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)
14.
The author of the passage ████████ ██████████ █████████ ██ ███ █████ █████████ ████ ██████ ██ █████ ██
a
describe a kind ██ ████████ ████████ ████ ██ ████ ██ ████ █ ███ ███████
The author doesn’t suggest that the tortoise height contest is used by only a few species. Perhaps it’s used by many species. Even if it is used by only a few species, the purpose still isn’t related to this point. The purpose is to show an example of the behavior described by the species-specific model.
b
suggest that repetitive ███ ██ ███ ████ ██████ ███ █████ ████████ ██ █ ████ ██ ████████ ████████ ████ ██ ████ ███ ███ ███ ███████
At this point in the passage, the author has not raised the idea that repetitive use of the same visual and vocal displays might not be used by all species. Although the author raises this point in P2 when he brings up A. aperta, the tortoise example doesn’t demonstrate this point.
c
provide evidence to ███████ ███ █████ ████ ████████ ████████ ████ ███ ████ ███████ ████ ███████ ██ ███████ ███ ████ ███████
The author doesn’t try to support the claim that fighting behavior doesn’t vary greatly for most species. Rather, the author is merely giving us an example of the traditional theory of animal conflict behavior — the species-specific model. The author doesn’t try to provide evidence to support this model and its application to species; he simply describes the model and an example to help the reader understand the model.
d
provide an example ██ █ ████████ ████████ ████ ██ ██████ ██ █ ██████████ ███████
The author doesn’t suggest that the tortoise’s height contest is “unique” to Galapagos tortoises. Maybe other animals use the same kind of dispute resolution behavior. If you like (D) because you think “species-specific” implies behavior that is unique to species, you’re making an unwarranted assumption. There’s nothing in the name “species-specific” that must imply that each species has its own unique style of dispute resolution.
e
provide an example ██ █ ██████████ ████████ ████████ ██ ███ ████ ████ ███████████ █████████ ██████ ██ ███ ████ ███ ████ ███████
The best captures the purpose of the reference to tortoises. The author wants to provide an example to help us understand the traditional theory of animal behavior. According to this theory, animals use repetitive visual or vocal displays and avoid escalated fighting. The tortoise height contest is an example of this kind of behavior.