subsauce wrote:
I found this to be an extremely challenging problem which I was still unsure of when I selected my answer (D). This question took me 3:24 to complete. Below I will outline my thought process.
Psychologists have noticed that the vast majority of diagnosed sociopaths were juvenile delinquents in their youth. They hypothesize that a juvenile delinquent is more likely than youth in the general population to become a diagnosed sociopath as an adult because punishment at a young age fosters antisocial behavior.
Which of the following, if true, most strongly supports the psychologists’ interpretation of the link between punishment and antisocial behavior?
Statement: Punishment at a young age makes anti-social behavior (Sociopathetic tendencies) more likely to occur. There is causation in this statement Punishment > Anti-social behavior.
Q: What strengthens the hypothesis that this causation is true?
A The rate of adults diagnosed as sociopaths who were not juvenile delinquents is four times lower than the rate of adults diagnosed as sociopaths who were juvenile delinquents.
This option says, that sociopaths are in fact more likely to have been juvenile delinquents. But it does not say that being juvenile delinquent caused the sociopathic behavior or vice versa. I kept this to review until the end, because it seems like a strong answer.
B The correlation found by the psychologists has been noted to be true for psychopaths and those with borderline personality disorder.
This option is completely out of scope. 1) Who cares about correlation between psychopaths and personality disorder. 2) Psychopaths are not sociopaths, 3) Personality disorder is not necessarily anti-social behavior.
C Almost everyone who spent time in juvenile hall as a youth exhibits abnormal behavior as an adult.
This is a tricky answer choice. The key words here is Abnormal behavior. Abnormal behavior might mean eating pizza with a spoon (which isn't necessarily anti-social). If they mean anti-social behavior the question would have said it. This does not relate to the above passage.
D The likelihood of a juvenile delinquent becoming a diagnosed sociopath later in life increases the longer he or she remains incarcerated.
This statement says, the longer the person in incarcerated, the more likely it is that the person will become a sociopath. This directly relates to the causation concept. Additionally, the word that tipped me off was "Likelihood" which is also mentioned in the passage (Likely). By reviewing the likely aspects of the passage it tipped me off that it was discussing the concept that one led to another, not that the relationship merely exists.
E Less than half of adults who are diagnosed sociopaths have reported they spent less than one year in juvenile delinquent facilities in their youth
This option is nearly identical to A. While it is a negative version, it says, 60% (or some number > 50%) of sociopaths, have spent more than 1 year as a juvenile delinquent. This again explains that Sociopaths are likely to be incarcerated at a young age, but does not show the link that incarceration leads to being a sociopath. If you were to choose A, you have to seriously consider E as well. This was the second thing that tipped me to D. I couldn't logically determine any true difference between A and E.
Nice analysis, apart from that options A and E are out because of:
As per the statement linkages shall be:
Diagonised Sociopaths <-(3) Juvennile Delinquents <-(2) Anti social behavior <-(1) Punishments
(1), (3) are clearly mentioned and (2) is needed as an assumption.
So if our answer strengthens any of the linkages that will be our answer.
But stem clearly asks for
most strongly supports the psychologists’ interpretation of the link between punishment and antisocial behavior? i.e number 1 in our case.
So option A and E might strengthen the (3) as they are aloof but option D strengthens linkage (1) & (2) and satisfies the question stem.
Per my understanding, it's not that option A and E attack the causation, they do support but they support the wrong linkage.
Please correct me if my understanding here is wrong. Just added my two cents to already beautiful analyis.
The linkages took me 1:42 mins to solve
Regards,
Rishav