is essential to happiness, for without trust there can be no meaningful emotional connection to another human being, and others we feel isolated.

What this question is testing

Sufficient Assumption

Your task

Find the assumption that, if added, guarantees the conclusion follows.

Common trap

Answers that only partly bridge the gap, leaving the conclusion unproven.

Winning move

Identify the new term in the conclusion and pick the choice that links it to the evidence.

Reading along? Open the full official question in LawHub — we show a fragment here and keep the reasoning in our own words.

The question
16.

Which one of the following, if assumed, allows the conclusion of the therapist's argument to

Answer choices

  1. Correct68% picked this

    No one who is feeling isolated can

    Why this is right

    This bridges the gap between FI → ~H being happy and not feeling isolated. This answer hides the relationship in the contrapositive form.

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

  2. Reversed Assumption10% picked this

    Anyone who has a meaningful emotional connection to another human being

    This would bridge the gap EC → H between the first premise and the conclusion, if it were reversed.

  3. Reversed Inference13% picked this

    To avoid feeling isolated, it is essential to trust

    This reverses an inference ~FI → T that could be made from the two premises.

  4. Too Weak5% picked this

    At least some people who do not feel isolated

    This connects being happy ~FI ↢some↣ H and not feeling isolated, but it’s degree is too weak.

  5. Reversed Premise5% picked this

    Anyone who is able to trust other people has a meaningful emotional connection to at least

    This reverses the first premise. T → EC

Continue the review in LSAT Lab

Save this question, watch the video walkthrough, and drill similar questions in your LSAT Lab account.

Save and practice this skill
LSAT Lab

Turn this review into a targeted study plan.

Save this question, drill more like it, watch the video walkthrough, and track your progress in your LSAT Lab account.

Start practicing free