PT127.S4.P2.Q8 > Analytics

Hide analysis

Mechanisms for recognizing kin are found throughout the plant and animal kingdoms, regardless of an organism's social or mental complexity. ████████████ ██ ███ ███████ █████████████ ██ █████ ██████████ ████ ██████ ████ ███████████ █████████ ██ ███ ████████ ██ ███ ███ ███████████ ██████ ██ ████ ███

Phenomenon · Many plants and animals can recognize "kin" (relatives)

███ ████████ ██ ████ ████████ ██ ███████ ██ ███ █████████ ███████ ███████ █████ ███ █████████ ██ ███ ██████ ███ ██████ ██ █████ ██ ███ ███████████ ████ ██ ████████ █████████ ███ ███████ ██████████ ██ ██████████ ███████████ ███ ██████ ███████ ███ ██████████ ███ ████ █████████ ███████ ███ ██ ███ █████ ██████████ ███████ ███ ███████████ ████ ██ █████████ ████ ████ ███████ █████████ ██████ ███ █████████ ███████ ██████████████ ██ ███████████ ██████ █ ███████ ████ ███████ ███ ████████ ██████ ██ ██████████ ███ █████████ ███████ ██████ ██████ ████ ███████ █████████ █████████ ██████ █████████ ████ ████ █████ ██████████ ███████ █████ ██ ████ █████████ █████ ███ █████ ███████ ███████████████ ███

Inclusive fitness hypothesis · Organisms transmit genetic material through relatives (not just offspring)

Contrast inclusive fitness with traditional view of evolution. Under traditional view, natural selection favors those with the most offspring. Inclusive fitness suggests natural selection also favors organisms who help their relatives (because this helps spread the organism's own genes).

Inclusive fitness applied · Helps to explain why social insects like bees evolved

Inclusive fitness applied · Theory predicts that cannibals will avoid eating their own relatives

█████████ ████ ████████ ███████ ██ █████████████ ██████████ ████ █████ ████ ███ ████████ ██ ████ ███████ █████ ████ ██ ██████████ ███████ ██████ ██ ███████ ██████ ██ █████ ██████████████ ████ ██ ███ ███████ ███ ████ ████████████ ███ ███████ ████ ███████ ██ ████ █ ██████████ ███████ ████ █████ ███ ███████ ███████ ██ ███ █████████ ██████████ ███ ███████ ███████████ ███████ ███ ███████ ██ ██████ ██████ ███ ███████████ ████████████ ████████ ██ █████ ███████ █████████ ███████ ██ ███ ███ ████████ ███ ███ █████████ ████ █ █████████ ██ ██████████████ ███████ ████ ███ ██ █████ █████████ ██████ ███████████ ███ █████████ ████████ █████████ ████ ████████ ████ ███ █████████ ███████ ██████ ██████ ██ █████ █ ███████ ██████ ██ ███ ███ ███████████ █████████ ██████████████ █ ████████ ███████ ██ ████ ██████ ██ █████ ██████ ███ ████ ██ ███████ ████ ███████ ██████████ ███████ ███ ███ ██████ ███████ ██████ █████ ██ ███ ██████████

Example of theory applied to cannibals · Spadefood toad tadpoles

Some tadpoles eat their own species. But they nip at other tadpoles before eating, and end up eating only nonsiblings. Suggests they're trying to avoid eating their kin. But, they're more likely to eat kin when they're very hungry.

███ █████ ███ ██ █████ ███████ ███ █████████ █████████ ████ ███

Other explanations for kin recognition · Inclusive fitness theory isn't the only explanation

███ ████████ ██ ███ ████████ ████ █████ ████ █████ ██████████ ███████ ████ ██████ ██████████ ██ ██████████████ ███ ███████ ██ ██████ ██ █ ██████ ██████████ ████████████ ██ ███ ██████████ ████ ████████ ██████ ███ ██████████ ██████ ██ ██ ████████ ██ ██████ ████████ ███████ ████████ ███ ████ ████ ████ █████████ ██ ████ ██████ ████ ██ █████ ████ █ █████ ████████ ████ █ ███████ ██████ ██████ ████████ ████ ███████ █████████ ███ █████ █████████ ████ █████ ████ █████████ ██ ███ ██████ ████ ███ █████ ███████████ █████ ███ ███████████ ███ ██ █████████ ██████ ██ █ █████ ██ █████ ██ ████████ █████████ ███ ███ █████ ███ ██ █ █████ ██ ███ ██ ██████████ █████████

Example showing other explanation · Tiger salamander larva

Some larva are cannibals. The bacteria are more deadly to close relatives, because the relatives have a similar immune system to the infected larva. So, when tiger salamanders avoid eating their close relatives, it could be because they just don't want to die from the bacteria in their relatives. This is about the organism's individual self-interest, not about trying to increase overall genetic representation.

Passage Style

Phenomenon-hypothesis (RC)

Single position

Which one of the following ████ ██████████ █████████ ███ ████ █████ ██ ███ ████████

Question Type

Main point

In a Phenomenon-Hypothesis passage, the main point is typically the hypothesis the author focuses on. Here, the author describes the inclusive fitness theory as a potential explanation for kin recognition. She describes findings that provide support to the theory, but also notes that there are some examples of kin recognition that kin recognition might not explain.

Some findings support ███ ██████████ ████ ███ ███████████ ███████ ███████ ███████ █████████ ███████ ██ █████████ ██████████ █████ ███████ ███████████████ ███ ████ ██████████ ███ ███ ███████ ███ █████████ ██ ███ ████████████

This best captures the author’s overall point, because the author focuses on presenting the inclusive fitness theory as a potential explanation for kin recognition and describes evidence supporting it. (A) describes the inclusive fitness theory and the fact that some findings support it.

76%

Current research supports ███ ████ ████ ███ ██████████ ████████ ███ ███████ ██ █ ███████ ██ █████████ █████ █████████ ███ ██ ███████ ██ ███ ████████ ██████ ██ ████ ████████

(B) isn’t supported. Although the author discusses different methods of kin recognition, she provides no evidence that the number of mechanisms for kin recognition is as high as the number of purposes served by kin recognition. The fact that there may be multiple mechanisms underlying kin recognition and potentially multiple purposes does not imply that the number of mechanisms and the number of purposes are about equal. Since (B) isn’t supported, it can’t be the main point.

14%

Recent research involving █████ ███████████ ██████████ ███ ██████████ ██████████ ███ ███████ ██ ███ ███████████ ████ ██ ████████ ██ ███████████ ████████████ ██████████

The author doesn’t present tiger salamanders as an example that undermines the inclusive fitness theory. Rather, she uses them to show that inclusive fitness theory doesn’t explain every instance of kin recognition. In addition, the purpose of kin recognition “espoused by traditional evolutionary theorists” isn’t the inclusive fitness theory, so it’s not clear that (C) refers to the inclusive fitness theory. Since (C) isn’t supported, and it doesn’t mention the inclusive fitness theory, it can’t be the main point.

New research involving █████ ███████████ █████████ ████ ███ ███████████ ██████ ██ ███████ █████████ ██ ████ ████████ █████████ ██ ███ ████████ ████ ██ ███████ ██ █████ ███ ████████ ████ ███ ████ ██ ███ █████████ ████ ████████

This doesn’t mention the inclusive fitness theory, so it can’t be the main point. The “traditional theory of natural selection” is not the same thing as inclusive fitness theory.

While traditional evolutionary ██████ ███ ██████ ██ ███████ ███ ███ ██████████ ██ ███ ████████████ ████ ██████████ ██ █████ █████████ ██ ███ █████████ ███████ ███████

Not supported, because P3 shows that inclusive fitness theory does not explain every instance of kin recognition. Since “fully explained” isn’t supported, it can’t be the main point.

Answer five questions and we'll estimate your score.

It takes about five minutes.

Take the free diagnostic

More free LSAT prep: Sample LSAT questions Free practice test All free LSAT resources

PrepTest 127 - Section 4 - Passage 2 - Question 8

Answer five questions and we'll estimate your score.

Difficulty

Analysis

Answer Popularity

Question history

Confirm action