Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal Watson Glaser MCQ 5 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Fact: The number of electric vehicles sold in the US doubled last year. Inference: Gasoline-powered cars will be obsolete within five years. This inference is:
- True
- Probably true
- Insufficient data
- Probably false (Correct answer)
Correct answer: Probably false
A single year of doubled EV sales does not justify predicting obsolescence of gas cars within five years; the inference goes far beyond the evidence.
Question 2: In the Watson-Glaser Evaluation of Arguments section, an argument is considered 'weak' when it:
- Disagrees with widely held opinion
- Is irrelevant to the question or trivial in importance (Correct answer)
- Uses emotional language
- Contains a statistic that could be disputed
Correct answer: Is irrelevant to the question or trivial in importance
Weak arguments fail because they do not directly address the issue at hand or because the reason they offer is trivial rather than substantial.
Question 3: Premises: No birds in this cage can fly. All penguins are birds that cannot fly. Conclusion: All penguins are in this cage. This conclusion:
- Follows necessarily from the premises
- Does not follow from the premises (Correct answer)
- Is probably false
- Is an unstated assumption
Correct answer: Does not follow from the premises
The premise says birds in the cage cannot fly, but that doesn't mean all non-flying birds are in the cage — the conclusion reverses the logic incorrectly.
Question 4: Statement: 'We hired more diverse candidates this year, so our company is now free of bias.' The assumption being made is:
- Diversity of hires is the only measure of organizational bias (Correct answer)
- Diverse candidates are always better qualified
- Bias is only exhibited in hiring decisions, not other processes
- The hiring team acted in good faith
Correct answer: Diversity of hires is the only measure of organizational bias
The statement assumes that hiring diversity is a complete and sufficient indicator of the absence of bias across the organization.
Question 5: Passage: Cities with more green spaces report lower average stress levels among residents. Which interpretation is best?
- Building parks will eliminate urban stress
- Green spaces are the leading cause of lower urban stress
- There is a correlation between green space availability and lower reported stress (Correct answer)
- Residents of cities without parks are universally highly stressed
Correct answer: There is a correlation between green space availability and lower reported stress
The passage reports an association between green spaces and stress levels; claiming causation or universal effects goes beyond the stated evidence.
Question 6: Which of the five Watson-Glaser sub-tests requires you to judge whether a conclusion necessarily follows from two given statements, assuming both are true?
- Inference
- Recognition of Assumptions
- Deduction (Correct answer)
- Interpretation
Correct answer: Deduction
The Deduction sub-test presents two premises and asks whether a stated conclusion must logically follow if the premises are accepted as true.
Question 7: Argument: 'Capital punishment should be abolished because innocent people have been executed.' In Watson-Glaser terms, this argument is:
- Weak, because no punishment system is perfect
- Weak, because capital punishment deters crime
- Strong, because the irreversible execution of innocents is a directly relevant and serious concern (Correct answer)
- Strong, because most people oppose capital punishment
Correct answer: Strong, because the irreversible execution of innocents is a directly relevant and serious concern
The irreversible harm of executing innocent people is a substantial, directly relevant reason bearing directly on the question of capital punishment policy.
Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal Watson Glaser MCQ 5
Fact: The number of electric vehicles sold in the US doubled last year.
Inference: Gasoline-powered cars will be obsolete within five years.
This inference is: