Reading comp PrepTest 134 · Section 4 · Question 16

Topic: Science

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

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.

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

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.

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.