#26 - Concept Reference, Must Be True

[Administrator]

Please post your questions below!

[adashworth]

Hello, thanks for all your explanations so far. On 26, I chose B because it was directly supported in the text, line 8-11. But I'm guessing D is the correct answer because it is more general? Like B is too specific? Thank you!

[Francis O'Rourke]

Hi Adashworth,

Answer choice (B) states that Freudianism had adherents who treated Freudianism as a scientific fact. The author does claim that Freudianism had adherents who trusted the theory to explain historical events. Whether they thought of Freudianism as "scientific fact" is less clear.

Even if this statement is supported by the passage, it would still be incorrect. We are not simply told to find one answer choice that is supported by the passage. Rather, we are asked to find the reason that the author thinks that Freudianism is a grand theory.

Remember that your job is not simply to find the statement that is supported. Your job is also not just to find the specidic or the general statement. Rather, you must read the question stem carefully and make sure that you know what it is asking you to look for.

Number 26 asks us to find the reason why the author categorizes Freudianism as a grand theory. Lines 4-7 give us the author's definition of a grand theory and that definition is paraphrased very closely in answer choice (D).

I hope that this helps, but let us know if you have other questions!

[lilmissunshine]

Hello,

Could you explain why (A) is incorrect? I found support in line 7-8. Thanks!

[James Finch]

Hi lilmisssunshine,

(A) is an attractive wrong answer choice, because that information is present on the lines you've mentioned. However, that only tells us about the specific traits of Freudianism, and not why those traits make it a "grand theory." Instead, we have to apply the information in the sentence before (lines 5-7), which tells us that the definition of a grand theory is that a "single, ambitious explanation" is given for a broad range of behaviors, outcomes, etc. So to get to the correct answer, I would prephrase a synthesis of the first and second sentences: "Freudianism is a grand theory because it explains most human interactions by positing that they are caused by universal psychological factors."

The correct answer choice, (D), doesn't use my more specific prephrase, but rather a more general definition very close to the one given in the first sentence. But this still gets us to the same general place, which is that explanation of disparate phenomena by a single cause is the definition of a grand theory.

Hope this clears things up!