Reading comp PrepTest 145 · Section 3 · Question 15

Passage

Questions 14-19 Passage A  .        One function of language is to influence others'  . behavior by changing what they Remaining source text redacted.
Passage walkthrough
Passage Summary

Topic: Science


Passage A

Paragraph 1

  • Paragraph note
    • A function is discussed and applied to a human activity
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, points of intersection, and the author's attitude
    • Function of language - Change what others know/believe/want
    • Humans - Respond to mental state of others

Paragraph 2

  • Paragraph note
    • Animal language and purpose contrasted with humans
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, points of intersection, and the author's attitude
    • Animals - Communication inadvertent, because aren’t aware of others’ mental states (exception - maybe chimps)
    • Example 1 - Frogs - Mating call, but not because they think of other frogs’ thoughts
    • Example 2 - Primates/Chimps - Don’t respond differently when others do and don’t share info
    • Not as goal-oriented as they appear

Passage B

Paragraph 1

  • Paragraph note
    • A common view reflecting a distinction is presented
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, points of intersection, and the author's attitude
    • Animal communication - Rigid response to stimuli
    • Human communication - Spontaneous and creative

Paragraph 2

  • Paragraph note
    • This view is explored, with 2 experts cited
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, points of intersection, and the author's attitude
    • Common belief - Animals can’t lie (intend to deceive)
    • Expert 1 - Grice - To mean X, must want others to believe X
    • Common belief - Conscious intent is uniquely human
    • Expert 2 /Example - Maritain - Bees dancing is just reflect

Paragraph 3

  • Paragraph note
    • Author attacks this view (Reasoning/Assumptions)
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, points of intersection, and the author's attitude
    • Author - View is circular - assumes animals don’t have intent, then uses lack of intent to show comms are different since they lack intent
    • Recent research (Chimps and others) - Questions assumption that animals lack intent

Main Points:

Passage A - While animal communication might appear intentional, it’s actually different from human communication in that it isn’t intentional and doesn’t attempt to alter the beliefs and behavior of other animals.

Passage B - Despite a common belief that animal communication is a rigid response to stimuli and lacks conscious intent, recent research suggests that there isn’t much difference between animal and human communication.

Key Lines?

Passage A:

  • Lines 1-5 - A key function of language is noted; it’s applied to humans
  • Lines 6-11 - Animal communication is contrasted with human
  • Line 11 - An example is introduced
  • Line 20 - Another example is introduced
  • Line 25 - Another example is introduced

Passage B:

  • Lines 30-33 - A common belief about a distinction is noted
  • Lines 34-35 - An implication of that belief is listed
  • Line 39 - An expert is introduced
  • Lines 43-45 - Another common belief is noted
  • Line 45 - Another expert is introduced
  • Line 58 - The Author highlights a flaw in the common belief
  • Lines 59-65 - The Author cites recent research to call assumptions of the common belief into question

Meta-Structure? Relationship Between Passages?

Phenomenon/Explanation - Both passages deal with the same phenomenon - animal communication. Passage A argues that it’s “not as purposeful” as it first appears (Line 29) since animals can’t “attribute mental states to others” (Line 11) as humans can. Passage B, on the other hand, argues that this view is “circular” (Line 53), assuming that animals lack conscious intention (Lines 53-54) to prove that they can’t consciously intend their communication. So the two passages deal with the same topic, but they reach opposed conclusions over it.

Examples - Both passages bring up certain animals as examples of the point they’re trying to prove. Passage A talks about frogs (Line 12), primates/macaques (Line 18; Line 20), and chimps (Line 25); Passage B talks about bees (Line 46) and chimpos (Line 59). In both cases, the examples are used to make smaller points that build to the overall argument - neither passage is about the examples.

Relationship - Interestingly, the Author of Passage B brings up experts with whom she disagrees - but ones that largely agree with the argument put forward in Passage A. Passage A’s Author argues that animals aren’t “goal-directed” with their communications (Line 29). And the scientists and experts in Passage B before the pivot argue that animal communications aren’t intentional, but rather conditioned reflexes (Line 51).

Last Thoughts?

There’s a lot of discussion of the philosophy of mind here, so we should expect the questions to be difficult in that regard. Let’s be sure to check the answers against the passages to make sure we’re not falling for any traps.

Question prompt

In discussing the philosopher 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

Strategy Overview

Find where the Author mentions Maritain, then define the role of it in the immediate context, the paragraph, and the passage as a whole

Answer Anticipation

Looking at our notes (or scanning the passage), we can find the Author brings up Maritain in Paragraph 2, starting in Line 45. We noted that he serves as an expert and an example, in that he talks about bees dancing. Paragraph 2 we noted as exploring a common view introduced in Paragraph 1, but a view that the Author ultimately attacks in Paragraph 3. So Maritain is brought up as an expert that the Author disagrees with.With that in mind, let’s check to see what this example is meant to illustrate. Looking immediately before the first mention of Maritain, we can see that it’s meant to build off of the idea that “conscious intention” is “uniquely human” (Lines 43-45).So the Author brings up Maritain to argue that conscious intent is uniquely human and isn’t shared by animals - a view that she’ll ultimately argue against. Let’s find an answer reflecting that role.

Answer choices

  1. A
    describe an interpretation of Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A matches the stem

    (A) (Line 50-52; Line 53) After presenting Maritain’s view, the Author immediately starts a new paragraph to say that “these arguments are circular” - and circular reasoning is a common logical error. Maritain’s view is an interpretation of animal communication (that it’s conditioned reflex and not conscious intention), so this is the correct answer.

  2. B
    suggest by illustration that Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B is not credited

    (B) (Lines 48-51) The example raised by Maritain is the bee “waggle-dance,” which he argues is a conditioned reflex. So the immediate section here doesn’t claim that this example illustrates conscious intent underlying animal communication. And while the Author does disagree with Maritain’s overall argument, she never circles back to question whether the bees consciously intend to communicate when they waggle-dance. So the bee example isn’t meant to illustrate animals can consciously communicate, making this answer wrong.

  3. C
    present an argument in Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C is not credited

    (C) (Lines 30-36) The Author of Passage B introduces the common view as one that animal communication is “rigid responses to stimuli,” while human communication is “spontaneous and creative.” While she eventually argues that this rests on faulty logic and bad assumptions, Maritain’s view is before the pivot - he argues that animal communication consists of “conditioned reflex,” not intent. So the Author doesn’t present Maritain’s view to present an argument in favor of spontaneous and creative animal communication.

  4. D
    furnish specific evidence against Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D is not credited

    (D) (Lines 50-51) The Author says Maritain believes that animal communication is “merely a conditioned reflex,” so she’s not bringing him up to furnish evidence of the opposite. She might bring him up to set up a transition to discuss such evidence, but he isn’t furnishing that evidence himself.

  5. E
    point to a noted Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E is not credited

    (E) (Line 53) The Author of Passage B follows the discussion of Maritain’s view by calling it a circular argument - that’s not a sign of respect!

What this tests

Question analytics

Based on historical answer selection rates for this question.

Answer choice distribution

  1. A Credited 58%
  2. B 7%
  3. C 5%
  4. D 14%
  5. E 16%

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