PT154 S4 Q17 ExplanationAdvice columnist: Parents should not encourage

Answer choices, explained

1. A

   Trap6% picked this

   Parents should encourage their children to be happy about the things that

   Bad Conclusion Match Out of Scope: things they do well This is a rule that would help us prove what parents should encourage, but we need a rule about what parents shouldn't encourage.

   6%
2. B

   Trap10% picked this

   Parents should try to ensure that their children have at least some desires that are

   Bad Conclusion Match Out of Scope: easy to satisfy This is a rule that would help us prove what parents should encourage, but we need a rule about what parents shouldn't encourage.

   10%
3. C

   Correct78% picked this

   One should never encourage a person to acquire a trait if having the trait would make

   Why this is right

   This is a conditional (if = left side) that looks like this: Having a trait would make ? we should not person X less happy encourage X to acquire that trait This is definitely a rule with an outcome that matches our conclusion (should not encourage). We're trying to say that parents should not encourage their kids to try to place great value on outdoing others. We're told that when you have that trait -- when you're motivated greatly to outdo others -- it makes you less happy. This answer choice is a rule whose trigger applies to "trying to outdo others" and whose outcome says "we should not encourage", just like our conclusion did. Not all correct answers line up like this, but most of them do. (note: some people are unnerved when the trigger only refers to part of the evidence. How come it didn't mention fostering resentment or hard to achieve desire? It doesn't have any obligation to talk about everything the evidence discussed. We're just trying to pick an answer that helps us support/prove the conclusion. If we're trying to prove that Billy is X, and we know that Billy is A, B, and C, then a rule like "if you're B, then you're X" suffices for us to prove that Billy is X.)

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

   78%
4. D

   Bad Conclusion Match1% picked this

   Parents should do everything they can to ensure that their children

   This is a rule that would help us prove what parents should encourage, but we need a rule about what parents shouldn't encourage.

   1%
5. E

   Bad Conclusion Match5% picked this

   How much one achieves relative to one’s own potential is just as important as how much one

   We need a rule about what parents shouldn't encourage, and this doesn't have any language in it resembling that.

   5%