LSAT Logical Reasoning: Paradox and Explain Questions 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A city installed brighter streetlights in its highest-crime neighborhoods, yet crime rates in those areas increased over the following year. Which of the following, if true, most helps to explain this apparent paradox?
- Brighter lighting makes criminal activity more visible to witnesses, encouraging more crimes of opportunity.
- The city simultaneously reduced its police patrol budget, leaving fewer officers to respond to crimes. (Correct answer)
- Criminals in other neighborhoods migrated to the better-lit areas, displacing crime rather than reducing it.
- Residents felt safer and spent more time outdoors at night, increasing potential victim exposure.
Correct answer: The city simultaneously reduced its police patrol budget, leaving fewer officers to respond to crimes.
The simultaneous reduction in police patrols offsets the deterrent effect of better lighting, directly explaining why crime rose despite the improvement.
Question 2: Studies show that people who take vitamin C supplements daily get colds just as frequently as those who take no supplements. Yet researchers also find that vitamin C supplement takers recover from colds significantly faster. Which of the following best reconciles these findings?
- Vitamin C prevents colds by strengthening the immune system at the cellular level.
- Vitamin C does not prevent infection but does accelerate the body's immune response once infection begins. (Correct answer)
- Cold frequency is unrelated to immune function and depends entirely on exposure to infected individuals.
- People who take supplements are more health-conscious and therefore more likely to seek medical care.
Correct answer: Vitamin C does not prevent infection but does accelerate the body's immune response once infection begins.
Vitamin C's role in accelerating recovery rather than preventing infection explains why frequency stays constant while recovery time decreases.
Question 3: A furniture company switched from wood to composite materials to reduce costs, yet its total production costs increased in the first year. Which of the following most helps explain this paradox?
- Composite materials are inherently more expensive per pound than standard wood.
- Workers required extensive retraining on new manufacturing techniques, creating downtime and training costs. (Correct answer)
- Customer demand for composite furniture was lower than anticipated, reducing revenue.
- The composite material suppliers charged higher delivery fees than wood suppliers.
Correct answer: Workers required extensive retraining on new manufacturing techniques, creating downtime and training costs.
Retraining costs and production downtime in the transition year explain the short-term cost increase despite cheaper raw materials.
Question 4: Hospital data shows that patients treated in the newest, most technologically advanced ward have higher mortality rates than patients in older wards. Which of the following most helps explain this discrepancy?
- New medical equipment is less reliable because it has not been tested over time.
- The newest ward is reserved for the most critically ill patients who have the highest baseline mortality risk. (Correct answer)
- Staff in new wards are less experienced because they were hired most recently.
- Advanced technology creates a false sense of security that causes staff to monitor patients less closely.
Correct answer: The newest ward is reserved for the most critically ill patients who have the highest baseline mortality risk.
Selection bias explains the paradox: the advanced ward treats higher-risk patients, so its elevated mortality reflects patient severity, not inferior care.
Question 5: A software company allowed employees to work from home full-time, expecting productivity to rise due to fewer commutes and office distractions. Instead, individual productivity fell. Which of the following, if true, best explains this outcome?
- Home environments contain distractions such as family members and household chores that impair focus. (Correct answer)
- Most employees preferred working in the office and resented the mandatory remote policy.
- The company's performance metrics had not been updated to reflect remote work conditions.
- Internet speeds at employee homes were slower than the office network.
Correct answer: Home environments contain distractions such as family members and household chores that impair focus.
Home distractions directly counteract the expected benefits of eliminating commutes, explaining the productivity decline.
Question 6: A country enacted strict environmental laws to reduce air pollution, but average air quality measurements in the country worsened over the next decade. Which of the following most helps explain this paradox?
- Environmental laws are rarely enforced because regulatory agencies lack sufficient staff.
- The laws caused manufacturing to shift to neighboring countries with no environmental regulations, whose pollution drifted back.
- Air quality measurement technology became more sensitive during the decade, detecting previously undetected pollutants. (Correct answer)
- The population grew rapidly during the decade, generating more vehicle emissions despite cleaner industrial processes.
Correct answer: Air quality measurement technology became more sensitive during the decade, detecting previously undetected pollutants.
If measuring instruments became more sensitive, recorded pollution levels would increase even if actual pollution decreased, resolving the paradox without any real worsening.
Question 7: A diet program reports that members who attend weekly group meetings lose less weight on average than members who diet independently without meetings. Yet the program strongly promotes its group meeting component as effective. Which of the following, if true, best reconciles this apparent contradiction?
- Group meetings focus on emotional support rather than nutritional guidance.
- Members who attend group meetings tend to be those who have failed at independent dieting multiple times and face greater challenges. (Correct answer)
- The cost of attending group meetings discourages members from spending money on healthy food.
- Group facilitators are not certified nutritionists and provide inconsistent advice.
Correct answer: Members who attend group meetings tend to be those who have failed at independent dieting multiple times and face greater challenges.
If group meeting attendees are disproportionately repeat failures with harder-to-address challenges, their lower average loss reflects the difficulty of their situation, not the inefficacy of meetings.
LSAT Logical Reasoning: Paradox and Explain Questions 2
A city installed brighter streetlights in its highest-crime neighborhoods, yet crime rates in those areas increased over the following year.
Which of the following, if true, most helps to explain this apparent paradox?