I was taking a practice LSAT today and I came across a LR question that made me LOL while taking the test.
"Polling data reveal that an overwhelming majority of nine-year-olds can correctly identify the logos of major cigarette brands. However, of those nine-year-olds who recognize such logos, less than 1 percent smoke. Therefore, there is little or no connection between recognition of cigarette brands and smoking."
If you are really bored, here is the prompt and answer choices.
Which one of the following uses flawed reasoning most similar to the flawed reasoning above?
(A) The concern about the long-term effects on dolphins of small quantities of mercury in the ocean is unfounded. During a three-month observation period, 1,000 dolphins were exposed to small quantities of mercury in seawater, with no effect on the animals.
(B) Many ten-year olds dream of becoming actors. Yet it is not likely they will seriously consider becoming actors, because most parents discourage their children from pursuing a highly competitive career.
(C) Most dentists recommend using fluoride to reduce the incidence of cavities, but few recommend giving up candy entirely; so, using fluoride is probably more effective in preventing cavities than is avoiding sweets.
(D) A large percentage of men exercise moderately throughout their lives, but the average life span of those do so is not significantly greater than of those who get little or no exercise. So there is little or no correlation between moderate exercise and good health.
(E) Most people cannot name their legislative representatives. Nonetheless, this is insignificant for when queried, most of them displayed an adequate command of current political issues.
edit (highlight for answer):
The correct answer is (A). The flaw in the original statement is that the experiment is set up in a way that will yield an incorrect conclusion. You can't determine the correlation between cigarette ad recognition and smoking if your sample group is a bunch of 9yr olds. The same goes for (A). You can't determine the long-term effects of mercury on dolphins if you only study them for 3 mos.
