#20 - A study found that when rating the educational value

[Administrator]

Complete Question Explanation

Flaw in the Reasoning. The correct answer choice is (D)

This stimulus deals with a study of the educational value of kids’ tv shows, and the fact that parents tend to judge the shows’ educational values based on their own level of enjoyment, without considering the psychologists’ assessment of the programs’ educational value. The author concludes that if the psychologists are correct, then parents should not trust their own assessments of the shows’ educational value.

The author of the passage neglects to mention whether or not the parents’ choices were also considered educationally valuable by the psychologists, but seems to think that the two groups of television shows chosen do not overlap.
The question stem, unsurprisingly, asks for the flaw in the author’s reasoning. Again, the author jumps to the questionable conclusion that the parents’ choices must be different from those of the psychologists.

Answer choice (A): As discussed, the author’s mistake is in jumping to the conclusion that the parents’ selections could not overlap with the psychologists’. Since the stimulus’ flaw is not one of an unrepresentative sample, this cannot be the correct answer choice.

Answer choice (B): This choice might be appealing at first, but the issue is not that the author takes for granted that parents and children don’t enjoy the same television shows, but that the author takes for granted that parents don’t enjoy the children’s shows that psychologists consider educational.

Answer choice (C): The author does not presume or imply that educational value should be the sole criterion for parents’ selection of children’s programs, so this cannot be the right answer choice.

Answer choice (D): This is the correct answer choice. As discussed, the author concludes that the parents’ choices should not be trusted, without considering that they might be the same choices as those of the psychologists for educational value.

Answer choice (E): The author specifically qualifies, or limits, the argument, with the words, “if the psychologists’ views are sound...” Thus, the author does not take for granted that the psychologists are the only ones who can judge the educational value of children’s television shows.

[maximbasu]

Hi,
The correct answer is D and I chose E.

I don't understand why E is wrong. If you state that, then you're saying that parents also can have a high degree of accuracy.

Rgs,
Maxim

[Adam Tyson]

It's that magic word "only" again, Maxim - see another of my recent replies to one of your questions on the importance and prominence of "only" on the LSAT, and be critical of that all-important word. Does the author take for granted that the educational psych folks know better than the parents do? You bet. Does he go so far as to take for granted that they know better than everyone? Nope, not that far. Also, it isn't about whether the educational psych folks are accurate, because he includes in his argument an assumption that they are (he says "if the psychologists' views are sound" as a qualifying premise).

Beware the dreaded "only"!

[blade21cn]

I got this question wrong by choosing (E). The way I analyze the stimulus is that the first sentence is the premise and the second sentence is the conclusion, with the indicator "accordingly." The premise states that in rating the educational value of specific children's television shows parents tend to form their own opinions, while ignoring educational psychologists' views. The conclusion states that if the psychologists are right, parents should not consider their own ratings. I just don't see how the premise provides support for the conclusion, as they apparently go in different directions. Premise: parents ignore psychologists' professional opinions; conclusion: if psychologists are right, parents should not go with their own ratings.

Also, I thought the critical word "only" in (E) is supported, since that is the only thing (psychologists) we get from the stimulus. I've done plenty of questions, where the correct answer choice states "the argument draws a conclusion "merely" from the fact that ...," and that fact is the only premise of the argument. Thanks!

[KelseyWoods]

Hi blade21cn!

This is a Flaw in the Reasoning question which means you're absolutely right--the premises given don't fully prove the conclusion as stated. Our task is to determine exactly why the premises don't fully prove the conclusion.

The flaw here is that just because the parents don't take into account the educational psychologists views, that doesn't mean that they should not trust their own ratings. Let's say I really enjoy Sesame Street. I get a thrill from the celebrity cameos. I relate hard to Cookie Monster and Oscar the Grouch. Bert and Ernie crack me up. I have no idea what educational psychologists think about the show. But because I enjoy it, I assume that it is educational for my kids. Based on this argument, I shouldn't trust my rating of Sesame Street as educational because I haven't taken into account the views of the educational psychologists. But what if the shows that I enjoy and think are educational are the same shows that educational psychologists rate as educational? That's the problem with this argument. Just because parents aren't taking the views of the educational psychologists into account, doesn't mean that their views don't still align with the educational psychologists.

Of course there are answer choices that use the word "only." The problem is not the word itself, it's the way that it's used. If you have a stimulus where the flaw is that the conclusion relies only on information that is incomplete, then an answer choice that uses the word "only" is warranted. But let's look more closely at what answer choice (E) states: "takes for granted that educational psychologists are the only people who can judge the educational value of children's television shows with a high degree of accuracy." That's not saying that this is the only premise for the conclusion. It's saying that the author assumes that educational psychologists are the only people who can accurately judge the value of children's television shows. But the author does not assume that they are the only ones that can do this. In fact, the author's conclusion is conditional. The author says "IF the psychologists' views are sound." The author has not even assumed that the psychologists' views are sound, much less that they are the only people who can judge educational value. The author is just concluding something that would be true if the views of educational psychologists were sound, but not actually declaring whether or not the educational psychologists' views are sound.

Hope this helps!

Best,
Kelsey