Chapter 12: Comparative Reasoning

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Comparative reasoning is the process of ____________.

(a) culling the most viable options for a solution from a pool of both good and bad options
(b) creating lists of pros and cons in order to compare two different options or ideas
(c) comparing one expert’s opinion on a subject to another expert’s opinion on the same subject
(d) using what is more familiar to make interpretations, explanations, or inferences about what is
less familiar

Answer: d

Question Title: TB_12_01 Explain comparative reasoning and how it impacts our understanding of novel
situations, Understand, LO 12.1
Topic: Recognizing Comparative Reasoning
Learning Objective: 12.1 Explain comparative reasoning and how it impacts our understanding of novel
situations.
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts,
Difficulty Level: 2–Moderate

2. When we humans notice something that looks familiar about the new experience, something,
which we believe we can understand because of its familiarity, our natural tendency is to try to expand
our understanding of the larger new experience from that initial point. Which mental capacity, woven into
our very DNA, enables us to do this?
(a) our capacity to go many days without food
(b) our capacity to recognize patterns
(c) our capacity to enjoy music and poetry
(d) our capacity to use, make, and adapt tools

Answer: b

Question Title: TB_12_02 Explain comparative reasoning and how it impacts our understanding of novel
situations, Understand LO 12.1
Topic: Recognizing Comparative Reasoning
Learning Objective: 12.1 Explain comparative reasoning and how it impacts our understanding of novel
situations.
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
Difficulty Level: 2–Moderate

3. What is another term for comparative reasoning?

(a) pro-and-con thinking
 (b) give-and-take thinking
(c) this-is-like-that thinking
(d) bottom-up thinking
(e) top-down thinking

Answer: c

Question Title: TB_12_03 Explain comparative reasoning and how it impacts our understanding of novel
situations, Understand, LO 12.1
Topic: Recognizing Comparative Reasoning
Learning Objective: 12.1 Explain comparative reasoning and how it impacts our understanding of novel
situations.
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
Difficulty Level: 2–Moderate

4. In court when a lawyer argues that a legal precedent applies, the lawyer is using what kind of reasoning
to make his or her point?
(a) comparative
(b) ideological
(c) empirical
(d) causal
(e) correlational

Answer: a

Question Title: TB_12_04 Explain comparative reasoning and how it impacts our understanding of novel
situations, Remember, LO 12.1
Topic: Recognizing Comparative Reasoning
Learning Objective: 12.1 Explain comparative reasoning and how it impacts our understanding of novel
situations.
Skill Level: Remember the Facts
Difficulty Level: 1–Easy

5. When scientific investigators develop and apply a theoretical model in the creative search for novel
solutions to problems, they are using which kind of reasoning?
(a) comparative
(b) ideological
(c) empirical
(d) causal
(e) correlational

Answer: a
Question Title: TB_12_05 Explain comparative reasoning and how it impacts our understanding of novel
situations, Remember, LO 12.1
Topic: Recognizing Comparative Reasoning
Learning Objective: 12.1 Explain comparative reasoning and how it impacts our understanding of novel
situations.
Skill Level: Remember the Facts
Difficulty Level: 1–Easy

6. Which of the following is an example of an argument based on comparative reasoning?

(a) I think John is Susan’s younger brother. So, they have the same mother or the same father.
(b) John’s mother always drives John and Susan to school, but she does not pick them up after
school.
(c) John and Susan both have hair the color of harvest wheat on a sunny day. They must be
brother and sister.
(d) Every day after school John and Susan walk to the bus stop together.
(e) Although younger, John is taller than Susan, but Susan is tall compared to her classmates.

Answer: c

Question Title: TB_12_06 Explain comparative reasoning and how it impacts our understanding of novel
situations, Apply, LO 12.1
Topic: Recognizing Comparative Reasoning
Learning Objective: 12.1 Explain comparative reasoning and how it impacts our understanding of novel
situations
Skill Level: Apply What You Know
Difficulty Level: 1–Easy

7. Which of the following primarily depends upon comparative reasoning?

(a) To those who would dismiss evolution as “only a theory,” The National Center for Science
Education Web site proposes this analogy: “Evolution is only a theory in the same way that
Universal Gravity is only a theory.”
(b) A good number of residents of Iowa enjoy reading popular fiction. Some who enjoy popular
fiction also enjoy windsurfing on their local beaches. So, a good number of residents of Iowa
enjoy windsurfing on their local beaches.
(c) It is in each person’s financial interest to cheat a little on his or her income tax return. So, it is
financially good for the nation if people cheat on their taxes.
(d) Whenever I play the lottery, the number I put in is my birthday. If that’s not my lucky
number, then I don’t have one.

Answer: a
Question Title: TB_12_07 Explain comparative reasoning and how it impacts our understanding of novel
situations, Apply, LO 12.1
Topic: Recognizing Comparative Reasoning
Learning Objective: 12.1 Explain comparative reasoning and how it impacts our understanding of novel
situations.
Skill Level: Apply What You Know
Difficulty Level: 2–Moderate

8. Which of the following primarily depends upon comparative reasoning?

(a) Randolph knows that John Glenn was a senator. John Glenn was an astronaut. Therefore
Randolph knows that John Glenn was an astronaut.
(b) The animal rights activists defended themselves by saying: “We did not steal any animals
from the lab. We rescued those monkeys because they were the helpless victims of torture.”
(c) Everyone loves ice cream. Children love ice cream. So, everyone’s a child.
(d) Either we’ll study together tonight for tomorrow’s exam, or we will both blow it off. I’m too
tired to study tonight. So, we’re going to blow it off.

Answer: b

Question Title: TB_12_08 Explain comparative reasoning and how it impacts our understanding of novel
situations, Apply, LO 12.1
Topic: Recognizing Comparative Reasoning
Learning Objective: 12.1 Explain comparative reasoning and how it impacts our understanding of novel
situations.
Skill Level: Apply What You Know
Difficulty Level: 2–Moderate

9. Which of the following does not primarily depend upon comparative reasoning?
(a) Comparisons are like a fine set of carpentry tools—you have to know a tool’s purpose, or else
it will be useless to you.
(b) Just as there are myriad flowering plants in a well-tended garden, people cultivate an
exceptional variety of ways to express comparative reasoning.
(c) Using comparative reasoning as the firm foundation for logically strong arguments is like
trying to build a house out of straw in a swamp.
(d) “Reserve your right to think, for even to think wrongly is better than not to think at all,” said
Hypatia of Alexandria more than fifteen hundred years ago.

Answer: d

Question Title: TB_12_09 Explain comparative reasoning and how it impacts our understanding of novel
situations, Apply, LO 12.1
Topic: Recognizing Comparative Reasoning
Learning Objective: 12.1 Explain comparative reasoning and how it impacts our understanding of novel
situations.
Skill Level: Apply What You Know
Difficulty Level: 2–Moderate

10. The most useful comparisons are those that are based upon structural, functional, central, and essential
features to ____________ how we might understand that which is less familiar based on what we know
about that which is more familiar.
(a) validly infer
(b) determine
(c) justify
(d) suggest

Answer: d

Question Title: TB_12_10 Explain comparative reasoning and how it impacts our understanding of novel
situations, Understand, LO 12.1
Topic: Recognizing Comparative Reasoning
Learning Objective: 12.1 Explain comparative reasoning and how it impacts our understanding of novel
situations.
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
Difficulty Level: 2–Moderate

11. Although powerfully persuasive, comparisons are risky. Their soundness, logical strength, and
relevance can easily be _______________.
(a) demonstrated
(b) questioned
(c) confirmed
(d) validated
(e) ignored

Answer: b

Question Title: TB_12_11 Describe the uses, benefits, and risks of comparative reasoning, Remember,
LO 12.3
Topic: Models and Metaphors Shape Expectations
Learning Objective: 12.3 Describe the uses, benefits, and risks of comparative reasoning.
Skill Level: Remember the Facts
Difficulty Level: 2–Moderate
12. Comparative reasoning can captivate our imaginations and move us emotionally. But, comparative
inferences are notoriously weak and unreliable, from a __________________ point of view.
(a) logical
(b) heuristic
(c) rhetorical
(d) conversational

Answer: a

Question Title: TB_12_12 Describe the uses, benefits, and risks of comparative reasoning, Remember,
LO 12.3
Topic: Models and Metaphors Shape Expectations
Learning Objective: 12.3 Describe the uses, benefits, and risks of comparative reasoning.
Skill Level: Remember the Facts
Difficulty Level: 1–Easy

13. A successful comparative inference will satisfy five criteria, the one called familiarity refers to is the
________.
(a) measure of the relative absence of complexity of the comparison
(b) extent to which a comparison captures a greater number of central or essential features
(c) degree of knowledge the listener has about the object to which the unknown is being
compared
(d) is the capacity to project consequences that have the potential to be shown to be false,
inapplicable, or unacceptable
(e) is the capacity to suggest consequences that go beyond those mentioned in the initial
comparison

Answer: c

Question Title: TB_12_13 Apply correctly the five criteria for the evaluation of comparative reasoning,
Understand, LO 12.2
Topic: Evaluating Comparative Inferences
Learning Objective: 12.2 Apply correctly the five criteria for the evaluation of comparative reasoning.
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
Difficulty: 1–Easy

14. A successful comparative inference will satisfy five criteria, the one called simplicity refers to is the
________.
(a) measure of the relative absence of complexity of the comparison
(b) extent to which a comparison captures a greater number of central or essential features
(c) degree of knowledge the listener has about the object to which the unknown is being
compared
 (d) is the capacity to project consequences that have the potential to be shown to be false,
inapplicable, or unacceptable
(e) is the capacity to suggest consequences that go beyond those mentioned in the initial
comparison

Answer: a

Question Title: TB_12_14 Apply correctly the five criteria for the evaluation of comparative reasoning,
Understand, LO 12.2
Topic: Evaluating Comparative Inferences
Learning Objective: 12.2 Apply correctly the five criteria for the evaluation of comparative reasoning.
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
Difficulty: 1–Easy

15. A successful comparative inference will satisfy five criteria, the one called comprehensiveness refers
to is the ________.
(a) measure of the relative absence of complexity of the comparison
(b) extent to which a comparison captures a greater number of central or essential features
(c) degree of knowledge the listener has about the object to which the unknown is being
compared
(d) capacity to project consequences that have the potential to be shown to be false, inapplicable,
or unacceptable
(e) capacity to suggest consequences that go beyond those mentioned in the initial comparison.

Answer: b

Question Title: TB_12_15 Apply correctly the five criteria for the evaluation of comparative reasoning,
Understand, LO 12.2
Topic: Evaluating Comparative Inferences
Learning Objective: 12.2 Apply correctly the five criteria for the evaluation of comparative reasoning.
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
Difficulty: 1–Easy

16. A successful comparative inference will satisfy five criteria, the one called productivity refers to is the
________.
(a) measure of the relative absence of complexity of the comparison
(b) extent to which a comparison captures a greater number of central or essential features
(c) degree of knowledge the listener has about the object to which the unknown is being
compared
(d) capacity to project consequences that have the potential to be shown to be false, inapplicable,
or unacceptable
(e) capacity to suggest consequences that go beyond those mentioned in the initial comparison
Answer: e

Question Title: TB_12_16 Apply correctly the five criteria for the evaluation of comparative reasoning,
Understand, LO 12.2
Topic: Evaluating Comparative Inferences
Learning Objective: 12.2 Apply correctly the five criteria for the evaluation of comparative reasoning.
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
Difficulty: 1–Easy

17. A successful comparative inference will satisfy five criteria, the one called testability refers to is the
________.
(a) measure of the relative absence of complexity of the comparison
(b) extent to which a comparison captures a greater number of central or essential features
(c) degree of knowledge the listener has about the object to which the unknown is being
compared
(d) capacity to project consequences that have the potential to be shown to be false, inapplicable,
or unacceptable
(e) capacity to suggest consequences that go beyond those mentioned in the initial comparison

Answer: d

Question Title: TB_12_17 Apply correctly the five criteria for the evaluation of comparative reasoning,
Understand, LO 12.2
Topic: Evaluating Comparative Inferences
Learning Objective: 12.2 Apply correctly the five criteria for the evaluation of comparative reasoning.
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
Difficulty: 1–Easy

18. Which criterion for a successful comparison does this example have the most difficulty satisfying?
“Like a personal spiritual security detail, each of us has an invisible spirit protector who watches over us,
guides us away from danger, and helps us know right from wrong.”
(a) familiarity
(b) simplicity
(c) comprehensiveness
(d) productivity
(e) testability

Answer: e

Question Title: TB_12_18 Apply correctly the five criteria for the evaluation of comparative reasoning,
Analyze, LO 12.2
Topic: Evaluating Comparative Inferences
Learning Objective: 12.2 Apply correctly the five criteria for the evaluation of comparative reasoning.
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
Difficulty: 2–Moderate

19. Which criterion for a successful comparison does this example have the most difficulty satisfying?
“Asking a member of Congress to explain the income tax code is like asking a fifteen year old to explain
their math homework.”
(a) familiarity
(b) simplicity
(c) productivity
(d) testability

Answer: d

Question Title: TB_12_19 Apply correctly the five criteria for the evaluation of comparative reasoning,
Analyze, LO 12.2
Topic: Evaluating Comparative Inferences
Learning Objective: 12.2 Apply correctly the five criteria for the evaluation of comparative reasoning.
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
Difficulty: 3–Difficult

20. Words like apt, insightful, vivid, silly, and superficial are better for evaluating sentences that assert
comparisons than words like ________.
(a) simple or complex
(b) testable or untestable
(c) true or false
(d) comprehensive or incomplete
(e) familiar or obscure

Answer: c

Question Title: TB_12_20 Apply correctly the five criteria for the evaluation of comparative reasoning,
Apply, LO 12.2
Topic: Evaluating Comparative Inferences
Learning Objective: 12.2 Apply correctly the five criteria for the evaluation of comparative reasoning.
Skill Level: Apply What You Know
Difficulty: 2–Moderate

Short Answer Questions

21. Identify the comparisons in this passage and explain what they attempt to convey: “What’s it like
being a parent? It is a tough job with long hours and terrible pay. Nonetheless, it is a wonderful
experience. When I see my son’s face light up with joy when I come home from work, I feel like I’m on
top of the world.”

Answer: 1: “It is a tough job with long hours and terrible pay.” The point is that parenting is a lot of work
and that it can often seem that one doesn’t get much in return. 2: “… see my son’s face light up …”
“Light up” is a figure of speech, which conveys a sense of the emotional quality of joy in the son’s
expression. 3: “… on top of the world …” The speaker is explaining the difficulty of parenting but also
the intensely positive feelings one receives from being a parent.

Question Title: TB_12_21 Explain comparative reasoning and how it impacts our understanding of novel
situations, Analyze, LO 12.1
Topic: Recognizing Comparative Reasoning
Learning Objective: 12.1 Explain comparative reasoning and how it impacts our understanding of novel
situations.
Skill Level: Analyze It
Difficulty Level: 2–Moderate

22. Identify the comparisons in this passage and explain what they attempt to convey: “Marta and Mike
are cool, but in different ways. If they were cities, Marta would be New York and Mike would be Seattle
Jerry, however, would be Clarkston, Michigan. I mean, I like Jerry, but he’s not a destination hot spot.”

Answer: 1. “If they were cities … Seattle.” 2: “Jerry … Clarkston.” The speaker is suggesting that Marta
is high-energy, Mike is easy going, but that Jerry is not someone people want to be around.

Question Title: TB_12_22 Explain comparative reasoning and how it impacts our understanding of novel
situations, Analyze, LO 12.1
Topic: Recognizing Comparative Reasoning
Learning Objective: 12.1 Explain comparative reasoning and how it impacts our understanding of novel
situations.
Skill Level: Analyze It
Difficulty Level: 2–Moderate

23. Identify the comparisons in this passage and explain what they attempt to convey: “It is a crime
against humanity to fudge a little on your taxes—you know, report less income than you actually earned. I
think that people who cheat on their taxes shouldn’t be allowed to drive on public roads, send their kids to
public schools, or call the police when in danger. Because they steal from the communal well, it is fitting
that they shouldn’t be allowed to draw from that well when in need.”

Answer: 1: “… crime against humanity” 2. “fudge a little on your taxes.” 3: “… steal from the communal
well.” 4: “… draw from the communal well.” The speaker’s point is that cheating on your taxes is a
serious offense to the whole community and the cheater deserves to receive proportionate negative
consequences.

Question Title: TB_12_23 Explain comparative reasoning and how it impacts our understanding of novel
situations, Analyze, LO 12.1
Topic: Recognizing Comparative Reasoning
Learning Objective: 12.1 Explain comparative reasoning and how it impacts our understanding of novel
situations.
Skill Level: Analyze It
Difficulty Level: 2–Moderate

24. Identify the comparisons in this passage and explain what they attempt to convey: “So you want to
know what it is like to work at XYZ company? Well, think of the meanest thing you have ever done.
Now, imagine getting paid to do something worse than that every day. It is about as emotionally
rewarding as torturing a puppy. But I figure that because I am already in bed with the devil, I might as
well try to enjoy it.”

Answer: 1: “… imagine getting paid to do something worse…” 2: “… as emotionally rewarding as

torturing a puppy.” 3: “… bed with the devil …” The speaker is saying that working at XYZ is
dehumanizing, but that he or she is still trying to make the best of a very bad situation.

Question Title: TB_12_24 Explain comparative reasoning and how it impacts our understanding of novel
situations, Analyze, LO 12.1
Topic: Recognizing Comparative Reasoning
Learning Objective: 12.1 Explain comparative reasoning and how it impacts our understanding of novel
situations.
Skill Level: Analyze It
Difficulty Level: 3–Difficult

25. Identify the comparisons in this passage and explain what they attempt to convey: “I can’t listen to
that symphony. The music is so sad that it makes me feel like pulling my heart out. That’s what I find so
mysterious about music: How can a bunch of sounds be sad? It’s like saying a bunch of rocks can get
angry or a glass of water can be full of joy. I just don’t get it.”

Answer: 1: “The music is so sad …” It may be difficult to hear the metaphor in this, but using “sad” is
metaphorical. Sadness is a familiar human feeling, one often triggered by music. 2: “… feel like pulling
my heart out.” 3: “It’s like saying a bunch of rocks … or ….” The speaker is expressing how mysterious
and curious it is that listening to music, certain sounds experienced in a rhythmic sequence, has the effect
of triggering emotional responses.

Question Title: TB_12_25 Explain comparative reasoning and how it impacts our understanding of novel
situations, Analyze, LO 12.1
Topic: Recognizing Comparative Reasoning
Learning Objective: 12.1 Explain comparative reasoning and how it impacts our understanding of novel
situations.
Skill Level: Analyze It
Difficulty Level: 3–Difficult

26. Describe the “Familiarity” criterion as it is applied to the evaluating comparative reasoning. Give an
original example of two contrasting comparisons for the same object; first give one that is more familiar
and then supply one that is less familiar.

Answer: Familiarity is the quality of a comparison that expresses the degree of knowledge the listener has
about the object to which the unknown is being compared. One possible pair of examples: Watching a
professional baseball game is as interesting as watching grass grow. Watching professional baseball is as
interesting as being a printer’s assistant with the job of sorting lead type into the wooden font drawer.

Question Title: TB_12_26 Apply correctly the five criteria for the evaluation of comparative reasoning,
Apply, LO 12.2
Topic: Evaluating Comparative Inferences
Learning Objective: 12.2 Apply correctly the five criteria for the evaluation of comparative reasoning.
Skill Level: Apply What You Know
Difficulty Level: 3–Difficult

27. Describe the “Simplicity” criterion as it is applied to the evaluating comparative reasoning. Give an
original example of two contrasting comparisons for the same object; first give one that is simpler and
then supply one that is more complex.

Answer: Simplicity, a virtue for comparisons, is a measure of the relative complexity of the comparison.
Possible pair of examples: Doing the laundry is as easy as making toast—slice the bread, pop it in, wait a
bit, and then take out. Doing the laundry is like sorting vegetables by color, mixing chemicals in a lab,
and then shelving inventory in a grocery store.

Question Title: TB_12_27 Apply correctly the five criteria for the evaluation of comparative reasoning,
Apply, LO 12.2
Topic: Evaluating Comparative Inferences
Learning Objective: 12.2 Apply correctly the five criteria for the evaluation of comparative reasoning.
Skill Level: Apply What You Know
Difficulty Level: 3–Difficult

28. Describe the “Comprehensiveness” criterion as it is applied to the evaluating comparative reasoning.
Give an original example of two contrasting comparisons for the same object; first give one that is more
comprehensive and then supply one that is less comprehensive.
Answer: Comprehensiveness is the extent to which a comparison captures a greater number of central or
essential features. One possible pair of examples: For a teacher finishing the semester is like completing a
mural; there were lots of different and interesting parts to the project. Finishing it was both challenging
and gratifying. And, you get to start another mural real soon. For a teacher finishing the semester is like
housework, repetitive.

Question Title: TB_12_28 Apply correctly the five criteria for the evaluation of comparative reasoning,
Apply, LO 12.2
Topic: Evaluating Comparative Inferences
Learning Objective: 12.2 Apply correctly the five criteria for the evaluation of comparative reasoning.
Skill Level: Apply What You Know
Difficulty Level: 3–Difficult

29. Describe the “Productivity” criterion as it is applied to the evaluating comparative reasoning. Give an
original example of two contrasting comparisons for the same object; first give one that is more
productive and then supply one that is less productive.

Answer: Productivity is the capacity of a comparison to bring to mind unexpected new ideas that go
beyond the points of comparison initially mentioned. One possible pair of examples: My first day of
boarding school was like a trip to a foreign country—lots of new and unfamiliar things to try to
understand, including the school’s whole set of rules of conduct and its unique student culture. My first
day at boarding school was a trip to the mall—lots of new things to see.

Question Title: TB_12_29 Apply correctly the five criteria for the evaluation of comparative reasoning,
Apply, LO 12.2
Topic: Evaluating Comparative Inferences
Learning Objective: 12.2 Apply correctly the five criteria for the evaluation of comparative reasoning.
Skill Level: Apply What You Know
Difficulty Level: 3–Difficult

30. Describe the “Testability” criterion as it is applied to the evaluating comparative reasoning. Give an
original example of two contrasting comparisons for the same object; first give one that is more testable
and then supply one that is less testable.

Answer: Testability is the capacity of a comparison to project consequences that have the potential to be
shown to be false, inapplicable, or unacceptable. One possible pair of examples: Think of electricity like a
wild horse. It’s a powerful beast that we can harness its energy. Think of electricity like a magical genie,
amazingly the lights go on and off.

Question Title: TB_12_29 Apply correctly the five criteria for the evaluation of comparative reasoning,
Apply, LO 12.2
Topic: Evaluating Comparative Inferences
Learning Objective: 12.2 Apply correctly the five criteria for the evaluation of comparative reasoning.
Skill Level: Apply What You Know
Difficulty Level: 3–Difficult

True or False Questions

31. However persuasive they may be, logically speaking, comparative inferences are seldom, if ever,
acceptable proofs of the truth of their conclusions.

Answer: True

Question Title: TB_12_31 Describe the uses, benefits, and risks of comparative reasoning, Understand,
LO 12.3
Topic: Models and Metaphors Shape Expectations
Learning Objective: 12.3 Describe the uses, benefits, and risks of comparative reasoning.
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
Difficulty Level: 1–Easy

32. While creative comparisons can be richly suggestive of new ideas, comparative inferences are
notoriously inadequate to the task of serving as final proofs of those ideas.

Answer: True

Question Title: TB_12_32 Describe the uses, benefits, and risks of comparative reasoning, Understand,
LO 12.3
Topic: Models and Metaphors Shape Expectations
Learning Objective: 12.3 Describe the uses, benefits, and risks of comparative reasoning.
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
Difficulty Level: 1–Easy

33. Because comparative reasoning is notoriously weak from the logical perspective, scientists do not rely
on comparative reasoning to generate interesting models and hypotheses.

Answer: False.

Question Title: TB_12_33 Describe the uses, benefits, and risks of comparative reasoning, Understand,
LO 12.3
Topic: Models and Metaphors Shape Expectations
Learning Objective: 12.3 Describe the uses, benefits, and risks of comparative reasoning.
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
Difficulty Level: 1–Easy

Fill in the Blank Questions

34. Comparative reasoning is used in discussions of ___________, such as to compare situations and infer
rights and responsibilities.

Answer: ethics

Question Title: TB_12_34 Describe the uses, benefits, and risks of comparative reasoning, Understand,
LO 12.3
Topic: Models and Metaphors Shape Expectations
Learning Objective: 12.3 Describe the uses, benefits, and risks of comparative reasoning.
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
Difficulty Level: 1–Easy

35. Comparative reasoning is powerfully _____________. This can be a major benefit of the use of
comparative reasoning, and at the same time it can be a serious liability.

Answer: persuasive

Question Title: TB_12_35 Describe the uses, benefits, and risks of comparative reasoning, Understand,
LO 12.3
Topic: Models and Metaphors Shape Expectations
Learning Objective: 12.3 Describe the uses, benefits, and risks of comparative reasoning.
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
Difficulty Level: 1–Easy

36. The strong critical thinker with a healthy sense of ______________ and a good nose for weak logic
will be cautious when comparisons and metaphors, rather than sound arguments, are used as substitutes
for solid explanations or as calls to action.

Answer: skepticism

Question Title: TB_12_36 Describe the uses, benefits, and risks of comparative reasoning, Understand,
LO 12.3
Topic: Models and Metaphors Shape Expectations
Learning Objective: 12.3 Describe the uses, benefits, and risks of comparative reasoning.
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
Difficulty Level: 1–Easy
37. The simplicity and ______________ of comparative reasoning often lead to a false sense of their
relevance and applicability.

Answer: familiarity

Question Title: TB_12_37 Describe the uses, benefits, and risks of comparative reasoning, Understand,
LO 12.3
Topic: Models and Metaphors Shape Expectations
Learning Objective: 12.3 Describe the uses, benefits, and risks of comparative reasoning.
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
Difficulty Level: 1–Easy

38. _______________inferences are best used to explore assumptions and to tentatively shape
expectations about new situations.

Answer: Comparative

Question Title: TB_12_38 Describe the uses, benefits, and risks of comparative reasoning, Understand,
LO 12.3
Topic: Models and Metaphors Shape Expectations
Learning Objective: 12.3 Describe the uses, benefits, and risks of comparative reasoning.
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
Difficulty Level: 1–Easy

Essay Questions

39. The human mind craves pattern. Using examples, briefly describe how our species used its capacity
for pattern recognition down through the millennia. Discuss how the use our capacity for pattern
recognition is fundamental to human reasoning.

Answer: Those of our ancient ancestors who learned how to recognize what they could eat and distinguish
that from what would eat them had a greater likelihood of survival and with that a higher chance to
reproduce. By providing adaptive advantage, the genes for pattern recognition were passed down through
the long history of the evolution of our species. Reading the patterns in the movements of the stars and
the moon, our ancestors eventually learned to anticipate the changes of the seasons, the migrations of the
animals they used for food, and the times for planting and harvesting. Aberrations in the expected
patterns, like the emergence of a comet or lunar eclipse, were interpreted as having meaning too. Perhaps
the comet foretold a plague, or perhaps a blood moon meant the death of the king. When our species
turned its gift of pattern recognition toward social interactions it saw recurring behaviors that led some
people to be trusted as friends and others to be vanquished as enemies. In ancient times, different
primitive civilizations, trying to understand the patterns that shaped good fortune and misfortune,
endowed their pagan gods with the familiar patterns of behavior they saw in human interactions. This god
was capricious; that god was vengeful; other gods acted out of courage, or jealousy. Fecund gods made
the crops grow; drunken gods encouraged debauchery. Humans squabbled, and so must the gods. But the
squabbles of the gods had an impact on human events. Down through the millennia for most members of
our species life was harsh, unpredictable and short. Natural dangers, diseases, and predators abounded. If
the gods had anything to do with what was happening, then perhaps appeasing them or pandering to them
might influence those gods to be a little more generous, or at least a little less hurtful. Working the pagan
gods certainly must have seemed worth a try. Pattern recognition is fundamental to human learning. We
all try to understand novel experiences by integrating them with what we already know. We notice
something that looks familiar about the new experience, something, which we believe we can understand
because of its familiarity, and we then try to expand our understanding of the larger new experience from
that initial point. And in this stretch, projecting the familiar on to the unfamiliar as a way of seeking
understanding, we have comparative reasoning.

Question Title: TB_12_39 Explain comparative reasoning and how it impacts our understanding of novel
situations, Remember, LO 12.1
Topic: Recognizing Comparative Reasoning
Learning Objective: 12.1 Explain comparative reasoning and how it impacts our understanding of novel
situations.
Skill Level: Remember the Facts
Difficulty Level: 2–Moderate

40. Explain why the “Four Tests of the Acceptability of an Argument” are difficult to apply when
evaluating comparative inferences.

Answer: The first test, the premises true, is difficult because unfortunately, the words true and
false are not optimal for evaluating a sentence that asserts a comparison. Those two terms offer us only
two options when, in fact, our evaluations are more nuanced. Words like apt, insightful, vivid, silly, and
superficial are better words for evaluating sentences that assert comparisons. The second test, logical
strength, challenges us to try to find counterexamples. This test does help evaluate the logical strength of
the comparison, but only to a limited extent. We do not have refined statistical tests to apply to
comparative inferences. But we can categorize comparisons as more or less plausible. Comparative
reasoning almost always includes points of dissimilarity as well as points of similarity. We will need to
make a more refined judgment about the utility of the points of comparison than simply whether we can
think of a counterexample. The test of relevance also applies because the burden is on the maker of the
analogy to show that the comparison is relevant. Again, “relevance” alone is not enough. What we need to
find for a comparative inference to be successful is that the relevance is structural, fundamental, and
essential, not superficial. The fourth test demands that the truth of any premise not depend on the truth of
the conclusion. But if the supposedly “more familiar” object is actually not familiar to the listener, or not
as familiar to the listener as the “less familiar” object, then the analogy backfires. And familiarity is a
relative matter; it varies depending on the knowledge of the listener. This makes the test of non-circularity
difficult to apply.
Question Title: TB_12_40 Apply correctly the five criteria for the evaluation of comparative reasoning,
Apply, LO 12.2
Topic: Evaluating Comparative Inferences
Learning Objective: 12.2 Apply correctly the five criteria for the evaluation of comparative reasoning.
Skill Level: Apply What You Know
Difficulty Level: 3–Difficult