LSAT-0110-1-13

lilyzy

13.   Journal: In several psychological studies, subjects were given statements to read that caused them to form new beliefs. Later, the subjects were told that the original statements were false. The studies report, however, that most subjects persevered in their newly acquired beliefs, even after being told that the original statements were false. This strongly suggests that humans continue to hold onto acquired beliefs even in the absence of any credible evidence to support them.

Which one of the following, if true, most undermines the journal’s argument?

(A) Regardless of the truth of what the subjects were later told, the beliefs based on the original statements were, for the most part, correct.

(B) It is unrealistic to expect people to keep track of the original basis of their beliefs, and to revise a belief when its original basis is undercut.

(C) The statements originally given to the subjects would be highly misleading even if true.

(D) Most of the subjects had acquired confirmation of their newly acquired beliefs by the time they were told that the original statements were false.

(E) Most of the subjects were initially skeptical of the statements originally given to them.

我选了A, 可是答案是D, 请问是为什么.

chelseayang

the conlusion is: people hold on to the beliefs even though there is no evidence to support the beliefs

Why  is A wrong? ----"the beliefs based on the original statements were, for the most part, correct." the stimulus is about beliefs and evidence (supporting beliefs). The truthfulness of the beliefs themselves is not the issue.

D undermines the reasoning by pointing out that those people did get confirmation, i.e. evidence for the beliefs, some time later though.

lilyzy

谢谢jj, 解释的真好, 我明白了.

Bensontuo

lilyzy 发表于 2004-12-30 23:51
13.   Journal: In several psychological studies, subjects were given statements to read th ...

Spot the question type: Weaken

Conclusion:

Humans continue to hold onto acquired beliefs even in the absence of any credible evidence to support them

Human continue to hold onto acquired beliefs => the final momentum of the actions, and it truly happened.

In that sense, what we have known from the argument is that the subject only be told that the beliefs learned are wrong.

So, apparently they do have the evidence to " know " it was wrong; however, why they still do believe that it isn't wrong ?


This argument says that people will hold onto acquired beliefs even in the absence of any credible evidence to support them. The problem with this argument is that just because the subjects were told that their new beliefs were false doesn't mean that the subjects hadn't already acquired evidence to support their new beliefs. The conclusion assumes that the subjects do not have any evidence to support their beliefs, when in fact the subjects may have evidence that outweighs being told that the belief is false.

Simple Analogy: Sarah is told that most people prefer green to any other color. She asks around and everyone she talks to says they prefer green. Then she is told that it is not true that most people prefer green. Now she doesn't know what to believe, but she does remember that when she asked around people told her that they liked green. To continue to believe that green is the most popular color is very reasonable, because the evidence she has gathered points her in that direction.

What if they were told the both the beliefs and also the objections in the same time ?