Question

Beautiful beaches attract people, no doubt about that. Just look at the city's most beautiful beaches, which are amongst the most overcrowded places in the state.

Which of the following exhibits a pattern of reasoning similar to the one exhibited in the argument above?

• A. Moose and bear usually appear at the same drinking hole at the same time of the day. Therefore, moose and bear must be feeling thirsty at about the same time.
• B. Children who are scolded severely tend to misbehave more often than other children. Hence if a child is not scolded severely, that child is less likely to misbehave.
• C. During warm weather my dog suffers more fleas than during cool weather. Therefore, fleas must thrive in a warm environment.
• D. Tally accounting software helps increase the work efficiency of its users. As a result, these users have more time for other activities.

Hint:

Look for the option where an extreme case of the cause lines up with the peak of the effect, just like the most beautiful beaches being the most crowded.

Answer 1

The Correct Option is C

Step 1: Understanding the Question.
We first pin down the exact reasoning pattern used in the original argument, then check which option copies that same pattern with a different subject.

Step 2: Key Approach.
The original argument says beautiful beaches attract people, and then backs this up by pointing at the most extreme case, the city's most beautiful beaches, which also happen to be the most crowded. So the pattern is: more of a certain quality in the cause (beauty) lines up with more of the effect (crowding) at the extreme end, and this correlation is used to confirm the original cause and effect claim. We need an option built the same way, a claim about cause and effect, backed up by showing that a stronger dose of the cause goes with a bigger amount of the effect.

Step 3: Detailed Explanation.
Option (1) says moose and bear appear at the same drinking hole at the same time, so they must be thirsty at the same time. This infers a shared cause from two animals occurring together, it does not compare a stronger cause with a bigger effect at an extreme case, so the structure does not match.
Option (2) says severe scolding leads to more misbehaviour, then flips this around to claim that no severe scolding leads to less misbehaviour. This is a different kind of error, it wrongly assumes the reverse of a claim must also be true, which is not what the beach argument does.
Option (3) says warmer weather causes the dog to suffer more fleas, and concludes that fleas must thrive in warm conditions. Here, an extreme condition, warmer weather, lines up with the peak of the effect, more fleas, and this correlation is used to support a general causal claim about fleas liking warmth. This is exactly the same structure as the beach argument, where the most beautiful beaches, an extreme case, line up with the most crowding, the peak effect, to support the causal claim that beauty attracts people.
Option (4) says the software raises efficiency, and this frees up more time for users. This is a simple two step chain of one cause leading to one effect, it does not use an extreme case to confirm a claim, so it does not match either.

Step 4: Final Answer.
Option (3) mirrors the reasoning pattern of the original argument, so it is the correct answer.