Reading comp PrepTest 134 · Section 4 · Question 14

Passage

Questions 13-19 Passage A  .        Evolutionary psychology has taught us to examine  . human behavior from the standpoint of Remaining source text redacted.
Passage walkthrough
Passage Summary

Topic: Science


Passage A

Paragraph 1

  • Paragraph note
    • An approach is described, and a question/problem with it is noted
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, points of intersection, and the author's attitude
    • Approach - Evolutionary Psychology - Apply evolution (proliferation of genes) to behavior
    • Problem - How do you explain altruism?

Paragraph 2

  • Paragraph note
    • A probable answer is provided
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, points of intersection, and the author's attitude
    • Probable answer - Identification/empathy - Help those with similar appearance and thus probably same genes
    • Pass on genes for empathy/identification

Paragraph 3

  • Paragraph note
    • Progression of evolution noted
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, points of intersection, and the author's attitude
    • Start - Small, kin-based groups that promoted altruistic genes
    • Later - Larger groups when people had altruistic genes, expanded to cover others

Passage B

Paragraph 1

  • Paragraph note
    • An approach is heavily criticized
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, points of intersection, and the author's attitude
    • Evolutionary Psychology - “conspiracy theory” - genes are said to have motives, when could be you just love your kids

Paragraph 2

  • Paragraph note
    • (Concession) Why Evolutionary Psychology is persuasive
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, points of intersection, and the author's attitude
    • Example - Monogamy/slowly maturing offspring = monogamy is to propagate genes

Paragraph 3

  • Paragraph note
    • Author’s criticism of Evolutionary Psychology is fleshed out
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, points of intersection, and the author's attitude
    • Overall strength of opinion - EPs may be right, may be wrong
    • Flaw - Pick one explanation when “all sorts” are possible
    • Need to show - Explanation makes sense and is “only” explanation
    • Humans might do X because of Y, or might do X because they like X

Main Points:

Passage A - While altruism might appear problematic to Evolutionary Psychology, an evolutionary drive to propagate your own genes can explain why humans evolved to help others in need.

Passage B - Evolutionary Psychology can appear persuasive on its face, but it rests on an assumption about the motives of genes that it hasn’t shown to be true because there are alternative explanations.

Key Lines?

Passage A:

  • Lines 1-3 - A key approach/field is introduced
  • Lines 7-12 - A problem/question about that theory is raised
  • Lines 13-14 - A probable answer is presented
  • Lines 24-26 - That answer is explained

Passage B:

  • Lines 35-38 - The Author criticizes (strongly) an approach/field
  • Lines 43-44 - The Author concedes that the opposing view (approach/field) is initially persuasive
  • Line 53 - The Author shows his opinion to be more middling than Paragraph 1 may suggest
  • Lines 54-56 - The Author’s key criticism is noted (there are alternative explanations)
  • Lines 56-59 - A requirement for the opposing side is raised

Meta-Structure? Relationship Between Passages?

Both passages discuss Evolutionary Psychology, but they have very different opinions on it. The Author of Passage A has bought into the field, saying that it has taught us how to examine human behavior. It does raise a “thorny” question, but the Author believes there’s an answer to it. The Author of Passage B, on the other hand, believes that the field is a “kind of conspiracy theory,” though he does walk that back a bit by saying that evolutionary psychologists may be right or may be wrong. While the initial language might suggest a much more negative view in Passage B, it turns out that the Author believes that there’s a logical flaw/shortcoming in their argument that needs to be addressed, but he’s not committed to saying the field is definitely wrong.

Question/Answer - The Author of Passage A brings up a “thorny” issue for Evolutionary Psychology - altruism. Why would someone spend resources to help others if behavior is driven by evolution? She presents a probable answer in Paragraph 2 that she then explores through the rest of the passage. An answer to a key question is generally the main point of the passage, leading us to the main point as we wrote it out. Passage B also has a Question/Answer structure, presenting a question at the end of Paragraph 2 that calls the concession it makes into question. And, similar to Passage A, the answer to the question largely drives the main point - that the evolutionary psychologists might be right or might be wrong - they’ve put forward an explanation without showing it to be the only explanation.

Last Thoughts?

Passage B, in particular, is a bit weird. The opening paragraph makes the viewpoint sound very strong, but the Author walks it back in Paragraph 2 (by making a concession about the apparent plausibility of Evolutionary Psychology) and in Paragraph 3 by suggesting that it might be correct. We should be careful in analyzing answers about the Author’s attitude in that passage, as it’s much more nuanced than it initially appears.

Question prompt

The approaches toward evolutionary Remaining source text redacted.
Why the credited answer is right

Credited answer: B

The notes below walk through why it fits the stem and how to eliminate the rest.

Question Type

Science

Strategy Overview

Characterize the opinion towards evolutionary psychology of both authors, then find an answer reflecting those opinions

Answer Anticipation

We already thought about this question after reading the passages, as both dealt with Evolutionary Psychology while having very different views of it. The Author of Passage A believes that Evolutionary Psychology “has taught us” an important way to examine human behavior (Lines 1-2). While she notes a “problem” with the theory (Line 8), she then goes on to address it (Lines 13-14). As such, she has a positive view of the theory - she’s seemingly a believer in it.The Author of Passage B, on the other hand, believes that it’s a “kind of conspiracy theory” (Lines 35-36). While he tempers that opinion by saying that it appears persuasive (Line 43) and that evolutionary psychologists may be right or wrong (Line 53), he does highlight a logical flaw in their argument (Lines 54-59). Mainly, he points out that they rely on one explanation for behavior (genes wanting to propagate themselves) when alternatives also explain the behavior.So the Author of Passage A is much more positive on Evolutionary Psychology than Passage B. Let’s find an answer reflecting that.

Answer choices

  1. A
    The author of passage Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A is not credited

    (A) (Lines 54-59) Passage B is the one that analyzes the logic of the arguments behind Evolutionary Psychology and points out a flaw in those arguments.

  2. B
    The author of passage Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B matches the stem

    (B) (Lines 1-2; Lines 13-14; Lines 35-36; Lines 53-59) The Author of Passage A believes that Evolutionary Psychology has taught us an important way to examine behavior, and that there’s a probable explanation for a seemingly problematic aspect to it. The Author of Passage B believes that Evolutionary Psychology relies on a logical flaw involving a kind of conspiracy theory, and that evolutionary psychologists might be right, but they also might be wrong. So the Author of Passage A is much more committed to the principles of the field than the Author of Passage B, making this the correct answer.

  3. C
    The author of passage Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C is not credited

    (C) (Lines 63-64) It’s the Author of Passage B who argues that some behavior might be just to do that behavior and not for any evolutionary reasons. Passage A argues that behavior does have evolutionary explanations. This answer is therefore the opposite of the correct characterization.

  4. D
    The author of passage Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D is not credited

    (D) There’s no indication that the Author of Passage B is skeptical of evolutionary theory, just evolutionary psychology.

  5. E
    The author of passage Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E is not credited

    (E) (Lines 39-42; Lines 64-66) The Author of Passage B does discuss motives, but it’s the motives of genes and individuals who are acting in certain ways - not the evolutionary psychologists themselves!

What this tests

Question analytics

Based on historical answer selection rates for this question.

Answer choice distribution

  1. A 4%
  2. B Credited 39%
  3. C 2%
  4. D 49%
  5. E 6%

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Discussion

  • Correct Answer E 1 reply

    Started by Lucie

  • B vs D 1 reply

    Started by Milo-Hammer

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