#23 - Problem: If Shayna congratulates Daniel on his award

[Administrator]

Complete Question Explanation

Must Be True—PR. The correct answer choice is (E)

This stimulus has an unfamiliar structure, but is not overly difficult if approached systematically.
The stimulus begins with Shayna stuck on the horns of a dilemma. Either she congratulates Daniel
on his award or she does not congratulate him. If she does congratulate Daniel, then she will be
misrepresenting her true feelings. However, if she does not congratulate him, she will hurt his
feelings.

Next, we are given a rule, described as a principle. The rule is that the only time a person should
misrepresent his or her feelings is when she thinks that the person with whom she is talking would
prefer kindness to honesty. In the context of Shayna’s problem, this rule would require that Shayna
not congratulate Daniel unless she believes that Daniel would prefer kindness to honesty.

The question stem identifies this as a Must Be True—Principle question. Our job is to find the
answer choice that best reflects the application of the principle to Shayna’s problem.

Answer choice (A): This answer choice does not properly apply the rule to the problem, because
the only exception to the rule that a person should not be insincere about her feelings was when she
believes that the other person would prefer kindness to the truth, not when doing so would avoid
hurting a person’s feelings.

Answer choice (B): Here, the answer choice describes the possibility that the other person might
prefer an insincere statement of the speaker’s feelings. However, the rule had to do with the
speaker’s belief, not the other person’s actual preference.

Answer choice (C): The belief that is relevant to the rule is the speaker’s belief that the other person
would prefer kindness to honesty. So, Shayna’s belief about what should be preferred is irrelevant to
the rule.

Answer choice (D): This answer choice does not tell us what Shayna’s belief about Daniel’s
preference is, so we cannot apply the rule, and this answer choice is incorrect.

Answer choice (E): This is the correct answer choice because it properly applies the rule to the
problem. According to the rule, the only circumstance under which Shayna should be insincere about
her feelings is if she believes that the other person, here Daniel, would prefer kindness to honesty.
Since Shayna does not have an opinion about Daniel’s preference she does not believe that he would
prefer kindness to honesty. So, in accordance with the rule, Shayna should not congratulate him,
since to do so would require her to misrepresent, or be insincere about, her feelings.

[Jkjones3789]

Hello for this Strengthen PR question I chose B. Could you please explain why B is wrong and E is correct. Thank you

[David Boyle]

Hello for this Strengthen PR question I chose B. Could you please explain why B is wrong and E is correct. Thank you

Hello,

Answer B does not account for whether Shayna knows what Daniel thinks. But answer E does, so it is right.

David

[deck1134]

Hi Powerscore,

Do you know where I could find another example of this kind of question? I've done a TON on prep, and this is a very unusual one. I barely got it, and in a time crunch, I might have fallen for a trap answer. Time for more prep!

[LSAT2018]

I've noticed that these Principle/Problem questions keep recurring in the recent tests, and definitely need more practice on these. For the stimulus can it be diagrammed like the following?

Problem: Congratulate → Misrepresent
Principle: Insincere → Prefer Kindness to Honesty

Since she doesn't know whether he prefers kindness to honesty:
Not Prefer Kindness to Honesty → Sincere

And misrerpresenting your feelings is being insincere, so the contrapositive is taken:
Not Misrepresent → Not Congratulate

To bring it altogether:
Not Prefer Kindness to Honesty → Sincere → Not Congratulate

Is this the right approach to the question?
So for questions with the Principle/Problem setup, the conclusion stated in the Problem is taken as the necessary condition? And the principle is used as the sufficient condition?

[T.B.Justin]

I've noticed that these Principle/Problem questions keep recurring in the recent tests, and definitely need more practice on these. For the stimulus can it be diagrammed like the following?

Problem: Congratulate → Misrepresent
Principle: Insincere → Prefer Kindness to Honesty

Since she doesn't know whether he prefers kindness to honesty:
Not Prefer Kindness to Honesty → Sincere

And misrerpresenting your feelings is being insincere, so the contrapositive is taken:
Not Misrepresent → Not Congratulate

To bring it altogether:
Not Prefer Kindness to Honesty → Sincere → Not Congratulate

Is this the right approach to the question?
So for questions with the Principle/Problem setup, the conclusion stated in the Problem is taken as the necessary condition? And the principle is used as the sufficient condition?

I have a similar understanding to this problem.

As I was attempting this question I thought the description of the problem were Shayna's thoughts, however answer choice E has me thinking that the problem described some general information about what Shayna could do if that hypothetical situation arose.

If Shayna doesn't know, if Daniel prefers kindness or if he prefers honesty, she should be sincere to her true feelings; which I think is similar to how you brought it altogether.

[Charlie Melman]

I like how you thought about the problem, Justin. To state the reasoning even more concretely, if Shayna has no opinion about whether Daniel would prefer kindness to honesty, she can't have a "belief" about it. And we know that if you have no belief about it, there's only one path: don't be insincere about your feelings.

That forecloses the possibility of congratulating Daniel (see the first sentence of the stimulus) so the only option left is not congratulating Daniel.

Hope this helps.

[T.B.Justin]

Hey Charlie,

Thanks, I appreciate your time. Cheers

[lauriesnyder]

Hi,

How do we know Shayna has no belief about it? Do we know she has no opinion because the problem literally tells us nothing about her opinion/situation?

I feel like this question was unique... I picked B because typically in these questions the answer choices introduce scenarios where we apply the principle.

Thanks!

[Jeremy Press]

Hi Laurie,

Yes, you're correct! The "Problem" portion of the stimulus does not tell us whether or not Shayna believes that Daniel would prefer kindness to honesty.

It's true that we're being asked to apply the Principle to strengthen the reasoning in one of the answers, but we have to apply the principle in conjunction with both the facts the Problem outlines and the facts the answer choice discusses. The Principle gives a general rule: "don't be insincere." Under that rule, Shayna shouldn't congratulate Daniel, because to do so would be misrepresenting her true feelings. The only exception the Principle gives to that general rule is when you as the speaker believe the other person would prefer insincere kindness. To apply that exception, we would have to know for certain that Shayna believes Daniel would prefer insincere kindness. In answer choice B, that exception cannot be applied because, even though we as the readers know what Daniel prefers, we don't know what Shayna believes about Daniel's preference. Since the exception cannot be applied, if answer choice B were going to be right, it would have to conclude that Shayna should not misrepresent her true feelings (i.e. she should not congratulate Daniel).

I hope this helps!

Jeremy