Critical Reasoning

A group of children of various ages was read stories in which people caused harm, some of those people doing so intentionally, and some accidentally. When asked about appropriate punishments for those who had caused harm, the younger children, unlike the older ones, assigned punishments that did not vary according to whether the harm was done intentionally or accidentally. Younger children, then, do not regard people’s intentions as relevant to punishment.
Which of the following, if true, would most seriously weaken the conclusion above?
(A) In interpreting these stories, the listeners had to draw on a relatively mature sense of human psychology in order to tell whether harm was produced intentionally or accidentally.
(B) In these stories, the severity of the harm produced was clearly stated.
(C) Younger children are as likely to produce harm unintentionally as are older children.
(D) The older children assigned punishment in a way that closely resembled the way adults had assigned punishment in a similar experiment.
(E) The younger children assigned punishments that varied according to the severity of the harm done by the agents in the stories.

IMO E.

Conclusion: Younger children, do not regard people’s intentions as relevant to punishment.

Which statement can weaken this conclusion? E does a good job by saying that younger children assigned punishments based on the severity of the harm done by the agents in the stories.

IMO.....A

IMO A...What is the official answer?

We need to weaken the conclusion. The conslusion is that "Younger children, then, do not regard people’s intentions as relevant to punishment". We need to find a statement that dis-proves this

A - Here it says that a mature sense of human psychology is needed to figure out what the intention was. This cannot be expected from Younger children and that's why they also punish those who hurt others unintentionally. This weakens the conclusion

B- Even though its stated, this is irrelevant here.

C- Here Younger children are compared to older children...out of context

D- Imformation about older children is given. We are not concerned about it. We're looking for information on younger children

E- Punishment according to severity of the harm is irrelevant to conclusion drawn

IMO A...
well explained above

[spoiler]A IMO, Younger children can't be expected to have a mature sense of human psychology as compared to older children..[/spoiler]

ketkoag wrote:A group of children of various ages was read stories in which people caused harm, some of those people doing so intentionally, and some accidentally. When asked about appropriate punishments for those who had caused harm, the younger children, unlike the older ones, assigned punishments that did not vary according to whether the harm was done intentionally or accidentally. Younger children, then, do not regard people’s intentions as relevant to punishment.
Which of the following, if true, would most seriously weaken the conclusion above?
(A) In interpreting these stories, the listeners had to draw on a relatively mature sense of human psychology in order to tell whether harm was produced intentionally or accidentally.
(B) In these stories, the severity of the harm produced was clearly stated.
(C) Younger children are as likely to produce harm unintentionally as are older children.
(D) The older children assigned punishment in a way that closely resembled the way adults had assigned punishment in a similar experiment.
(E) The younger children assigned punishments that varied according to the severity of the harm done by the agents in the stories.

IMO E) by POE.

A) Out of scope.
B) Additional Information.
C) Doesn't matter.
D) Out of scope.

Tough one since there isn't one that clearly stands out as an obvious choice but I would go for A since none other seem strong enough to weaken the conclusion. It can't be E since E states what is already in the main statement and misses the conclusion which is that children do not regards intentions as relevant in determining the punishmnet. B does not say anything and C is out of scope while D is about older children not younger ones. Only A remains as a possible answer.

IMO - E

rahulg83 wrote:[spoiler]A IMO, Younger children can't be expected to have a mature sense of human psychology as compared to older children..[/spoiler]

agreed, but thats what the argument is saying that the young children do not regard people’s intentions as relevant to punishment. So how it is weakening the argument??
BTW guys, OA : A

ketkoag wrote:

rahulg83 wrote:[spoiler]A IMO, Younger children can't be expected to have a mature sense of human psychology as compared to older children..[/spoiler]

agreed, but thats what the argument is saying that the young children do not regard people’s intentions as relevant to punishment. So how it is weakening the argument??
BTW guys, OA : A

Is this a LSAT CR?

ketkoag wrote: agreed, but thats what the argument is saying that the young children do not regard people’s intentions as relevant to punishment. So how it is weakening the argument??
BTW guys, OA : A

Conclusion: Younger children do not regard people’s intentions as relevant to punishment.
Note ==> people’s intentions
here the argument is in regard to people's intention not severity of the crime and other things.
E) Out of scope

So we need to weaken the argument by saying children do not disregard the peoples' intention, but it is not necessary to prove that children do regard the people's intentions.
==> [A] prove that children don't have the understanding of the people's intentions hence they can neither regard nor disregard the peoples' intentions in the crime.

Hope this time it is more clear. please correct me if needed.

vinaynp wrote:

ketkoag wrote:

rahulg83 wrote:[spoiler]A IMO, Younger children can't be expected to have a mature sense of human psychology as compared to older children..[/spoiler]

agreed, but thats what the argument is saying that the young children do not regard people’s intentions as relevant to punishment. So how it is weakening the argument??
BTW guys, OA : A

Is this a LSAT CR?

No it's not..

I am pretty sure that the right Answer is A