PT36.S2.Q16 - relationship between gonadal hormones

kraft.phillip

Passage: http://7sage.com/lsat_explanations/lsat-36-section-2-passage-3-passage/
Question: http://7sage.com/lsat_explanations/lsat-36-section-2-passage-3-questions/

The selection is the one about hormones and influences on behavior. The intro/background says that "discussions" about hormones and behavior have only talked about sex hormones.
16 has given me a lot of trouble. The right answer is C, but I have a problem with that because the passage does not say anything about "earlier research" at all. It only says "discussions," and therefore I eliminated that answer choice because it seemed to be adding claims that aren't present in the passage.
I'd really appreciate it if someone can explain to me why this shift in term is acceptable here, since generally answers can be eliminated for being out of scope if they use different types of terminology.

I'm especially worried because this seems to be a serious confidence error--I was sure that C was incorrect, since it seemed to be using more specific language (in my opinion, language indicating something that is uniquely different), than what the passage says.

Thanks!

Auran Buckles

I think from the context in the first paragraph, we can certainly classify it as research because of the scientific nature of it, and discussions in the science community will certainly have much research involved, so "research into" is paraphrasing "discussions of" here.

I am also very frustrated at not being able to eliminate enough answer choices in RC, which is my worst part in the exam, but after doing a lot of them there is definitely some recognizable patterns and certain "hot words" (as some preptest books call it) that are the usual words they use to trip you up. Good luck!

CJ Shin

Hey Auran, I did this PT in the past and this passage, although is daunting at first, is only difficult because of its heavy usage of technical terms.
It seems to me that when you are given a "function" question, it is helpful to consider the BIG PICTURE of the passage.
So let us first think about what the big picture is.
It is rather simple: the understanding of the relationship between hormones and behavior (how hormones influence our behavior) has been very limited in scope, however, it is much more than what we thought it was in the past. The author gives a primary example, how peptide and steroid hormones control water and consumption of salt, which he/she then dedicates the entire passage delineating its mechanism.
Notice that the author is 100% descriptive.

So, keeping this in mind, let us look at Q16.
A) "history of the relationship between G and P hormones.. led to present discussion." Wrong on two levels. We don't know if G and P are related hormones, and we certainly know that the previous research did not LEAD to the new research.

decry? Author is being purely descriptive.

D) misconception? refuting? No no.

E) "recent research.. detailing various procedures that led to those findings.." Wrong because this is NOT the new research.

So C is the only remaining answer and I understand that it is not 100% satisfactory, but considering our big picture (the relationship was limited to XYZ, but now we know that it also applies to ABC), this is the most suitable answer choice. The author wants to emphasize the importance of the new research by introducing the previous research.