Q10 - Psychologists have claimed that many

[b91302310]

I was wondering why answer (c) is incorret. As the argument says "it is not clear that people are abot to report accurately on their past psychological states", does that refute the evidence cited by the psychologists?

Could anyone explain it?

Thanks

[ManhattanPrepLSAT2]

(C) is a very tempting answer, but what it is specifically addressing is the issue of whether the people who were surveyed are, or are not, representative of the population as a whole.

The validity of the recollections is what is in question, and this answer doesn't account for that. Again, the phrase, "representativeness of the population sample," relates to how the people selected to be surveyed represented the total population, not how individuals represented their experiences.

Hope that helps! Please follow up if you need further clarification.

[goriano]

I was wondering why answer (c) is incorret. As the argument says "it is not clear that people are abot to report accurately on their past psychological states", does that refute the evidence cited by the psychologists?

Could anyone explain it?

Thanks

I have another perspective to add and wanted to get the geeks' opinion.

I think (C) would have been a MUCH better answer if the stimulus had said "it is not clear that THE people were able to report accurately on their past psychological states."

Because then one could question the representativeness of the sample, that is, is being able to accurately report on past psychological states representative of people in GENERAL? But the original stimulus already let us know that people in GENERAL can't. So (C) doesn't really do much.

[tara_amber1]

I'm hoping someone will be able to reply rather promptly because I am very weak when it comes to describe questions. Sometimes it's the answer choices that confuse me more than the stimulus and the conclusion stated.

So the psychologists' study indicates that based on the results of surveys people were able to remember how they felt in the past. Implying that more people had problems in the winter than in the summer. The author says that this isn't justified because people can't recall something that happened in the past very accurately. So the author rejects the survey and the psychologists' claim that there is no such disorder.

The answer choices:

(A) this is out because the author doesn't offer an alternative explanation for the psychologists' study and results, the author just says it's not justified.

(C) if there were numbers and percentages involved, or any mention of an amount of people that were surveyed, then this would be true. But the flaw is different than a mere sampling fallacy here, so this is out.

(E) the author doesn't demonstrate anything or offer any new evidence on the study. so this is out.

Now between (B) and (D) I chose (B) because I'm not quite sure I understand what (D) is saying. Is (B) wrong because it says that changes in season and psychological problems can't be connected therefore it's not a disorder? Can someone clarify what (D) is trying to say as well?

[Mab6q]

I'm hoping someone will be able to reply rather promptly because I am very weak when it comes to describe questions. Sometimes it's the answer choices that confuse me more than the stimulus and the conclusion stated.

So the psychologists' study indicates that based on the results of surveys people were able to remember how they felt in the past. Implying that more people had problems in the winter than in the summer. The author says that this isn't justified because people can't recall something that happened in the past very accurately. So the author rejects the survey and the psychologists' claim that there is no such disorder.

The answer choices:

(A) this is out because the author doesn't offer an alternative explanation for the psychologists' study and results, the author just says it's not justified.

(C) if there were numbers and percentages involved, or any mention of an amount of people that were surveyed, then this would be true. But the flaw is different than a mere sampling fallacy here, so this is out.

(E) the author doesn't demonstrate anything or offer any new evidence on the study. so this is out.

Now between (B) and (D) I chose (B) because I'm not quite sure I understand what (D) is saying. Is (B) wrong because it says that changes in season and psychological problems can't be connected therefore it's not a disorder? Can someone clarify what (D) is trying to say as well?

D is tricky, but the assumption that the author is challenging is whether the people surveyed are accurately reporting what happened to them: the psychologists are assuming that they are, but the author rejects that explicitly in the stimulus.

For B, the author does not go so far to challenge the psychologists' conclusion. Moreover, even if he did, B broadly states disorder without limiting it to seasonal affective disorder.

Hope that helps.