support question

**giomar** · 12-22-2004, 01:24 AM

When people predict that certain result will not take place unless a certain action is taken, they believe that they have learned that the prediction is correct when the action is taken and the result occurs. On reflection, however, it often becomes clear that the result admits of more than one interpretation.

Which of the following, if true, best supports the claims above?

(A) Judging the success of an action requires specifying the goal of the action.

(B) Judging which action to take after a prediction is made requires knowing about other actions that have been successful in similar past situations.

(C) Learning whether a certain predictive strategy is good requires knowing the result using that strategy through several trials.

(D) Distinguishing a correct prediction and effective action from an incorrect prediction and ineffective action is often impossible.

(E) Making a successful prediction requires knowing the facts about the context of that prediction.

SPOILER: D

No clue in this one,please explain the answer...thanks

**FZanjani** · 12-22-2004, 02:40 AM

i actually chose (D) straight away then checked the Official Answer so that's good i can explain better -

basically action - result1,result2 (multiple rsults from the same action)
a prediction is regarded correct if an action can be mapped to a result.
so action - result 1 (correct prediction)
action - result 2 (in-correct prediction)
so basically for the statements to be true there should be a way to distinguish what effective action produces what result and does this combination make an effective prediction.

**jydpsaha** · 12-22-2004, 03:02 AM

If we follow it closely, options B, C and E leave a space in favor of the counter claim. Option A is out of scope. And option D straightway talks about the claim, i.e the last sentence of the stimulus. We are talking about the option which "best supports the claims above".

**beatit** · 01-23-2007, 01:23 AM

Totally stumped on this one. Can someone explain this question first and then the answer please.

cbttl

**scmba** · 01-23-2007, 01:42 AM

When people predict that certain result will not take place unless a certain action is taken, they believe that they have learned that the prediction is correct when the action is taken and the result occurs. On reflection, however, it often becomes clear that the result admits of more than one interpretation.

This is basically a direct causation question. If A causes B, then C will occur. Say for instance, considering we are in Super Bowl weeks, that the Colts always (C)score a touchdown when (A) Peyton Manning throws at least a thirty yard pass to (B)Marvin Harrison. Now this could be true, however, the thirty yard touchdown pass could have been caused by strong blocking of the offensive line, lack of help from the safety position or the cornerback covering Harrison predicting the wrong route. So the result leaves many interpretations as to the cause.