PrepTest 115, Section 2, Question 21
Cognitive psychologist: The majority of skilled artists are(36 more words not shown)
The cognitive psychologist's conclusion follows(9 more words not shown)
- AMost skilled artists(5 more words not shown)
- BMost people who(6 more words not shown)
- CSome skilled artists(3 more words not shown)
- DAll people who(8 more words not shown)
- EMost skilled artists(2 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
What if the famous artists are outside the group that's good at abstract reasoning? The facts never put anyone in both groups, but the conclusion says there must be some overlap.
First, connect what we can connect. More than half of skilled artists are very creative. Every very creative person is good at abstract reasoning. That means more than half of skilled artists are good at abstract reasoning. It does not tell us that every skilled artist is, or that only skilled artists have this ability.
Then fame enters the picture. Saying not all skilled artists are famous tells us that some aren't famous. It doesn't tell us who is famous. Imagine 100 skilled artists: 60 are creative, good at abstract reasoning, and unknown to the public. The other 40 are famous but not good at abstract reasoning. Those facts could fit everything we're given while nobody in the group combines fame and abstract reasoning. The passage doesn't rule that arrangement out.
What we’re looking for
We need an added assumption that makes the conclusion follow. So we have to force an overlap: at least one person must be both famous and good at abstract reasoning. Merely adding another fact about creativity won't do that unless it reaches the fame side of the argument.
Working the answers
- A
We already know this. The creative majority of skilled artists is good at abstract reasoning. Repeating that fact leaves the same unanswered question: are any of those people famous? The counterexample still works.
- B
This starts with creative people and tells us how many are skilled artists. It gives us another relationship between two groups we already discussed, but it tells us nothing about who is famous. We still cannot place a famous person among the good abstract reasoners.
- C
This restates the premise that not all skilled artists are famous. It isn't evidence that some are famous, much less that any famous people are good at abstract reasoning. Repeating the unfamous side doesn't establish the overlap we need.
- D
This adds that good abstract reasoners are very creative. Even if creativity and abstract reasoning always went together, the people with those qualities could all be unknown. D still leaves fame disconnected from the qualities under discussion.
- ECorrect
Now more than half of the same group of skilled artists are famous, and we already know more than half are good at abstract reasoning. Those two majorities cannot remain entirely separate.
Use 100 artists to see why. Suppose 51 are good at abstract reasoning. Only 49 spots remain outside that group. If 51 artists must also be famous, they cannot all fit into those 49 spots: at least two must be in the abstract-reasoning group. Larger majorities would also overlap. We therefore have some people who are both famous and good at abstract reasoning, exactly as the conclusion requires.
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