OG_2017_CR_650

Correct answer is A but i think E is right.

 

In an experiment, each volunteer was allowed to choose between an easy task and a hard task and was told that another volunteer would do the other task. Each volunteer could also choose to have a computer assign the two tasks randomly. Most volunteers chose the easy task for themselves and under questioning later said they had acted fairly. But when the scenario was described to another group of volunteers, almost all said choosing the easy task would be unfair. This shows that most people apply weaker moral standards to themselves than to others.

Which of the following is an assumption required by this argument?

  1. At least some volunteers who said they had acted fairly in choosing the easy task would have said that it was unfair for someone else to do so.
  2. The most moral choice for the volunteers would have been to have the computer assign the two tasks randomly.
  3. There were at least some volunteers who were assigned to do the hard task and felt that the assignment was unfair.
  4. On average, the volunteers to whom the scenario was described were more accurate in their moral judgments than the other volunteers were.
  5. At least some volunteers given the choice between assigning the tasks themselves and having the computer assign them felt that they had made the only fair choice available to them.
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1 Answer(s)

Hi Abhinav,

The conclusion here is that “most people apply weaker moral standards to themselves than to others”

Premises:

  1. Most volunteers chose the easy task for themselves and under questioning later said they had acted fairly
  2. almost all said choosing the easy task would be unfair when the scenario was described to another group of volunteers

Negate option A. None of the volunteers who said they had acted fairly in choosing the easy task would have said that it was unfair for someone else to do so. This removes the link between the 2 premises given to you and also breaks the conclusion that people apply weaker moral standards to themselves than to others. Hence this is a must be true assumption for the conclusion to be valid.

Option E doesn’t need to be true for you conclusion to hold since there is nothing in your premises about a choice between assigning the tasks themselves and having the computer assign them.  Also, upon negation, E doesn’t break the conclusion.

Hope this helps!

Expert Answered on November 27, 2017.
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