Flawed Parallel ReasoningDiff: Hard
Logic Breakdown
Passage Summary: Most sociology students are in a specific class, but most psychology students aren't, so the author thinks there must be more sociology students in the room.
Conclusion: There are more sociology majors than psychology majors currently enrolled in the Social Psychology course.
Reasoning: A majority of the sociology major population is in the class, while a majority of the psychology major population is not.
Analysis: This is a classic 'numbers vs. percentages' flaw. Just because a high percentage of one group is present doesn't mean their total number is higher than another group. If there are 1,000 psychology majors and only 10 sociology majors, even if 90% of sociology majors take the class and only 10% of psychology majors take it, the psych majors still outnumber the soc majors. Look for an answer choice that confuses a majority of a small group with a larger total than a minority of a large group.
Conclusion: There are more sociology majors than psychology majors currently enrolled in the Social Psychology course.
Reasoning: A majority of the sociology major population is in the class, while a majority of the psychology major population is not.
Analysis: This is a classic 'numbers vs. percentages' flaw. Just because a high percentage of one group is present doesn't mean their total number is higher than another group. If there are 1,000 psychology majors and only 10 sociology majors, even if 90% of sociology majors take the class and only 10% of psychology majors take it, the psych majors still outnumber the soc majors. Look for an answer choice that confuses a majority of a small group with a larger total than a minority of a large group.
Passage Stimulus
Passage Redacted
Unlock Full Passage25.The flawed pattern of reasoning in the argument above is most similar to that in which one of the following?
Correct Answer
D
D matches the flawed pattern. It says most vegetables at Valley are organic, but most at Jumbo are not. It concludes that more organic vegetables are available at Valley than at Jumbo. Like the stimulus, it infers an absolute comparison (more organic at Valley) from proportion statements, ignoring the total number of vegetables at each store.
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