Q24 - Appliance Dealer: Appliance manufacturers

[clarafok]

this is odd, i swear i've seen a thread on this question before!

i'm kind of confused as to why D is the correct answer...the conclusion is that consumers have little reason to object to this practice because the modifications on the appliances ultimately benefit them. but the answer says that the improved appliances are available before vendors stop selling the older versions. how does this weaken the argument?

thank you!

[bbirdwell]

There is a more subtle conclusion at play here, and looking at the structure of the argument helps us to recognize this.

The moment we see "Some people" or "Some experts" or "Some critics," we can anticipate the author saying, "BUT/HOWEVER those people are stupid and wrong."

This helps us understand the logic and the nuance of the conclusion.

Here we have:
1. manufacturers change products without changing their model names.
2. some folks complain b/c they cannot be certain that the product they are purchasing is the same as their neighbor's.

Conclusion: People have little reason to object (those people are wrong). Why? b/c modifications = improvements.

Before going to the choices, consider that argument. Did the author really address the people's concern? No! Their concern was based on the fact that they can't identify which product they're actually buying. The author's reasoning avoids this altogether and merely says that the modifications are improvements.

Therefore, (D) weakens the author's argument by STRENGTHENING the peoples' claim. (D) does this by telling us the new products are released before the old ones are sold out, meaning that the models are all mixed up, supporting the idea that they are impossible to distinguish.

See what I mean? It's kind of like weakening through the back door.

[clarafok]

i get it!

so for similar questions, i just have to focus on the complaint if the resolution doesn't resolve anything??

thanks!

[lhermary]

There is a more subtle conclusion at play here, and looking at the structure of the argument helps us to recognize this.

The moment we see "Some people" or "Some experts" or "Some critics," we can anticipate the author saying, "BUT/HOWEVER those people are stupid and wrong."

This helps us understand the logic and the nuance of the conclusion.

Here we have:
1. manufacturers change products without changing their model names.
2. some folks complain b/c they cannot be certain that the product they are purchasing is the same as their neighbor's.

Conclusion: People have little reason to object (those people are wrong). Why? b/c modifications = improvements.

Before going to the choices, consider that argument. Did the author really address the people's concern? No! Their concern was based on the fact that they can't identify which product they're actually buying. The author's reasoning avoids this altogether and merely says that the modifications are improvements.

Therefore, (D) weakens the author's argument by STRENGTHENING the peoples' claim. (D) does this by telling us the new products are released before the old ones are sold out, meaning that the models are all mixed up, supporting the idea that they are impossible to distinguish.

See what I mean? It's kind of like weakening through the back door.

I'm still don't like D. The dealer responds to the peoples' complains by saying it doesn't matter because the new models are improvements on the old models. IMO, D doesn't weaken the dealers argument because he has already addressed the complaint.

We are weakening the dealers conclusion on this question and D fails to do so.

[timmydoeslsat]

Let me show you how D weakens the dealer's argument substantially.

Choice D is bringing information into this argument that we did not have before.

The dealer is saying that it is not a big deal if the model names do not change after changes are made. Sure, you may not get the exact model that your neighbor has or the one you saw in the magazine, but there is little reason to object. Why is this?

Because the manufacturer, when they make changes to a model, always improve it. Sounds good right?

But what is the dealer failing to consider? Sure, it is what Brian said, that these people still want the exact models. But, perhaps even more so, the dealer is failing to consider that these new models may become available before the old ones sold out.

This means that you are at risk, as the consumer, to purchasing a model that is not as improved as the new ones, simply because the model name is the same!

Does that answer your question?

[bbirdwell]

I'm still don't like D. The dealer responds to the peoples' complains by saying it doesn't matter because the new models are improvements on the old models.

This is not true. Consider this:

bbirdwel: I complain that my toast is stale.

timmydoeslsat: That's not a problem, bbirdwell -- you can buy orange juice around the corner.

Just because he's talking to me, doesn't mean he's responded to my complaint. While this example is silly, the same thing is happening in the argument.

people: We can't tell if we're actually buying the product we want!

dealer: That's ok. All the new stuff we make is better than the old stuff.


The dealer has NOT responded to the complaint. The dealer has brought up something completely different.

And, besides the illogic of this, there are practical consequences, which timmydoeslsat brought up regarding (D).

My neighbor has model XYZ dishwasher, and it's awesome. I go to the store, I request model XYZ, and I get it. And it's not the same as my neighbor's! It's actually slightly older than my neighbor's and has a bad switch in it, which my neighbor's does not, since it was the improved version.

This is the problem the people are complaining about, and the dealer does not address it.

[sujin91]

Thank you for your explanation to why D is the correct answer. I chose C and I still do not see why C is wrong. If I look at the conclusion of this argument, the dealer is basically saying that consumers should not worry about appliance manufactures modifying existing models without giving the new model names, since the modifications will be the improvements that benefit the buyer.

That said, Answer choice C destroys the dealer's reasoning because if appliance manufactures sell identical products under several different model names, that would ruin the manufactures' logic that consumers do not need to worry as the modifications will be the improvements of the existing products.

Please let me know! thank you.

[sumukh09]

Thank you for your explanation to why D is the correct answer. I chose C and I still do not see why C is wrong. If I look at the conclusion of this argument, the dealer is basically saying that consumers should not worry about appliance manufactures modifying existing models without giving the new model names, since the modifications will be the improvements that benefit the buyer.

That said, Answer choice C destroys the dealer's reasoning because if appliance manufactures sell identical products under several different model names, that would ruin the manufactures' logic that consumers do not need to worry as the modifications will be the improvements of the existing products.

Please let me know! thank you.

C would have no impact on the conclusion. So what if manufacturers are selling identical products with different model names? How would this weaken the conclusion that consumer's don't need to worry about purchasing an appliance that doesn't have a distinct model name? If you have a 100 refrigerators that are the same features wise but have different model names, then this wouldn't affect the conclusion that consumers have little reason to object to the practice described in the stimulus. We want an answer choice that would weaken the claim that consumers don't need to worry about manufacturers not giving new appliances new model names; C talks about giving new model names to identical products which is irrelevant.

[rinagoldfield]

Thank you for your explanation to why D is the correct answer. I chose C and I still do not see why C is wrong. If I look at the conclusion of this argument, the dealer is basically saying that consumers should not worry about appliance manufactures modifying existing models without giving the new model names, since the modifications will be the improvements that benefit the buyer.

That said, Answer choice C destroys the dealer's reasoning because if appliance manufactures sell identical products under several different model names, that would ruin the manufactures' logic that consumers do not need to worry as the modifications will be the improvements of the existing products.

Please let me know! thank you.

C would have no impact on the conclusion. So what if manufacturers are selling identical products with different model names? How would this weaken the conclusion that consumer's don't need to worry about purchasing an appliance that doesn't have a distinct model name? If you have a 100 refrigerators that are the same features wise but have different model names, then this wouldn't affect the conclusion that consumers have little reason to object to the practice described in the stimulus. We want an answer choice that would weaken the claim that consumers don't need to worry about manufacturers not giving new appliances new model names; C talks about giving new model names to identical products which is irrelevant.

Great explanation of (C), Sumokh. Just to tack on to what you said:

This argument concerns modified products that HAVEN’T been given new names.

(C) concerns unmodified products that HAVE been given new names.

These are different sets of concerns.

Here’s an analogy for the original argument:

Rina: I want to know if the food I buy is genetically modified or not. Please label food as genetically modified!
Monsanto: Don’t worry about it, the genetic modifications are improvements.

In this analogous situation, (C) would say "Monsanto gives many identical corn products different names."

How does identical corn products having different names affect my concern about whether I’m buying genetically modified food? It doesn’t! (C) is out of scope.

Hope this helps!