Can someone give me a reason to not think that the MP for this question is about "altruism arises from selfish system?"
Gosh...
It's killing me...
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- ohthatpatrick
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Atticus Finch
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Re: Q13
I think you're correct ... if I were attempting to pick a sentence that encapsulated the main point of Psg A, I would pick either 13-14 or 32-34.
The author is trying to explain altruism from an evolutionary standpoint, and those two sentences are the biggest takeaways of his explanation.
I'm not sure whether you thought one of the wrong answers was a good fit for that or whether you were just annoyed that the correct answer didn't sum up the passage the way you expected it to.
(A) is too limited in scope, and it goes a little too far by saying that altruism "diminishes the reproductive success".
(B) doesn't provide a good evolutionary explanation for altruism. We KNOW that genes promote their own self-propagation ... that's evolution. To explain altruism, we have to show how helping other people could actually promote the helper's genes.
(C) is too limited in scope. And although this sounds somewhat like the author's second to last sentence, the idea that altruism "does not serve" the evolutionary purposes it once did is extreme and lacks support. Altruism might now benefit non-kin members, but it still might benefit kin members as well, thereby still serving the same evolutionary purpose as before.
(D) "contrary to critics" comes from psg B, not A. "Most" behavior is way too extreme.
(E) Sounds good. 1st paragraph introduced the context of evolutionary psychology trying to find an evolutionary explanation for altruism. Lines 13-18 form that explanation: identification and empathy brought about by cues of kinship and familiarity.
Hope this helps.
The author is trying to explain altruism from an evolutionary standpoint, and those two sentences are the biggest takeaways of his explanation.
I'm not sure whether you thought one of the wrong answers was a good fit for that or whether you were just annoyed that the correct answer didn't sum up the passage the way you expected it to.
(A) is too limited in scope, and it goes a little too far by saying that altruism "diminishes the reproductive success".
(B) doesn't provide a good evolutionary explanation for altruism. We KNOW that genes promote their own self-propagation ... that's evolution. To explain altruism, we have to show how helping other people could actually promote the helper's genes.
(C) is too limited in scope. And although this sounds somewhat like the author's second to last sentence, the idea that altruism "does not serve" the evolutionary purposes it once did is extreme and lacks support. Altruism might now benefit non-kin members, but it still might benefit kin members as well, thereby still serving the same evolutionary purpose as before.
(D) "contrary to critics" comes from psg B, not A. "Most" behavior is way too extreme.
(E) Sounds good. 1st paragraph introduced the context of evolutionary psychology trying to find an evolutionary explanation for altruism. Lines 13-18 form that explanation: identification and empathy brought about by cues of kinship and familiarity.
Hope this helps.
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