Reading comp PrepTest 142 · Section 3 · Question 18

Passage

Questions 17-21 Passage A  .       To a neuroscientist, you are your brain; nothing  . causes your behavior other than the Remaining source text redacted.
Passage walkthrough
Passage SummaryTopic: Science

Passage A
Paragraph 1
  • Paragraph note
    • Scientific findings are discussed, along with what they should mean for the legal system
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, points of intersection, and the author's attitude
    • Neuroscience - Your brain's working cause your behavior
    • Law assumption - Only rationality matters
    • Implications for law - People aren't necessarily in control of their actions
    • Recommendation - Shift justice system from retribution to deterring future harm (possibly decreasing punishment)
Passage B
Paragraph 1
  • Paragraph note
    • An argument that seemingly contradictory views can both be true is introduced
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, points of intersection, and the author's attitude
    • Determinism (neuroscience) - The physical brain determines actions
    • Free will - People choose their action
    • Long-been argued - Free will and determinism can both be true
Paragraph 2
  • Paragraph note
    • The compromise view is introduced, and a distinction is made
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, points of intersection, and the author's attitude
    • Ayer/Hume - Soft determinism
    • Free vs. Constrained actions
    • Free - Caused by internal (own will; exception - mental illness) - Did A, could have done B
    • Constrained - Caused by external (examples - hypnosis and mental disorders) - Did A, couldn't have done anything else
Paragraph 3
  • Paragraph note
    • The compromise view is clarified
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, points of intersection, and the author's attitude
    • Ayer - Actions are free if they're not constrained/source of cause matters
    • Ayer - Doesn't discuss brain, but it's internal, so an action could be free but determined by it
Main Point:
Passage A - Since neuroscience shows us that rational people aren't always in control of their behavior, the justice system should focus on deterrence rather than retribution.

Passage B - According to Ayer (and Hume), free will and determinism can coexist, as a free action can be determined by internal sources, while external causes result in non-free/constrained actions.

Key Lines:

Passage A:
Lines 3-5 - The overall topic is previewed
Lines 6-9 - A problem with the legal system is highlighted
Lines 15-16 - A recommendation away from something is made
Lines 19-20 - A recommendation on what to replace that thing with is made

Passage B:
Lines 29-31 - The paradoxical main argument is described
LInes 32-36 - The argument is attributed and stated
Lines 36-37 - A distinction is made within that argument
Lines 37-38 - The first part of the distinction is defined
Lines 39-40 - The second part of the distinction is defined
Lines 49-52 - The argument is stated with the distinction in mind
Lines 53-56 - The Author uses an analogy to relate it to the paradox

Meta-Structure - Relationship Between Passages:
Problem/Recommendation - In Passage A, the Author presents a problem with the legal system due to developments in neuroscience (Lines 4-5). She then makes a recommendation as to a shift in focus based on this problem (Line 16; Lines 19-20).

Paradox - Passage B introduces a paradoxical view: Free will (people make their own decisions) and determinism (people's decisions are determined for them) can coexist (Lines 29-31). From there, he discusses the philosophers who argued for this (Lines 32-34), eventually resolving it by defining concepts in specific ways—free actions are determined by internal sources, which include the brain and brain chemistry (Lines 37-38). Thus, some decisions that are determined are also free (Lines 54-56).

Both passages discuss neuroscience, brain chemistry, and decision-making/free will. They both accept that some decisions at least could be determined by the brain chemistry. However, there is a slight difference in what they believe that means. Passage A's Author is willing to say that these actions aren't freely chosen and thus they shouldn't face retribution. Passage B presents an argument from philosophers that believe these actions—in a disease-free brain—are free.

Last Thoughts:
Passage A's Author is much more involved in the passage than B. In Passage A, the Author ends up making some recommendations ("should"). In Passage B, the Author filters the argument through Ayer/Hume. We should keep that in mind as we analyze answer choices.

Question prompt

Which one of the Remaining source text redacted.
Why the credited answer is right

Credited answer: A

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

Question Type

Science

Answer choices

  1. A
    mental disorder
    Why choice A matches the stem
    Correct. Question Type:
    Must Be True

    Strategy Overview:
    Use our understanding of the differences between the passages to focus on answers that line up with what Passage B discussed but Passage A didn't

    Answer Anticipation/Relevant Lines:
    There are a lot of details in each of these passages, so it's going to be difficult to come up with a specific anticipation—the correct answer could be any detail that showed up in Passage B but not Passage A. So we should anticipate broad strokes—and we can also anticipate wrong answers by thinking of things that show up in Passage A but not Passage B, or in both.

    So, big picture, what did Passage A talk about? Neuroscience, free will, and the criminal justice system. And Passage B? Neuroscience, free will, and determinism. Since they both talk about neuroscience and free will, those won't serve as correct answers. Instead, we should focus on answers surrounding determinism, or anything else that we can specifically identify as being a part of Passage B.

    Answer Explanation:
    (Line 43; Lines 4-9; Lines 11-14) Passage B mentions mental disorders when discussing constrained actions—they were one of the examples presented, so we definitely should have noted it. Passage A, on the other hand, never discusses mental disorders. It talks about rationality, but one can be irrational while not having a mental disorder. And it talks about making a decision based on the emotional centers of the brain, but there's no indication that that's a sign of mental disorders. Since this shows up in Passage B but not Passage A, this is the correct answer.

    Key Takeaway:
    These detail-based questions can be brutal in Comparative RC, but use your overall knowledge of the passages to help guide you. For example, with answer choice (E) here, knowing that Passage A was about justice should have led you to beg off that answer since morality and justice are strongly related.
  2. B
    free choice
    Why choice B is not credited
    Incorrect. (Line 10; Line 30) Both passages discuss free choice—not only was this reflected in the correct answer to Question #17, but it's an overlap we anticipated would show up in an incorrect answer!
  3. C
    causality
    Why choice C is not credited
    Incorrect. (Line 2; Line 27) Both passages talk about how the brain causes behavior—it was a baseline relationship established in each that allowed their entire arguments to unfold!
  4. D
    self-delusion
    Why choice D is not credited
    Incorrect. (Line 11) This was an easy-to-miss detail, but self-delusion showed up in Passage A. It doesn't show up in Passage B, however, so even if you missed its inclusion in Passage A, you shouldn't have picked this answer.
  5. E
    moral responsibility
    Why choice E is not credited
    Incorrect. (Line 10; Line 18) Passage A talks about morality when describing actions that might lead one to the criminal justice system. Passage B doesn't discuss morality. Since we knew Passage A was focused on the justice system, we should have felt negatively towards this answer since justice lines up with morality much more than the topics in Passage B.

What this tests

Question analytics

Based on historical answer selection rates for this question.

Answer choice distribution

  1. A Credited 73%
  2. B 9%
  3. C 12%
  4. D 4%
  5. E 2%

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