PT153 S3 Q25 ExplanationEcological terms like “invasive species”

Answer choices, explained

1. A

   Weak Match17% picked this

   Police should not use terms like “thief” when talking to suspects no matter how strong the evidence of their guilt, since suspects are officially

   This has a similar conclusion about, "should not use a certain term", but is the evidence saying, "If you use that term, you'll have a negative association with something before any evidence has been examined"? No, it's saying, "don't use that term even if you have really strong evidence". This answer could be fine if it said, "Police should not use terms like thief when talking about suspects before any evidence has been gathered concerning their potential guilt."

   17%
2. B

   Bad Evidence Match3% picked this

   Environmental regulators should not argue publicly that particular substances are harmful, since the government?s decisions about which substances are harmful

   This also recommends that a certain occupation avoid saying certain things, but the evidence here is that these people are the right people to be deciding such matters. In the original, we were saying that ecologists shouldn't use certain terms (not because it was someone else's job to decide on those terms, but) because they would form a negative opinion of certain organisms before any data is gathered about whether they're actually bad for an ecosystem.

   3%
3. C

   Bad Evidence Match12% picked this

   Opinion writers should avoid using overly unflattering language to describe their opponents? views on controversial issues, since such language often leads readers simply to

   This also recommends that a certain occupation avoid saying certain things, but the evidence here is that saying such things will turn the audience against you. In the original, we were saying that ecologists shouldn't use certain terms (not because it would make other people discount the views of the ecologist, but) because the ecologists would have a prejudiced feeling about an organism before data is gathered about whether it's actually bad for an ecosystem.

   12%
4. D

   Correct66% picked this

   Software developers should refrain from using psychological terms to describe the performance of their programs, since this could influence their expectations about how

   Why this is right

   This recommends that a certain occupation avoid saying certain things, because using terms would influence how software developers think about how their programs will react to surprise situations. It's a bit of a strained match, but there are a couple key similarities: - people in occupation X shouldn't use certain terms because it will change how people in that occupation think about certain things This is the only answer that says, "Person A shouldn't use term X, because using term X to refer to thing Y will change how Person A thinks about thing Y." That would be enough to make this the best available answer, but we also have a second similarity: - Ecologists were judging that a new organism was "bad" for an ecosystem because of the loaded term "invasive", before they actually had data on it. - Software developers were describing their software as "sensitive, nimble responsive" and judging thusly that their software would react adeptly to unanticipated inputs, before they actually have data on how the software will respond to those inputs.

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

   66%
5. E

   Bad Evidence/Conclusion Match2% picked this

   People should be careful when attributing motives to another person in order to explain that person?s behavior, since psychological studies suggest that

   This isn't about recommending that an occupation avoid certain terms, so it's not as much like the original. And the evidence isn't saying that "using a term like this will bias the professional's thinking before they actually have data on the subject". Instead, the evidence is saying, "making this sort of prediction usually means that your prediction is wrong".

   2%