Q16 - Some people see no harm in promoting

[mshinners]

Question Type:
Principle Support (Principle Strengthen/Sufficient)

Stimulus Breakdown:
"Situation: Using a folk remedy often results in people forgoing traditional/helpful treaments.
Judgment: There is harm in promoting folk remedies."

Answer Anticipation:
The answer to Principle Strengthen questions will connect the facts of the situation to the judgment. I expect the answer to be something like: If something would take the place of something useful, then it is harmful.

Correct Answer:
(B)

Answer Choice Analysis:
(A) The conclusion for this argument is about harm, but this answer treats it as if there is a premise about folk remedies causing harm. This answer would be correct in a question that concluding that someone shouldn't promote folk rememdies, not in one that talks about whether they're harmful.

(B) Whapow! (Yes, I'm getting a little crazy with these.) The stimulus says getting someone to use a folk remedy will sometimes result in them not using conventional treatments, which are stated to be helpful. Thus, promoting folk remedies interferes with people getting the useful treatment, which, according to this answer, is harmful. The situation as described is now connected to the conclusion.

(C) Out of scope. There is no discussion of evidence in the stimulus (just a mention that folk remedies sometimes have no effect). There is also no discussion of dishonesty.

(D) Out of scope. The conclusion talks about harm, not responsibility.

(E) Out of scope. The conclusion talks about harm, not responsibility.

Takeaway/Pattern:
Break these Principle Strengthen questions down into the situation and the judgment/conclusion. The correct answer will connect those two directly.

#officialexplanation

[mgw6g3]

Can somebody please explain this one for me? Thanks.

I picked E on test day and picked A on my blind review.

[hcxie87]

Probably one of the hardest questions in this section IMO. The key I think was to notice that the conclusion is saying "there is indeed harm," while everything else is meant to support why we should consider it harmful.

C) Dishonest is not the crux of the argument, or even mentioned at all.
D) Brings in responsibility and intent, neither of which is mentioned in the argument.
E) No mention of harm, and brings in responsibility which was never mentioned in the argument.

So immediately we are left with only two answer choices, A and D that seem most relevant.

A) Says that people should not promote remedies, so on first glance it might seem attractive. However, remember the whole argument is not about whether or not people should promote ineffective remedies, it's about whether or not promoting an ineffective remedy will cause harm, which this principle does not talk about.

B) Correct answer worded in a really weird way. That it addresses what is "harmful" is already a big clue to us that we should pay close attention to it. The "leap" in this answer is that you have to assume a person WOULD be using an effective, convention treatment had you NOT promoted the ineffective remedy. So by promoting the ineffective remedy, you are causing harm by interfering with what they would have done otherwise.

Hope this helps!