Q24 - If one wants to succeed

[ohthatpatrick]

Question Type:
Strengthen

Stimulus Breakdown:
Conclusion: If you wanna succeed, you should act like you're confident, even if you're not.
Evidence: Success is easier to get if you genuinely believe you're capable than if you're filled with self-doubt.

Answer Anticipation:
There is a big disconnect between the conclusion and the evidence. The conclusion is saying "if you doubt yourself, then make OTHERS believe you're confident by acting that way". The evidence is saying "you need to be genuinely confident in yourself". In order for the evidence to be relevant to the conclusion, the author must be thinking that "if you ACT like you're confident in your abilites, you will start to GENUINELY believe your capable".

Correct Answer:
B

Answer Choice Analysis:
(A) Tempting. We were talking about convincing others that "we're confident in our abilities", while this answer talks about convincing others that "we're capable of succeeding". That's drifting. Also, this does nothing to address the central gap in this argument: "ACTING as though you're genuinely confident" and "BEING genuinely confident".

(B) Yes! This connects the premise to the conclusion. "Fake it 'til you make it"

(C) Out of scope: luck/determination vs. skill? This argument is about "making others believe" vs. "making yourself believe".

(D) Tempting. It's very similar to (B). Exasperatingly so. "Many" is a very weak quantity on the LSAT, so this doesn't have much punching power. But, ultimately, the idea of "PRETENDED self-confidence" in (B) is a better match for what the argument's advice was ("ACT like you're confident, even when you're not") than (D)'s "behaving in a self-confident manner". (D) could easily just be describing people whose self-confident behavior is a by-product of their genuine confidence.

(E) This just waters down the author's premise, taking it more in a Weaken direction.

Takeaway/Pattern: Since the conclusion was a conditional rule, we should closely compare the ideas in the trigger and the consequence to any ideas we get in the evidence. "Success" in the trigger has a perfect match in the evidence. Meanhwile, "acting as though one is genuinely confident" in the conclusion is intended to match up with "being genuinely confident" in the evidence. This gap is all this question is testing.

#officialexplanation

[cuadk42]

Can anyone explain why (D) is not correct? I can't figure out why it is not a better answer than (B).

Assumption/Gap:
If you act genuinely confident, then you have genuinely confident beliefs (thus more likely to succeed)

For Strengthen, we want to bridge the gap:

(D) Many people who behave in a self-confident manner are genuinely confident about their abilities- this exactly bridges the gap.

(B) Genuine confidence is often a product of pretended self confidence- this is fine in cases where the acting genuinely confident is actually pretending, but what about when the act is NOT pretend? The conclusion does not state that all acts are not genuine, but rather says "even if". So this answer choice seems to be limited in scope in its strengthening ability...

Does anyone have an explanation of why (B) rather than (D) is the credited response?

Thanks!

[americano1990]

Very tricky, only question i got wrong on LR this round. I also picked (D) and I cringed after realizing that (B) is the better answer.

I can point out to two elements of (D) that makes it not the best answer.

1. the word MANY. many is too weak, because it can potentially refer to only one or two people, out of, lets say, like 100 or even 1000 people. With this knowledge, reread the answer choice again. My reaction is: who cares about 1-2 people if 998 others dont display such correlation. This reinforces the lesson that in weaken and strengthen answers, WEAK languages like some and many are often not the right answer.

2. It doesnt make any distinction between pretended and genuine display of self confidence. The stimulus prescribes that we have to PRETEND to act AS IF we were self confident, but (D) merely says that those who act in self- confident manner are genuinely confident...HMM but that encompasses those who act in a self-confident manner because they really are and also those who pretend as if they are (the subgroup that we are concerned with)

So these are the two if not the only reasons that you can cross off (D).

Contrast that with (B), which really fits the bill. It contains all the elements that are helpful. the word PRETENDED and OFTEN are the key. So in other words if you oftentimes can become truly confident as a result of pretending to be so, then you get all the more reason to act in such manner. Thereby strengthening the argument

AITEE?

[cuadk42]

Thanks!

I agree with your first point.

In your second point, however, which touches upon my main concern with (B). You say that the stimulus says "PRETEND", and it says no such thing; read it closely, and you can see that it only says "one should act as if they were confident, EVEN IF they distrust their skills". Never does it give a clear indication of the "pretend". My problem is the EVEN IF- this implies that it could be the case that they distrust their skills (which would in turn imply that they are PRETENDING), but it can also mean that they don't necessarily distrust their skills (which means they are NOT PRETENDING).

Does that make sense? I feel like the answer choice is limited in its ability to strengthen the argument to only those who PRETEND to be self confident.

Any insight? If not, I guess I will just note the "many" point and pretend it was just a weird question....

[maryadkins]

Good discussion here.

We can think of the conclusion as limited to people who aren't confident. Its point is that even if you're not confident, you should pretend to be. Why? Because genuine confidence leads to success.

(D) is not about these people. (D) is about the other people who are acting self confident BECAUSE THEY ACTUALLY ARE.

(B) gives us more information about the people who are pretending: they may get genuine confidence as a result. It's a kind of "smile and you'll feel happier" thing.

The "many" versus "often" point is tricky, because technically neither of them means that much on the test. So you want to avoid hinging an answer on a comparison between these particular terms.

If it were "many" versus "more often than not" -- THOSE are different. One means some (many) and one means most of the time (more often than not). But "often" is as vague as many. This is a side point.

Hope this helps! Hard q.

[trulybird]

I'm confused why D is wrong too. Those who behave confident INCLUDE both pretended confidence and actual confidence. So, if you appear confident, whether you're really confident or not, you're genuinely confident... make sense?

[maryadkins]

Those who behave confident INCLUDE both pretended confidence and actual confidence.

(D) doesn't actually say this, right? It just says many of the ones who act confident are. That doesn't mean some of them are NOT (i.e. pretending). "Many" can include ALL (LSAT quantity definition). Even though in real life, it may imply that there are some who aren't, we can't read that into the literal meaning when it comes to this test. So in (D), we actually have no mention of people who might not be genuinely confident--which is an important part of our conclusion.

[amil91]

To add my thoughts, I don't think D address the gap in the stimulus. When reading through this, the first statement gives a necessary condition for success - acting with genuine confidence even if one does not truly feel that way. The second sentence then practically contradicts that statement by saying it is easier to be successful if you do have genuine confidence. That doesn't make much sense so I would expect an answer choice to address that gap and B does just that.

[griffin3575]

Is it possible that B and D both strengthen the argument, only B strengthens more?

Both relate the argument's assumption that those who ACT genuinely confident will be able to genuinely BELIEVE themselves capable of success.

D introduces a correlation between those who act(behave) GC and GB they are capable of success. B however, introduces a causal link between GC and GB they are capable of success through the use of "by-product". Thus, B would simply strengthen the argument more than D.

Is this one way to get to the correct answer?

[christine.defenbaugh]

Is it possible that B and D both strengthen the argument, only B strengthens more?

Both relate the argument's assumption that those who ACT genuinely confident will be able to genuinely BELIEVE themselves capable of success.

D introduces a correlation between those who act(behave) GC and GB they are capable of success. B however, introduces a causal link between GC and GB they are capable of success through the use of "by-product". Thus, B would simply strengthen the argument more than D.

Is this one way to get to the correct answer?

You're absolutely right to realize that the causation link that (B) presents is a much stronger Strengthener than is the thin correlation presented in (D). Since the question is asking which answer most strengthens the argument, having a sense of this will lead you to the correct answer.

It's important, however, to remember that the LSAT is not going to be engaged in testing a minute, hairsplitting difference between two juicy strengtheners whose only difference is that one strengthens a teeny bit more than the other.

Usually, when people feel that two answers strengthen, the reality is that one of them strengthens in a really concrete, strong and indisputable way, and the other only strengthens in the most tenuous way. In other words, there's a huge difference in the strengthening power of the two. The weaker one is so bad as to barely qualify as strengthening at all.

In this situation, the argument assumes that acting confidently will result in genuine confidence. It's not just a connection between the two ideas, it's a causal link leading from the behavior to the genuine feeling. The direction of the link is critical to the argument. So (B) jumps right up to the plate and hits a home run with the causal link.

The correlative link in (D) is so paltry as to be nearly worthless as a strengthener. Yes, I suppose some correlation is better than no correlation at all, but still, this misses the entire concept of causality, or the direction of the connection we need. It's entirely plausible, and perhaps likely in real life, that this correlation is explained by the fact that people that are genuinely confident tend to act self-confident. I.e., the causation is likely flipped, and therefore completely unhelpful to the argument! If this makes the argument's conclusion more likely, it barely does.

It's great that you noticed that these two answers made a causation and correlation split between them, and you then recognized the difference in power between the two. My only caution at all is to maintain that awareness that even if two answers seem to both strengthen, one will strengthen in a clear and unambiguous way, while the other will be such a tenuous connection as to be nearly worthless!

[mimimimi]

Did anybody find (C) tempting? I did because (C) sounds like a strengthener that eliminates an alternative cause. If success is not due to skills, then it is more likely that success is due to other things like pretending to be confident. Is (C) wrong because "luck and determination" are out of scope? I somehow mentally equate determination = act as though one is confident.

Thanks!

[Mab6q]

I just want to ask a question about B. I know this is a strengthener so we aren't looking for the perfect answer, but isn't B is very limited because while it does allow us to conclude "genuine confidence from pretending", it doesn't say that "they genuinely believe themselves capable of succeeding", which I thought was essential to the original core.

Genuinely believing that you are capable of succeeding --> success (not a precise conditional, but this is how the logic flows)

Thus if you wants success ..... <-- act as if your were genuinely confident in abilities even if you are faking

I thought we needed genuinely believing to establish success, which I don't think B does. Am I missing something in my core? I thought it was important to be diligent in our word usage here and to be skeptical of term shifts.

thanks!

[ohthatpatrick]

I think you're dwelling on a perceived gap where LSAT merely meant a synonym.

"genuinely confident about one's abilities" = "genuinely believe one is capable of succeeding"

able to / not able to = success / failure
(in this context)

If we heard a parent say, "If one wants to succeed, one must go to college."
Then of course, we'd be thinking, "Hey ... define 'SUCCESS'."

But in this argument, it's not a primary concern.

The egregious flaw with this reasoning is the idea that if you FAKE having genuine confidence, you'll somehow tap into the value of GENUINE confidence.

We care more about the HUGE gap between faked-confidence and genuine-confidence.
We care way less about the tiny gap between "genuinely confident of your abilities" and "genuinely believing you're capable of success".

[ellylb]

I, like most, picked D here too. But in retrospect (what do they say about hindsight?) the answer was pretty clear.

The first statement says if you want to succeed, you should act as though you're genuinely confident. The second states that those who are genuinely confident are more likely to succeed. So then why should I act genuinely confident if I'm not genuinely confident? Since only those who are genuinely confident incur the luxury of success? Well that's where answer B comes in and fills the gap nicely - If I pretend to be confident i'll eventually really become confident and thus succeed.

PS. If the stimulus is true then I should really start believing in my ability to ace the LSAT. Just NB .

[seychelles1718]

Question Type:
Strengthen


(A) Tempting. We were talking about convincing others that "we're confident in our abilities", while this answer talks about convincing others that "we're capable of succeeding". That's drifting.

I don't think A is wrong for such reason..."Convincing others" is different from acting as if one were genuinely confident or genuinely believing themselves capable of succeeding. In my opinion, A is wrong because it's out of scope.

[ohthatpatrick]

I agree that (A) is out of scope. My rationale was that

"convincing OTHERS you're capable of succeeding"
is out of scope, because we're actually supposed to be talking about
"being genuinely confident in your own abilities"

What part of (A) were you saying is out of scope?

The other half of (A), "self-doubts", seems to match up with "distrusting one's skills".