Q24

[chlqusghtk]

Can anyone please explain why D is wrong?

Thanks!

[ManhattanPrepLSAT2]

Hi -- it's difficult to answer that question without a little more elaboration from you as to why you found (D) attractive.

This is an inference question, and what we know is that 1 answer will be something we can infer from the text, and 4 will not.

(D) is not inferable because it does not relate directly to the text. The text is about how group-thinking impacts the making of decisions, not about what happens to these decisions once the have been made. The "cannot" should have been a bit suspicious -- we certainly don't know enough to say something that absolute.

The correct answer (E), is directly related to many parts of the text, and can be confirmed based on the last few lines of the passage, which contrast groupthink with better forms of decision making.

Hope that is helpful. If you'd like more specific discussion, please let us know why (D) tempted you.

[chlqusghtk]

Thanks so much for your help.

It was tempting because I thought like this when I chose D:

Once gourpthinking occurs, group members become closed-minded and unwiling to think about other options/ideas which have not been deliberated by the memebers within the group. And this closed-mindedness and unwillingness would make their decisions invulnerable to outside information.

Would this be involving extra assumptions which haven't covered by the passage or simplifying the passage's arugment? Is it why this is incorrect?


Thanks agian!

[shirando21]

I was down to B and E, but cannot figure out why B is wrong and E is correct.

Can someone explain, please?

thank you.

[kpopstar123]

I definitely thought E was way too strong to be the answer...

But I guess it is the answer...

Because the last paragraph actually does say that one need to watch out whether the cohesiveness would fall into "group think," meaning that the author thinks people should avoid that.

Both researchers and authors point out that group think is bad so E is justified.

I think B is wrong because researchers would agree with B but not the author; the researchers indeed pointed out the factors that contributed to group think in the last graph but the passage never talked about how the author thinks about B. So... E is more supported than B.

[niohelang]

I think there are 2 reasons why D is not right :
1. It is the researchers who claim that close-mindedness exists in groupthink, the author might agree , we can't be sure.
2. Even if the author does agree, D says" influence" but doesn't say in what way. We only know from line 47 to 48 that the cohesive group that falls into groupthink are resistant to opposite ideas and alternative views, but what about those informations that strength their original position? It might be true that they will be influenced in the way that they are more confident in their decision. Again, we don't know.
Hope that helps a bit.

[wgutx08]

I don't get why C is wrong.

L52-55: cohesiveness not sufficient...important to identify additional factors that determine whether groupthink will happen...

Doesn't that sound like C is correct, that the continued study of cohesiveness will be fruitless (since it has already been identified) and that we should look for other factors instead?

And the way the research results are presented, I thought the author is pretty comfortable with the views too -- he even ended his passage with this statement. If there were a question regarding author's attitude to the research results, the answer would be something like a "tacit endorsement" no?

Many thanks in advance

p.s. I thought the reason that B is wrong is the word "unique"? That there are additional factors doesn't mean the factors are unique in each case. correct?

[tommywallach]

Hey Wgutx,

The line you cite actually contradicts your own point. The existence of other factors means we should continue studying the issue to find those other factors. Perhaps you're mistranslating "fruitless," which means "pointless."

The sentence you cite says "...it is important to work towards identifying the additional factors that determine whether group cohesiveness will deteriorate into groupthink..." So we need to continue studying cohesiveness.

Hope that helps!

-t

[wgutx08]

Hey Wgutx,

The line you cite actually contradicts your own point. The existence of other factors means we should continue studying the issue to find those other factors.

The sentence you cite says "...it is important to work towards identifying the additional factors that determine whether group cohesiveness will deteriorate into groupthink..." So we need to continue studying cohesiveness.

-t

Thanks so much Tommywallach! Something must be blocked in my brain but I am still confused....

The way I see L52-55 is that cohesiveness is a known factor for groupthink, and it's necessary but not sufficient. So we should identify other factors involved in the transition to groupthink. So, since we already know that cohesiveness is a factor, there is no point (fruitless) to keep working on this specific aspect. Rather, we should spend our energy identifying the yet unknown factors , because these factors determine whether group cohesiveness will deteriorate into groupthink..."

To me, this is exactly the reason why I think C is right. cohesiveness is already there, it's the other factors that determine if groupthink will happen or not. We should study these other factors, not cohesiveness per se.

[tommywallach]

Hey Wgut,

Well, the passage literally says: "It is important to work toward identifying the additional factors that will determine whether group cohesiveness will deteriorate..." It literally says we need to keep studying what makes cohesiveness detiorate (i.e. study cohesiveness!).

Answer choice C says "studying cohesiveness will not help us figure out what causes groupthink". But we will still be studying cohesiveness, just other aspects of what CAUSES cohesiveness (See above sentence).

Better?

-t

[rpak]

Hi everyone,

I can see why E is best supported by the text, but I'm having trouble understanding exactly why B is incorrect.

Is it because lines 55-57 (i.e. we need more research) contradict B ("The causal factors that transform group cohesion into groupthink are unique to each case")? At first I thought that lines 55-57 could suggest that different factors could affect why a certain cohesive group turns into groupthink, but on a second reading, it seems more like they're not sure what additional factors would be at play at all.

I might be overthinking this, but can someone tell me if my thought process is on the right track?

[zen]

Hi everyone,

I can see why E is best supported by the text, but I'm having trouble understanding exactly why B is incorrect.

Is it because lines 55-57 (i.e. we need more research) contradict B ("The causal factors that transform group cohesion into groupthink are unique to each case")? At first I thought that lines 55-57 could suggest that different factors could affect why a certain cohesive group turns into groupthink, but on a second reading, it seems more like they're not sure what additional factors would be at play at all.

I might be overthinking this, but can someone tell me if my thought process is on the right track?

I chose (B) and am having the same problem eliminating it. I see why (E) is right but it just seemed so strong during my timed section( I chose it in BR). Can I just say $%^& this RC section too? Jeezus.



Edit- After looking back at it once again, I think it can be safely eliminated for this reason: it says the factors that transform mere group cohesion into group think are unique in each( and every) case. But we know this is not true, as the first paragraph talks about how the more cohesive a group becomes( and the factors that this includes, which he lists in the early parts of paragraph 2), the greater the danger into moving into groupthink territory. So, actually, we know some common causal factors and can thus say that the factors are not unique to each case!

[AbhistD667]

Hi -- it's difficult to answer that question without a little more elaboration from you as to why you found (D) attractive.

This is an inference question, and what we know is that 1 answer will be something we can infer from the text, and 4 will not.

(D) is not inferable because it does not relate directly to the text. The text is about how group-thinking impacts the making of decisions, not about what happens to these decisions once the have been made. The "cannot" should have been a bit suspicious -- we certainly don't know enough to say something that absolute.

The correct answer (E), is directly related to many parts of the text, and can be confirmed based on the last few lines of the passage, which contrast groupthink with better forms of decision making.

Hope that is helpful. If you'd like more specific discussion, please let us know why (D) tempted you.

One of the reasons I crossed of E and went for D was because of the word "on balance". I thought it says if it's happening at a medium level then it is bad but the author says it's simply bad. I see why D is wrong but can someone clear my doubts with E

[Misti Duvall]

Hi -- it's difficult to answer that question without a little more elaboration from you as to why you found (D) attractive.

This is an inference question, and what we know is that 1 answer will be something we can infer from the text, and 4 will not.

(D) is not inferable because it does not relate directly to the text. The text is about how group-thinking impacts the making of decisions, not about what happens to these decisions once the have been made. The "cannot" should have been a bit suspicious -- we certainly don't know enough to say something that absolute.

The correct answer (E), is directly related to many parts of the text, and can be confirmed based on the last few lines of the passage, which contrast groupthink with better forms of decision making.

Hope that is helpful. If you'd like more specific discussion, please let us know why (D) tempted you.

One of the reasons I crossed of E and went for D was because of the word "on balance". I thought it says if it's happening at a medium level then it is bad but the author says it's simply bad. I see why D is wrong but can someone clear my doubts with E

Sure! On balance just means something like in general, which fits with the explanation of answer choice (E) quoted above. I'd be careful about eliminating based on something like "on balance," which doesn't much change the meaning.

Hope this helps.