Logical Reasoning

PT141 · S2 · Q24 A survey of a city's concertgoers

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A survey of a city's concertgoers found that almost all of them were dissatisfied with the local concert hall.

Given That ...

Almost all the concertgoers surveyed were dissatisfied with the local concert all (most of them wished for wider seats and better acoustics).

And that ...

They know that current concert hall can't be feasibly modified to provide these features.

Why is it that ...

Most of them oppose the idea of tearing down the existing structure and replacing it with a new concert hall with wider seats and better acoustics?

Evaluate / Goal

Given that this new concert hall would potentially solve their gripes with the existing one (and given that fixing the existing one isn't an option), why are they opposed to this plan?

Is it going to raise their taxes too much? Is it going to need to raze a nearby shopping center for the sake of an expanded parking lot?

It seems like they would only object to this new hall that gives them what they're wishing for if it was outweighed by some negative.

24.

Which one of the following, if true, most helps to explain the apparent conflict in the concertgoers' views, as revealed by the survey?

  1. Before any of the survey

    Unclear Impact

    In order for this information to help explain why the survey respondents were mostly opposing the plan of tearing down the current hall and replacing it, we would have to assume that "being told that the survey you're about to take is sponsored by people who want X makes you likely to oppose X in the survey". As awful as humankind often is, there's no common sense connection in real life that's like, "Oh, this survey is sponsored by people who want to save the seals? Well then I'm going to answer the questions saying I don't want to save the seals." LSAC almost never relies on this level of antisocial cynicism, that the average person would be so antagonistic to a survey's sponsor that it would warp their answers into opposing that sponsor.

    15% picked this

  2. Most of the people who

    No Impact

    We already know that these concertgoers oppose tearing down the existing concert hall (and we're trying to figure out why). Telling us that other people also oppose tearing it down just reinforces that the surprising fact exists (people don't want to tear this thing down), but this answer isn't doing anything to explain why people don't want it torn down.

    30% picked this

  3. The city's construction industry will

    Wrong Group

    This answer would explain why the construction company would want to construct a new hall, but we're trying to explain why most concertgoers don't want the old hall torn down and a new one built it its place.

    6% picked this

  4. Correct

    A well-publicized plan is being

    Why this is right

    This helps us explain why most respondents said they don't want to tear down the existing hall and build a new one there. Even though they would rather do that than do nothing, they apparently have an even better option in mind. As a citizen, what sounds better: 1. replace old hall with new hall 2. get new hall nearby and convert old hall into a public auditorium #2 sounds like a more desirable option because you get two public facilities. You not only get the new concert hall you want (and it's nearby, so equally convenient), you also get a public auditorium. Two things were crucial for this answer to work: - well-publicized plan (so we have reason to think that the survey respondents were aware of this better option, when they said they didn't want the tear down / rebuild) - public auditorium (so that we have reason to think that the survey respondents would benefit from this extra facility they'd get out of plan 2)

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

    47% picked this

  5. Many popular singers and musicians

    Deepens Paradox

    This piles on to reasons why we should want this new concert hall, which would just deepen the confusion regarding why these respondents are mostly rejecting the idea.

    2% picked this

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