Question

Beautiful beaches attract people, no doubt about that. Just look at the city's most beautiful beaches, which are amongst the most overcrowded places in the state.

Which of the following exhibits a pattern of reasoning similar to the one exhibited in the argument above?

• A. Moose and bear usually appear at the same drinking hole at the same time of the day. Therefore, moose and bear must be feeling thirsty at about the same time.
• B. Children who are scolded severely tend to misbehave more often than other children. Hence if a child is not scolded severely, that child is less likely to misbehave.
• C. During warm weather my dog suffers more fleas than during cool weather. Therefore, fleas must thrive in a warm environment.
• D. Tally accounting software helps increase the work efficiency of its users. As a result, these users have more time for other activities.

Hint:

Look for the option where an extreme case of the cause lines up with the peak of the effect, just like the most beautiful beaches being the most crowded.

Answer 1

The Correct Option is C

This is a parallel reasoning question. We are not asked whether the original argument about beaches is logically sound, we are only asked to find another argument built the exact same way. The trick is to describe the shape of the original argument in plain words first: a general claim about a cause producing an effect, supported by pointing out that the strongest example of the cause also shows the strongest example of the effect.

1. Moose and bear at the drinking hole: this argument infers a shared cause, thirst, from the animals showing up together. There is no comparison of a stronger cause producing a stronger effect at an extreme point, so the shape is different.
2. Severely scolded children: this argument takes a true observation, severe scolding goes with more misbehaviour, and then wrongly reverses it to say no severe scolding means less misbehaviour. That reversal error is not present in the beach argument at all.
3. Dog and fleas in warm weather: this argument notices that warmer weather, the stronger version of a condition, goes with more fleas, the stronger version of an effect, and uses this to support the general claim that fleas thrive in warmth. This is the same building block as beautiful beaches, the strongest version of a quality, going with the most crowding, the strongest version of an effect, to support the claim that beauty attracts people.
4. Accounting software and free time: this is a plain two step chain, one cause producing one effect, with no extreme case being used as evidence. It does not carry the comparison structure of the beach argument.

Only the flea argument copies the exact reasoning shape of the original passage, an extreme instance of the cause tied to the peak of the effect, used as proof of the underlying claim.

Let's summarize:

• The original argument proves its claim by showing the strongest cause with the strongest effect.
• The dog and fleas argument does the same thing with warm weather and flea counts.
• The other three options use different reasoning shapes entirely.

The correct answer is option (3).