PrepTest 134 - Section 4 - Passage 3 - Question 15

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Passage A.

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Answer / Hypothesis · Psychology of identification and empathy

Because humans share genes with relatives, altruistic behavior could have arisen because it helped spread those genes. E.g., mother rushing to help a child promotes the survival of their shared genes.

Answer / Hypothesis · Altruism applied to groups and later even to larger communities

Altruism could have applied at the group level since kin share genes. Later, it could have applied to non-kin community

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Skepticism · about evolutionary psychology

A parent's interest in helping their child is just that. There's no need to explain it in terms of genes conspiring to propagate themselves.

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Monogamy · as explained via evolutionary psychology

Human offspring are slow to mature. Hence, to ensure their maturity and the spread of genes, humans form monogamous families. Presumably monogamous families are better able to raise offspring to maturity.

Passage Style

15.

According to passage B, which ███ ██ ███ █████████ ██ ██ ███████ ██ █ █████ ██████████████ ███ █████ ████████████ █████████████ ███████ █ ████████████ ████████████

Question Type

Stated

This is a Stated question that’s targeted toward what Passage B gives as an “example of a human characteristic for which evolutionary psychologists propose a questionable explanation.” The forming of monogamous families is the human characteristic that evolutionary psychologists think is explained by an interest in the spreading of genes. Author B questions this explanation in the final paragraph.

the early human ████████ ██ ████ ██ █████ ███████████

(A) isn’t mentioned anywhere in Passage B. (It’s only mentioned in Passage A.)

the slow maturation ██ █████ █████████

Slow maturation in human offspring isn’t the characteristic that evolutionary psychologists are trying to explain. It’s mentioned in the second paragraph as something psychologists “take as evidence” for the explanation of monogamous families.

forming monogamous families

(C) is supported by the second and third paragraphs of Passage B. Evolutionary psychologists believe humans “form monogamous families because of our interest in propagating our genes.” The author questions this explanation in the third paragraph.

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misinterpreting the interests ████ ████████ █████ ███████

Passage B warns us about the potential of misinterpreting the interests that motivate humans. But misinterpretation isn’t the behavior that evolutionary psychologists are trying to explain in Passage B. It’s the mistake that evolutionary psychologists make when they try to explain the behavior of humans forming monogamous families.

caring for some ██████ ███ █████ ███ █████

Passage B mentions (E) in connection with its suggestion that some behaviors aren’t caused by the interest of genes in spreading themselves. But (E) isn’t the characteristic that some psychologists attempt to propose an explanation for in Passage B.

PrepTest 134 - Section 4 - Passage 3 - Question 15

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