PrepTest 134 - Section 4 - Passage 3 - Question 16

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Passage A.

Context · Evolutionary psychology is a lens to explain human behavior

Human behavior is explained by how it contributes to the reproductive success of individuals exhibiting that behavior.

Problem / Phenonemon · What's the explanation for altruism?

Altruism is behavior that seems to benefit others at one's own expense.

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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.

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.

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Skepticism · of evolutionary psychology's explanation

Author acknowledges that the evolutionary psychology explanation could be right but there are alternative explanations. Author requires the elimination of other explanations. Author believes that some motives don't require further scrutiny, e.g., a parent's motive to promote a child's well-being.

Passage Style

16.

According to passage A, certain █████ ██ █████ ████████ █████████ ███████ ████████████ █████████ ███████ ████

Question Type

Stated

What this question asks about is related to the main point of Passage A. Passage A proposes that the reason humans engage in altruistic behavior is that genes for altruistic behavior caused themselves to be spread. If humans help each other, that increases the chance that fellow humans will survive, which increases the chances that the genes possessed by those people – including genes for altruistic behavior – will survive.

helped spread the █████ ███████████ ███ █████ ████ █████████

Stated in the last paragraph of Passage A.

90%

prompted individuals to ██████ ███████████

Passage A never states that certain types of human behavior prompt others to behave unselfishly. It actually states that certain genes prompt individuals to behave unselfishly. (B) confuses behavior causing unselfishness with genes causing unselfishness.

improved the physical ██████ ██ ███████████ ███ █████████ ███ █████████

There’s no mention of human behaviors helping the people engaging in those behaviors to get physically healthier.

made individuals who █████████ ███ █████████ ████ █████ ██ ███████ ████

There’s no mention finding food in Passage A.

prompted early humans ██ ████ ██ ████████ █████████ ██████

Passage A does state that human ancestors lived in small groups. But, it never describes what caused people to live in these small groups.

PrepTest 134 - Section 4 - Passage 3 - Question 16

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