A person's personality is linked to that person's genes. And since a person's genes do not ordinarily change over tim...

shunhe on July 14, 2020

Hi @Skyler-Simon,

Thanks for the question! Let’s go over the stimulus real quickly. We’re told that a person’s personality is linked to their genes, but genes don’t change over time usually, so people’s personalities also don’t change over time.

Now what’s the flaw here? Well, the flaw lies in the idea that the argument jumps from a “link” between a person’s personality and their genes to concluding that just because genes don’t change, personalities don’t change. There could certainly be a link, but that doesn’t mean genes are the only things that affect personality. Maybe social environment also affects personality. For example, there’s probably a link between Chipotle burrito prices and the price of tortillas. If tortillas get more expensive, Chipotle might have to price its burritos higher. But if the price of tortillas stays the same, then does that mean that Chipotle’s burrito price will stay the same? No! There’s other things that affect the burrito price, like the price of meat, veggies, or cheese. That’s the flaw that’s going on here.

Now take a look at answer choice (A). It tells us that the way historians understand WWI is related to what actually happened then (makes sense), but since what happened can’t change, historians’ understanding can’t change. Again, there’s a link (or relation) between their understanding and what happened, but that doesn’t mean that what happened is the only thing that can affect historians’ understanding. Maybe, for example, new evidence could change their understanding. And so (A) makes the same kind of error as the stimulus and is the correct answer.

Hope this helps! Feel free to ask any other questions that you might have.