Critic:  Many popular psychological theories are poor theories in that they are inelegant and do not help to dispel t...

Ravi February 10, 2019

@muhammad-sharief,

Great question. Although the phrase "relative therapeutic success"
does not occur in the stimulus, we can infer that this is talking
about the last sentence of the stimulus because that's the only
sentence that deals with a relative comparison (comparing many popular
psychological theories vs. more scientific ones).

Let's take a look at the argument. The critic opens by saying that a
lot of popular psychological theories are bad because they're
inelegant and don't dispel the mystery around the human psyche.
However, the critic says that this doesn't matter because when
compared to their scientific rivals, these theories have more
therapeutic success.

The question says, "The statement about the relative therapeutic
success of many popular psychological theories plays which one of the
following roles in the critic's argument?"

As mentioned above, the relative therapeutic success refers to the
last portion of the last sentence. The first part of the last
sentence, "The theories produce the right results," is a subsidiary
conclusion used to support the overall conclusion that "this is not
really important." The second part of the last sentence (which is what
relative therapeutic success is referring to and says,
"therapeutically, they tend to have greater success than their more
scientific rivals"), is a premise that is used to support the
subsidiary conclusion.

Now that we know that the phrase in question is referring to a premise
of the stimulus, let's look at the answer choices.

(A) says, "It is used to disprove evidence against these theories."

However, the author doesn't attempt to disprove what some people are
saying about popular psychology; he just states that these claims are
irrelevant. Therefore, (A) can be eliminated since it's descriptively
inaccurate.

(B) says, "It is used to override some considerations against these theories."

This answer choice sounds great. The qualms against the popular
psychological theories deal with these theories being inelegant and
unable to dispel mysteries around the human psyche. The part of the
stimulus in question is used as evidence (a premise) that overrides
these concerns because we're told that those concerns do not matter
when you look at the relative therapeutic success of popular
psychological theories and the fact that they're better relative to
their more scientific rivals. (B) does a great job capturing the role
of the portion of the stimulus we're looking at, so we can choose it;
this is our correct answer choice.

(C) says, "It is used to suggest that popular psychological theories
are actually better scientific explanations than are their rivals."

The problem with (C) is that the suggestion it's saying is happening
doesn't actually happen in the stimulus. The only thing that we know
about popular psychological theories and their scientific rivals is
that popular psychological theories have better therapeutic results.
Thus, we can get rid of (C).

(D) says, "It is used to illustrate what the critic takes to be the
most important aspect of scientific theories."

We have no idea whether or not the critic believes that the
therapeutic qualities are the most important. The only thing we know
is that the therapeutic qualities are more important than the other
factors that are discussed in the stimulus, but it's possible that
there are other aspects of scientific theories that the critic
considers to be more important that are not discussed, so we can get
rid of this answer.

(E) says, "It is used to suggest that the popular theories may not be
as devoid of explanatory power as one may be led to believe."

The critic does not suggest what (E) is saying. The critic just wants
us to know that popular psychological theories are more effectively
therapeutically than their more scientific rivals, regardless of
whether or not they can explain the mysteries of the human psyche. (E)
is descriptively inaccurate, so we can get rid of this answer choice.

Does this make sense? Let us know if you have any more questions!

Audrey-Swope August 22, 2019

How do you determine the premise, sub conclusion and conclusion? I am still having difficulties still trying to figure out which is which. Is there any other additional videos that can go in detail premise and conclusion?

Ravi August 22, 2019

@Audrey-Swope,

Great question. I recommend reviewing our Argument Structure video and
lesson, as that will help you to better familiarize yourself with
determining the premise, subsidiary conclusion, and main conclusion.
I'm also happy to walk you through a strategy here.

To find the conclusion, always think to yourself of what sentence or
phrase is being supported by the rest of the stimulus. Additionally,
if you're stuck and can't figure out the conclusion between two
sentences, a good trick is to put the word "because" in between the
sentences and then see which way makes more sense.

The premises will always be providing support to another sentence or
phrase in the stimulus. Sometimes, you'll encounter intermediate
conclusions/major premises/subsidiary conclusions. These are all terms
for premises that function as both a conclusion as well as a premise
for another larger conclusion in the stimulus. Ultimately, the main
conclusion of the stimulus will not be supporting anything else; the
rest of the stimulus will be supporting it.

Conclusion: the overall main point of the argument

Premise: support used to prove or attempt to prove the conclusion

Subsidiary Conclusion/Intermediate Premise: a piece of the argument
that functions as both a conclusion and a premise; it's a conclusion
that is supported by another premise, but it's also used as a premise
to support the overall (main) conclusion of the argument

Does this help? Let us know if you have any other questions!