Q14 - Many popular psychological theories

[schwingrocker]

Why is C wrong?

[giladedelman]

Thanks for your question.

So this guy is basically saying, Look, a lot of these popular psych theories aren't that strong, but that doesn't matter. They get results: they make people feel better than other more scientifically accurate theories.

So he's using the therapeutic success rate to override, or take precedence over, the concern about scientific inelegance/inadequacy, which is why (B) is right.

(C) is wrong because he's not saying that the popular theories are better scientific explanations--rather, he's saying that even though they are less scientifically accurate, they produce better results.

(A) is incorrect because no evidence is being disproven.

(D) is incorrect because the critic doesn't say this is the most important aspect of scientific theories in general; he just seems to think this is important for popular psychological theories.

(E) is incorrect because the critic acknowledges that these theories don't do a great job of explaining stuff; his point is that they have other benefits.

Does that clear this up for you?

[contropositive]

hi,

I first picked C for this but then when I was reviewing the questions before I check the answer key sheet, I decided E would be a better second choice because the "better scientific explanations" was a red flag since he was talking more about pyschology and did not compare explanations...only success in terms of therapeutical aspects.

I picked E because well it was the only best option left at the time. However, now that I read this discussion forum and thought about it myself, it makes clear sense why E would be wrong.

I really wanted to pick B but I had such a hard time with this answer choice. The first sentence sounds like the author's concern only. I eliminated it because I thought, "how do we know that this is a general concern about people?" the answer choice says, "some considerations" as if its like a concern among people...

please clarify, thank you

[ohthatpatrick]

I see where you might have read into (B) that “these considerations” are being talked about by people. But nothing in (B) actually says or implies that, so we can’t use that as a reason not to pick it.

These could be considerations held by one person or by many people. Saying “some considerations” doesn’t imply “general concern among people”.

In this case, the author brings up some considerations against these theories, shoots them down as unimportant, and then explains why they're unimportant.

“Some considerations against” just means “there is at least one consideration against the theory”.

Is there?

Yup, there are two enumerated:
- these theories are inelegant
- these theories don’t help dispel the mystery of our psyche

The author, in the first sentence, mentions “some considerations against these theories”.

What is the author’s conclusion?

“It’s not really important that these theories are ‘poor’ theories”.
Why? (what’s the premise?)

“It’s more important that they get results; they have greater therapeutic success than other theories.”

So the last sentence is showing why the author thinks the ‘considerations against’ are not really important. Our author is suggesting that practical therapeutic success overrides the concerns about the theories being poor, scientifically.

Hope this helps.

[MensaNumber]

Hi, pls could you clarify the following doubt?

Can we consider 'they are inelegant' and 'don't help to dispel the mystery' as evidence? Or are they 'considerations' rather than evidence? Is there a difference between 'consideration' and 'evidence'?

I discarded 'A' as I thought that the above two were not evidences and mere claims. Hence if the evidence was not present in the first place how could it be disproven?

Thanks!