The stimulus tells us that the mind and immune system have been shown to be intimately linked. It supports this claim by explaining that the white blood cells needed to fight infection are connected to the brain and that recent research shows that the activity of these white blood cells is stimulated by beneficial chemicals produced by the brain as a result of magnanimous behavior.
So, magnanimous behavior produces beneficial chemicals, which--in turn--stimulate the activity of white blood cells, cells that the body needs to fight infection. A strong immunity is in everyone's interest because it makes one's body able to more effectively ward off illness.
Thus, if all the statements in the stimulus are true, they would support the fact that behaving magnanimously is good for one's own interests since it would stimulate the activity of their disease fighting white blood cells, which--in turn--would make their bodies stronger.
Therefore, answer choice (D) is the correct answer.
Hope that helps! Please let us know if you have any other questions.
irinacioncaNovember 13, 2017
I agree with Timur 100%!
Sorry, profs but this answer choice is bonkers even though it's true. As for myself, I chose D) only through the process of elimination and not because I logically inferred that it is in everyone's best interest to have a strong immunity. Look - once again, you taught us that we are not to look beyond what the passage says and make inferences based on our beliefs. I remember you guys saying something of this sort (though probably not exactly phrased like that) - so, that we shouldn't assume !! Here, if we choose D) logically WE ARE FORCED to make the INFERENCE (NOT supported by the passage, BTW) that having a strong immune system is in everyone's best interest.
I can already relate to you some of the reasons one wouldn't want to have a strong immune system:
1. Let's presume that a person has a certain disease which profligates more when the immune system is strong (sounds counter-intuitive but it's not impossible!)
2. Maybe some people enjoy having a weak immune system because they are hypochondriacs and thus having a weak immune system causes them to be sick more often and thus gives them a reason to go to the hospital to get checked out - which hypochondriacs typically do.
3. Maybe having a strong immune system is not in a person's interest if they want to be included in a study for a disease they have and to be included in that study their white blood cell count has to be at a minimum or a certain (low) level.
So there you go - I already off the top of my head named three reasons one might not necessarily want to have a strong immune system.
I notice there a few inconsistencies such as this one in your teaching. It makes us then choose the wrong answers because we follow your advice - thus making this course not as strong as it claims to be! It is very frustrating on a personal level as a student too, who invested in this, to know I am following the lessons taught and applying them - and this isn't getting me the right answers 100% of the time as in this case.
Like I said I only got it right here through process of elimination which is fine but it is a red flag for me that my inherent logic that derives from these lessons does not seem to fit with the right answers as provided by the LSAC.
Madelyn-LuskeyJuly 8, 2018
I agree with the post below from 11/13/17. I think some questions like this need to be added to the videos and sample problems so that students can expect questions that require inferences to be made in the questions section and actual LSAT. Based on what the video lesson teaches students, (E) seems to make more sense than (D) when picking an answer based solely on what we have been given in the passage. It's frustrating that as students, we pay a decent amount of money for this, and this problem initially addressed in 2014 still has not be resolved in 2018.
KGregoryNovember 28, 2018
I would need this on a video as well. If we are told not to infer but this is an inference question, how is the answer D.
Jacob-RNovember 30, 2018
I have submitted a request to have questions of this type explained via an instructional video.
One quick note — while I understand the frustration of feeling like this question requires an inference that is outside the information provided in the question, notice the exact phrasing of the question stem:
“The statements above, if true, support the view that. . . â€
The “support the view†is crucial, as it is an indicator that the answer may contain something new. That is, the stem is not asking you what must be true or what is necessarily true. Instead, it indicates that the answer will be supported by what is in the passage. And yes, there is still a small inferential leap between the benefits to one’s own interests and the “benefit to one’s immune system.†But that leap is really just that we are interested in our own immune system — and that is certainly “supported†by the rest of the passage.
I hope that helps. Please let us know if you have further questions.
