Logical Reasoning

PT130 · S1 · Q22 When a society undergoes

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When a society undergoes slow change, its younger members find great value in the advice of its older members.

Conclusion (thus)

We can measure the rate at which a society is changing by measuring how much deference its younger members show to elders.

Evidence

In times of slow change, young people find great value in the advice of older people. In times of rapid change, young people do not value the advice of elders.

Evaluation

Part of how this argument is laid out feels like a False Choice: the author considers two extremes without thinking about the middle ground. What happens in terms of medium change? The author only covered what happens in terms of slow vs. rapid change. Another potential issue is the language shift between vs. .

Are those equivalent concepts? Not really. I could show deference to my elders whether or not I valued their advice. Deference means "respect". I can outwardly nod and look respectful while inside thinking, "What do you know, you old coot?" Goal

Look for something connecting "how much you value advice" to "how much deference you show", or something dealing with what happens during periods of intermediate change.

22.

Which one of the following is an assumption on which the argument depends?

A society's younger members can
Out of Scope
Out of Scope: "young people can discern" The author is claiming that we, who may be young / middle-aged / old, can accurately discern society's rate of change by following his method. He isn't assuming that anyone currently is using his method or that anyone is currently often successful / unsuccessful at gauging the rate of change.
12% picked this
How much deference young people
Out of Scope: "practically useful"
This is super close, but the concept being used in the evidence is how much value young people find in their elders' advice. We don't discuss how practically useful the advice is. Two distinctions there: something doesn't need to be practically useful to be useful. It's not about how useful the advice actually is; it's about how useful the young people think it is.
8% picked this
Correct
The deference young people show
Why this is right
This Links together the concept from the evidence "how much the young value the advice" with the concept from the conclusion "how much deference they show". It is an unnervingly strong Volume Dial style answer, but since the author is thinking we can measure one thing by measuring another thing, he is assuming that one thing varies in accordance with the other.
Skill tested: Necessary Assumption · how this choice captures the argument's function is the move to repeat next time.
69% picked this
The faster a society changes,
Too Strong
Too Strong: "the more X, the less Y" The author explains that young people think that elders' advice is less relevant in times of faster change. The argument never discusses or cares about whether the advice actually is less relevant. Additionally, this Volume Dial formulation is very strong. It's accusing the author of assuming that if society starts changing 10% faster, then the advice of elders gets 10% less relevant. That's so precise and universal, it's unlikely for any author to commit themselves to such a strong idea.
8% picked this
Young people value their elders'
Too Strong
Too Strong: "only value advice for reason X" First of all, this doesn't do anything to deal with our new guy "Deference" in the conclusion. Secondly, the author doesn't need to assume that young people only value the practical usefulness of their elders' advice. It seems like during periods of fast change, young people think that the advice is not relevant and thus don't value it. So we could fix this answer by saying something more like, "The value that young people find in their elders' advice is related to how relevant that advice seems to be to the young people's lives".
3% picked this

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