Self-study
A study of guppy fish shows that Conclusion a male guppy will alter its courting patterns in response to feedback from a female guppy. █████ ████ ████ ██████ ██ ███ ████ ████ ███ █████ ████ ████ ██ ████ █████ ████ ████ ██████ ██ █ ███████ ███████ ████ █████ ██ █████ █████ ████ ████ ██████ ████████ ███ █████ ██████ ██ ████ ███ ███████ █████ ████ ██████ ████ ████ █████████
Summarize Argument: Phenomenon-Hypothesis
The author hypothesizes that male guppies change their courting behavior based on feedback from female guppies. Why? Because in a study, male guppies showed their side with more orange to females, and females were attracted to males showing the most orange.
Notable Assumptions
The author assumes male guppies usually showed their more-orange sides to females in response to feedback from those females, and not for any other reason. This means assuming male guppies observed that females preferred mates with more orange and changed their behavior in response. Therefore the author assumes that before making those observations, male guppies were no more likely to show females their more-orange side.
8.
Which one of the following, ██ █████ ████████ ███ ████ ███████ ███ ███ █████████
a
When a model ██ █ ██████ █████ ███ ███████████ ███ ███ ██████ ██████ ████ ███████ █████ ████████ ███ ████ ███ ████ ██████ ██ ████ █████ ████ ████ ████ ███████
This rules out an alternative hypothesis: that male guppies always show females their side with the most orange, regardless of the females’ behavior.
Plausibility
Plausibility
Presenting evidence that corroborates (in Strengthen) or conflicts (in Weaken) with the author's hypothesized explanation or the predictions that follow from that explanation.
b
In many other ███████ ███████ ████ █ ██████████ ███ ████████ ██ ████████ ██████ ████ ████████ ██ █████████
This is irrelevant. It doesn’t say guppies are one such species—and even if they were, it wouldn’t imply that male guppies learn to show their side with the most orange in response to the females’ behavior.
c
No studies have ████ ████ ██ ███████ ████ ███████ ████ ████ ██████ ████████ ██████ ████ █████████ ████ █████ ████ ████ ██████ █████████
This is irrelevant. It’s an opportunity for further research that could support the author’s hypothesis. The fact it hasn’t been done doesn’t make that hypothesis any more likely.
d
Female guppies have ██████ ██ ███ ██████ ████████ ██ █████ ██████
This is irrelevant. There’s no indication male or female guppies change their behavior based on the appearance of female guppies.
e
The male and ██████ ███████ ████ ████ ██ ████████ █████ ██ ████ █████ ███ ████ █████ ███ ███ █████████ ████████ █████████
If anything, this weakens the argument. It raises the possibility that the male guppies were not actually courting the female guppies or that females were not responding to that courting. If true, either of these scenarios would call the author’s hypothesis into question.