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Be sure to select an answer first to save it in the Error Log before revealing the correct answer (OA)!
Difficulty:
55%
(hard)
Question Stats:
62% (01:34) correct
38%
(01:55)
wrong
based on 443
sessions
History
Date
Time
Result
Not Attempted Yet
Psychologist: The obligation to express gratitude cannot be fulfilled anonymously. However much society may have changed over the centuries, human psychology is still driven primarily by personal interaction. Thus, the important social function of positively reinforcing those behaviors that have beneficial consequences for others can be served only if the benefactor knows the source of the gratitude.
The boldface portion plays which one of the following roles in the argument?
A. It is an illustration of a premise that is used to support the argument’s conclusion.
B. It is used to counter a consideration that might be taken to undermine the argument’s conclusion.
C. It is used to support indirectly a claim that the argument in turn uses to support directly the conclusion.
D. It is used to identify the social benefit with which t he argument is concerned.
E. It is the conclusion that the argument is intended to support.
The boldface portion plays which one of the following roles in the argument?
A. It is an illustration of a premise that is used to support the argument’s conclusion.
B. It is used to counter a consideration that might be taken to undermine the argument’s conclusion.
C. It is used to support indirectly a claim that the argument in turn uses to support directly the conclusion.
D. It is used to identify the social benefit with which t he argument is concerned.
E. It is the conclusion that the argument is intended to support.
04 May 2025, 06:30
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OFFICIAL EXPLANATION
The psychologist’s argument is structured as follows: Premise: However much society may have changed over the centuries, human psychology is still driven primarily by personal interaction. Sub-conclusion / Premise: Thus, the important social function of positively reinforcing those behaviors [of expressing gratitude] that have beneficial consequences for others can be served only if the benefactor knows the source of the gratitude. Main conclusion: The obligation to express gratitude cannot be fulfilled anonymously. Often, the identifiers used before the subsidiary conclusions are dramatic and somewhat misleading, such as “clearly” and “obviously.” In these cases, the conclusion is neither clear nor obvious, and those words are used to lead the reader into thinking that the conclusion should simply be accepted without further analysis. The statement referenced in the question stem is the main conclusion of the argument, and as the answer choice correctly describes, the conclusion that the argument is designed to support. The argument, when considered in terms of order, is “out of order”: First sentence = main conclusion, Second sentence = basic premise, Third sentence = sub-conclusion. The last sentence is a sub-conclusion, and in a Method-AP answer choice the author can describe a sub-conclusion in a variety of ways: subsidiary conclusion / secondary conclusion / intermediate conclusion / supporting conclusion. Note that as predicted, the main conclusion is not modified by a conclusion indicator but the sub-conclusion is.
Answer choice (A): The statement in question is not an example of an idea raised in a premise.
Answer choice (B): The answer choice describes a premise that is used to defend the argument from attack. This would better describe the second sentence of the argument.
Answer choice (C): This answer choice describes a premise supporting a sub-conclusion. Again, this would better describe the second sentence of the argument.
Answer choice (D): This answer choice better describes the last sentence.
Answer choice (E): This is the correct answer. By consistently breaking down the structure of the argument before reading the answer choices, these problems become very easy to solve.
