LR Question 4 Explanation
QUESTION TEXT: The Magno-Blanket is probably able to relieve arthritic…
QUESTION TYPE: Strengthen
CONCLUSION: The Magno-Blanket can probably reduce pain in arthritic dogs.
REASONING: A study showed that patients reported reduced pain after being treated with Magno-Blankets. Dogs are similar to humans with respect to how close the blankets will be to their joints.
ANALYSIS: The LSAT expects you do know the basics of the scientific method. Every study should have a control group. Otherwise, your treatment method may be a placebo, or your results may be due to another factor.
For example, people might have felt reduced pain because they received human contact and attention from the doctors conducting the study. Or maybe the belief that they were being treated made the patients less stressed, and therefore better able to heal their pain.
Notice the study only says patients reported reduced pain. This level of detail is important. If the study showed that patients had a reduction in pain, then the argument would be stronger, as presumably a study has a control group if it shows a result.
___________
- Who cares about cats? We’re trying to strengthen the idea that the blanket will help dogs. It doesn’t matter what the blanket does to other animals.
- This sounds pretty good, but it doesn’t tell you that magnets reduce pain. In fact, pain is a signal transmitted from nerve cells to brains. So this answer could mean that magnets increase pain.
- This answer suggests that it is important that we find a solution for dog pain. But this answer doesn’t tell us that magno-blankets will work.
- This is just a fact about who experienced the biggest benefit. We don’t care who gets the most out of magnets. We only care if the magnets work, period.
- CORRECT. This shows that the study followed the scientific method. Studies need control groups to be valid.
Recap: The question begins with “The Magno-Blanket is probably able to relieve”. It is a Strengthen question. To practice more Strengthen questions, have a look at the LSAT Questions by Type page.
More Resources for Strengthen Questions
- Intro Course lesson: This intro course lesson covers Strengthen questions.
- Mastery Seminar lesson: This LR Mastery seminar lesson covers strengthen questions.
The way I considered AC (E) was the following:
I could potentially attack the argument by saying, yeah maybe this blanket works in humans because we are prone to, as you said, external factors which basically boil down to the placebo affect, but dogs absolutely are not prone to this. And then we see from this AC (E) that it was not the placebo affect that caused this, so therefore the blanket must have intrinsic pain-relief qualities.
When it comes to Strengthen questions, you’re right to consider potential holes in the argument before moving on to the answer choices.
One small note re: this specific question. There is some research to indicate that the placebo effect can occur in dogs as well, like in this article: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19912522. The most glaring holes in this argument are the one outlined in the explanation above, as well as the lack of full consideration of other factors that might contribute to a therapeutic method working for humans, but not for dogs.