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 Jonathan Evans
PowerScore Staff
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#100801
Hi, Mkloo,

This "negation technique" cited above is the idea of asking yourself whether the negated answer choice would contradict the evidence in the stimulus.

There are two basic factual elements to this stimulus:
  1. Rational-choice theory says voters support political parties because they decide which party's policies are most beneficial to them.
  2. "Many sociologists" are against this theory because they believe support for political parties, a "complex phenomenon," can't be explained by a "simple phenomenon."
The questions then asks us what we can infer "many sociologists" would believe.

As part of your analysis, ask yourself what the "simple phenomenon" referred to in statement (2) is. The evidence suggests the "simple phenomenon" is people making decisions based on which policies they individually think are best.

Translate answer choice (A). "Need not" means "doesn't have to be."

We could explain answer choice (A) to ourselves thus: "People making decisions based on which policies they individually think are best" "doesn't have to be" a complex phenomenon.

If something doesn't have to be a complex phenomenon, then it could be a non-complex phenomenon, in other words a "simple phenomenon."

Would it be fair to say "many sociologists believe individual voting choices are a simple phenomenon?"

Yes, absolutely. The combined information in statements (1) and (2) supports this inference.

I hope this helps!

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