Question

Beautiful beaches attract people, no doubt about it. Just look at this city’s beautiful beaches, which are among the most over crowded beaches in the state. Which of the following exhibits a pattern of reasoning most similar to the one exhibited in the argument above?

• A. Moose and bear usually appear at the same drinking hole at the same time of day. Therefore, moose and bear must grow thirsty at about the same time.
• B. Children who are scolded severely tend to misbehave more often than other children. Hence if a child is not scolded severely that child is less likely to misbehave.
• C. This software programme helps increase the work efficiency of its users. As a result, these users have more free time for other activities.
• D. During weather my dog suffers from fleas more than during cooler weather. Therefore, fleas must thrive in a warm environment.

Answer 1

The Correct Option is D

The argument in the problem uses the logic of observing a correlation and concluding a causation. It starts with an observation that beautiful beaches are overcrowded and concludes that people are attracted to these beaches because they are beautiful. Similarly, the argument we need to compare should also identify a correlation and make a causal inference based on it.

• The option stating "Moose and bear usually appear at the same drinking hole at the same time of day. Therefore, moose and bear must grow thirsty at about the same time." observes a correlation but mistakenly infers a simultaneous causation, assuming synchronization of thirst.
• The option "Children who are scolded severely tend to misbehave more often than other children. Hence if a child is not scolded severely, that child is less likely to misbehave." fails since it does not fit the same reasoning pattern as it involves conditional logic, not simple correlation leading to causation.
• In "This software programme helps increase the work efficiency of its users. As a result, these users have more free time for other activities.", the causal link is clearly established, hence not fitting the logical pattern of mistaken correlation.
• The correct reasoning pattern match is found in "During weather my dog suffers from fleas more than during cooler weather. Therefore, fleas must thrive in a warm environment." It observes that the dog suffers from fleas more during warm weather and concludes that warm weather is conducive to flea activity, illustrating the classic correlation-to-causation leap.

Thus, the pattern of reasoning most similar to the original argument is expressed by the option which discusses flea prevalence during warm weather.