Policy analyst: Increasing the size of a police force is only a stopga

Question

Policy analyst: Increasing the size of a police force is only a stopgap method of crime prevention. It does not get at the root causes of crime. Therefore, city officials should not respond to rising crime rates by increasing the size of their city’s police force.

The flawed reasoning in which one of the following arguments most closely resembles the flawed reasoning in the policy analyst’s argument?

(A) Some people think that rules with higher standards than people can live up to, such as those enjoining total honesty, prevent some immoral behavior by giving people a guide to self-improvement. But such rules actually worsen behavior by make people cynical about rules. Thus, societies should not institute overly demanding rules.

(B) Swamps play an important role in allaying the harsh effects of floods because they absorb a great deal of water. Although dams prevent many floods, they worsen the effects of the greatest floods by drying up swamps. Thus dams should not be built.

(C) Although less effective in preventing theft than security guards, burglar alarm systems are more affordable to maintain. Because the greater loss from theft when alarms are used is outweighed by their lower cost, companies are advised always to use burglar alarm systems.

(D) Because taking this drug does not cure the disease for which it is prescribed, but only reduces the disease’s most harmful effects, doctors should not continue to prescribe this drug.

(E) We will never fully understand what causes people to engage in criminal activity. Therefore, we should investigate other ways to improve society’s ability to combat crime.

FauleKatze · Answer

Policy analyst: Increasing the size of a police force is only a stopgap method of crime prevention. It does not get at the root causes of crime. Therefore, city officials should not respond to rising crime rates by increasing the size of their city’s police force.

Flow of Logic: Increase of police force =/= Crime Prevention -> Because, Increase of police force doesn't get root cause -> Don't increase police force. (Conclusion)
OR simplifying it further:
X -> Why not X -> Don't do X (Conclusion)

(A) Some people think that rules with higher standards than people can live up to, such as those enjoining total honesty, prevent some immoral behavior by giving people a guide to self-improvement. But such rules actually worsen behavior by make people cynical about rules. Thus, societies should not institute overly demanding rules. -> Here X= rules with higher standards. Conclusion: Don't do X. However, the mid sentence is saying that X makes behavior worse. In the original sentence there is nothing about Police force making crime worse.

(B) Swamps play an important role in allaying the harsh effects of floods because they absorb a great deal of water. Although dams prevent many floods, they worsen the effects of the greatest floods by drying up swamps. Thus dams should not be built. -> Here X = Swamps, but the conclusion is not about Swamps, it is about Dams.

(C) Although less effective in preventing theft than security guards, burglar alarm systems are more affordable to maintain. Because the greater loss from theft when alarms are used is outweighed by their lower cost, companies are advised always to use burglar alarm systems. -> Wrong as conclusion is asking you to do something

(D) Because taking this drug does not cure the disease for which it is prescribed, but only reduces the disease’s most harmful effects, doctors should not continue to prescribe this drug. -> Correct

(E) We will never fully understand what causes people to engage in criminal activity. Therefore, we should investigate other ways to improve society’s ability to combat crime. -> Same as C

chaitralirr · Answer

Policy analyst: Increasing the size of a police force is only a stopgap method of crime prevention. It does not get at the root causes of crime. Therefore, city officials should not respond to rising crime rates by increasing the size of their city’s police force.

Stimulus: Policy Analyst states that by increasing the size of a police force we are only solving crime temporarily. it does not get to root cause therefore city officials should not respond to rising crime by increasing police force. IMO D

Same logic of reasoning is used as the stimulus in which author states that medicines only effect on the harmful symptoms and not on disease so medicines should not be taken.
 
The flawed reasoning in which one of the following arguments most closely resembles the flawed reasoning in the policy analyst’s argument?

(A) Some people think that rules with higher standards than people can live up to, such as those enjoining total honesty, prevent some immoral behavior by giving people a guide to self-improvement. But such rules actually worsen behavior by make people cynical about rules. Thus, societies should not institute overly demanding rules.

(B) Swamps play an important role in allaying the harsh effects of floods because they absorb a great deal of water. Although dams prevent many floods, they worsen the effects of the greatest floods by drying up swamps. Thus dams should not be built.

(C) Although less effective in preventing theft than security guards, burglar alarm systems are more affordable to maintain. Because the greater loss from theft when alarms are used is outweighed by their lower cost, companies are advised always to use burglar alarm systems.

(D) Because taking this drug does not cure the disease for which it is prescribed, but only reduces the disease’s most harmful effects, doctors should not continue to prescribe this drug.

(E) We will never fully understand what causes people to engage in criminal activity. Therefore, we should investigate other ways to improve society’s ability to combat crime.

Priya0701 · Answer

Please provide the official answer to this question

Posted from my mobile device

gmat2020trgt770 · Answer

Conclusion :  Since Increasing the  size of police force  (P) does not get to/adress to the  root cause (R) of the  crime  (C), hence rising C should not be responded by rising P. In terms of using the notations :  Since Increasing P does not address R of C, thus increasing C should not follow increasing P.

Ques :  The flawed reasoning in which one of the following arguments most closely resembles the flawed reasoning in the policy analyst’s argument?

Pre-thinking :   Since P does not address to root cause of C, this means that author is sugessting that increasing P will not be helpful when C increases.
But, what if P is not meant to address the root casue of C and is only a corrective measure to contain C.

Let's analyse the answer choices :
(A) Some people think that  rules (R) with higher standards than people can live up to, such as those enjoining total honesty, prevent some immoral  behavior (B) by giving people a guide to self-improvement. But such  rules (R) actually worsen  behavior (B) by make people cynical about rules. Thus, societies should not institute overly demanding rules. -   Incorrect    as the statement conclusion is : Since R with higher standards worsen B, hence society should not institute such R. This does not mention anything related to the argument about any factor X that controls Y but do not adress root cause of Y, hence increase in Y should not lead to increase in X.

(B) Swamps play an important role in allaying the harsh effects of floods because they absorb a great deal of water. Although dams prevent many floods, they worsen the effects of the greatest floods by drying up swamps. Thus dams should not be built. -   Incorrect    as this statement also does not mention anything related to the argument about any factor X that controls Y but do not adress root cause of Y, hence increase in Y should not lead to increase in X.

(C) Although less effective in preventing theft than security guards, burglar alarm systems are more affordable to maintain. Because the greater loss from theft when alarms are used is outweighed by their lower cost, companies are advised always to use burglar alarm systems.  Incorrect    as this statement also does not mention anything related to the argument about any factor X that controls Y but do not adress root cause of Y, hence increase in Y should not lead to increase in X.

(D) Because taking this drug(Du) does not cure the disease(Di) for which it is prescribed, but only reduces the disease’s most harmful effects, doctors should not continue to prescribe this drug(Di). -   Correct   :  Since Du does cure (or address the root cause) of Di, hence Du should not be prescribed / used.

(E) We will never fully understand what causes people to engage in criminal activity. Therefore, we should investigate other ways to improve society’s ability to combat crime.-   Incorrect    as this statement also does not mention anything related to the argument about any factor X that controls Y but do not adress root cause of Y, hence increase in Y should not lead to increase in X.

Bunuel · Answer

The OA will be automatically revealed on Monday 11th of May 2020 03:05:38 AM Pacific Time Zone

Adelajne · Answer

A,B,C  Do not make SENSE, because they all compare one solution to the other but do not express that the real cause of the problem cannot be understood.
 D , The drug doesn't cure the disease (so we don't know the real cause of the disease) even though, the drug does something good that reduces the disease's most harmful effects, so doctors should not prescribe. Same logic in the argument.

E , It mentions that we cannot understand the cause BUT, it doesn't mention that a solution/ an alternative method would help in this case, So, we should not do this, but it says we should investigate... not the same logic

unraveled · Answer

Policy analyst: Increasing the size of a police force is only a stopgap method of crime prevention. It does not get at the root causes of crime. Therefore, city officials should not respond to rising crime rates by increasing the size of their city’s police force.

The flawed reasoning in which one of the following arguments most closely resembles the flawed reasoning in the policy analyst’s argument?

(A) Some people think that rules with higher standards than people can live up to, such as those enjoining total honesty, prevent some immoral behavior by giving people a guide to self-improvement. But such rules actually worsen behavior by make people cynical about rules. Thus, societies should not institute overly demanding rules. - WRONG. Logically this is good in reality but it(honesty as a solution) leads to two things - immoral behaviour and self-improvement. In the passage only one solution is discussed and concluded about. Passage leads to conclusion that is against its solution. This one also does that but the middle of the choice is different.

(B) Swamps play an important role in allaying the harsh effects of floods because they absorb a great deal of water. Although dams prevent many floods, they worsen the effects of the greatest floods by drying up swamps. Thus dams should not be built. - WRONG. Logical. Two solutions for a common problem.

(C) Although less effective in preventing theft than security guards, burglar alarm systems are more affordable to maintain. Because the greater loss from theft when alarms are used is outweighed by their lower cost, companies are advised always to use burglar alarm systems. - WRONG. Two types of solutions are discussed and compared to each other. Thus, it does not at all work logic wise from passage's conclusion POV.

(D) Because taking this drug does not cure the disease for which it is prescribed, but only reduces the disease’s most harmful effects, doctors should not continue to prescribe this drug. - CORRECT.

(E) We will never fully understand what causes people to engage in criminal activity. Therefore, we should investigate other ways to improve society’s ability to combat crime. - WRONG. Something does not work so we need to identify other way/s that work. Logic works.

Answer D.

napolean92728 · Answer

The correct answer is (D).

The flawed reasoning in the policy analyst's argument is: Since increasing the police force doesn't address root causes (only symptoms), it shouldn't be done at all.

Similarly, answer choice (D) argues: Since this drug doesn't cure the disease (only reduces symptoms), it shouldn't be prescribed at all.
Both arguments make the same logical error of rejecting a partial solution because it doesn't solve the entire problem.

Let me explain why the other options are incorrect: 
(A) Argues that overly demanding rules are counterproductive because they make people cynical - different reasoning than the policy analyst who doesn't say police are counterproductive, just incomplete.

(B) Claims dams should not be built because they make the worst floods more severe - this is arguing against something that causes harm, not something that's merely insufficient.

(C) Makes a cost-benefit analysis between two options - a completely different reasoning structure from the policy analyst's argument.

(E) Argues for exploring alternatives because we can't fully understand causes - this is about the impossibility of understanding root causes, not about rejecting partial solutions.

Policy analyst: Increasing the size of a police force is only a stopga

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Policy analyst: Increasing the size of a police force is only a stopga

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