PrepTest 122, Section 4, Question 23
Counselor: Constantly comparing oneself to those one sees(58 more words not shown)
The counselor's reasoning is most(5 more words not shown)
- Aoverlooks the possibility(33 more words not shown)
- Boverlooks the possibility(21 more words not shown)
- Ctakes for granted(19 more words not shown)
- Doverlooks the possibility(17 more words not shown)
- Etakes for granted(26 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
Could someone be hard on themselves for a reason other than comparing themselves with other people?
The counselor identifies two routes to trouble. Constantly looking at people who seem more successful can make you disparage yourself. It might also motivate improvement, but that's a separate possibility. Constantly looking at people who seem less successful can make you dismiss them. Let's accept those tendencies. It still doesn't follow that avoiding comparisons will leave you accepting of yourself and everyone else.
Someone might be unkind or dissatisfied for another reason. They could judge themselves against an unrealistic personal standard without comparing themselves to another person. Removing comparison wouldn't remove that source of self-criticism. The same basic question applies to being dismissive of others: have we shown that comparison is the only source?
What we’re looking for
The flaw question asks us to identify that jump. The counselor has given ways these attitudes arise, then treated mostly avoiding those ways as enough to avoid the attitudes themselves. We need to ask what else could produce them.
Working the answers
- A
Someone could compare themselves with people on both sides. But the conclusion concerns people who mostly refrain from making comparisons. Exploring what happens when someone makes both kinds doesn't explain why the counselor's prediction about people who largely avoid them is unsupported.
- B
Comparisons might have benefits, such as motivating improvement. That was a reasonable possibility to consider while reading, but the counselor's conclusion doesn't say comparisons are bad overall. It predicts acceptance among people who mostly avoid them. A separate benefit of comparing yourself wouldn't resolve the question of whether avoiding comparisons produces that acceptance.
- C
This is tempting because the passage moves from self-disparagement and dismissiveness to the language of acceptance. But those are opposing attitudes: putting yourself down and dismissing others are reasons to doubt that you're accepting of yourself and others. Allowing that contrast doesn't create the gap. The problem is the next step—assuming that without comparisons, the negative attitudes will mostly go away. They might arise for other reasons, exactly as D says.
- DCorrect
Comparison could be one source of these attitudes without being their only source. If other causes remain, a person could avoid comparisons and still be self-disparaging or dismissive. The counselor hasn't shown why mostly removing this particular source makes acceptance likely. D identifies the missing consideration directly.
- E
People might also compare themselves with others they see as equally able or successful. The argument doesn't require denying that possibility. Its conclusion is about largely avoiding comparisons, and its problem concerns other causes of negative attitudes. Adding another category of comparison doesn't address that gap.
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