Self-study
P1
Traditional theories of animal behavior assert that animal conflict within a species is highly ritualized and does not vary from contest to contest. ████ ████████████████ █████ ███████ ████ ██████████ ███ ██ ███ ████ ██████ ███ █████ ████████ ███ ██ ███████ ██ █████████ ████████ ███████ ██ ███████ ███████ ███ ██████████ ████ ████████ ███ ██████ ███████ ████ ███ █████████ █████████ ███
Other people's hypothesis ·
Species-specific model
Animal conflict is ritualized, consistent, and minimizes injury; conflict is mainly for show
Support hypothesis ·
E.g. of galápagos tortoises
Neck height contest is ritualized and just for show
P2
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Weaken hypothesis ·
E.g. of A. aperta spider
Conflict is not consistent and not just for show
Riechert's hypothesis ·
Evolutionary game theory is a better explanation of A. aperta behavior
Support: evolutionary game theory is able to account for variations in behavior
Background ·
on evolutionary game theory
Based on classical game theory; describes behavior in terms of average payoff of taking certain actions
Application ·
to spiders
Contrast ·
Evolutionary and classical game theory
Evolutionary game theory says behavior is driven by instinct and reproductive advantage, rather than rational thought and personal preferences
P3
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Elaborate on Richert's hypothesis ·
Variations in A. aperta behavior explained by several factors
Including features of individual opponent and surrounding habitat
Application ·
of Riechert's hypothesis
Escalated fighting more likely where habitat is scarce than where it is plentiful
Passage Style
Critique or debate
Phenomenon-hypothesis (RC)
13.
Which one of the following ████ ██████ ███ ████ ████ ██ ███ ████████
a
Evolutionary game theory ███ █████████ ████ ██████ ███ ██ ████ ██ ███████ ███ ███████ ██ ███████████████ ████ ██ ██████ ███ ███████ ██ ████████ █████████
The inclusion of analyzing human behavior is out of place. The passage isn’t focused on how classical game theory can be used to analyze human decision-making in settling disputes. In addition, (A) doesn’t include reference to using evolutionary game theory to explain A. aperta’s behavior.
b
A. aperta in █████████ ████████ ███ ████████ ████████ ███████ ██ █████████ ████ ███████ ██ ████████ █████████ ██ ███████████ █████████
This is too narrow. How A. aperta might behave in grassland and riparian habitats is relevant only to the last paragraph, where the author describes Riechert’s predictions based on evolutionary game theory. But (B) doesn’t capture the broader point that evolutionary game theory might be able to explain A. aperta’s behavior.
c
Evolutionary game theory ███ ██ ██████ ██ ██████████ ███ ████████ ██ ███████ ███████ ██████ ███████████ █████████
This best captures the main point, which is that
d
The traditional theory ██ ██████ ████████ ██ ████████ ██████████ ██████ ██ ████ ██ ███████ ███ ████████ ████████ ██ ████ ████████
This doesn’t capture the idea that evolutionary game theory can be used to explain A. aperta’s behavior. In addition, the author never suggests that traditional theories of animal behavior can’t explain the fighting of “most” (over half) species.
e
Evolutionary game theory, ███████ ████ █████████ ████ ███████ ██ █████████ ████ ██ ██████████ ██ ███████ ███ ████████ ██ ███████ ██ ████ ██████████
Not supported, because we don’t know that evolutionary game theory is currently used by “scientists” — we only know that Riechert uses it. In addition, “site selection” is not supported. Riechert applies evolutionary game theory to explain spider fighting behavior in territorial disputes. This isn’t the same as explaining how spiders select sites. Because (E) isn’t supported, it can’t be the main point.