#15 - In the winter, ravens survive by eating carcasses; in

[Administrator]

Please post your questions below!

[Nicholas Noyes]

Hello,

So I got this on originally wrong but I want to confirm why ANSWER B is correct.

Is the "radical reinterpretation of those observations" mentioned in this answer choice referring to the juvenile ravens driving away the two mated pair of ravens?

Thank You,
Nicholas

[glasann]

So I didn't really love any of the answer choices though understand why you'd get to B via process of elimination. I could see how you or I could very easily come to the conclusion that B is describing, but how do we know that Heinrich came to that conclusion? In fact, there's really no conclusion whatsoever in the stimulus as it doesn't appear to even be an argument so much as just a fact set. And how exactly is it "radical"?

Thanks!

[Adam Tyson]

Hey there Nicholas and glasann, happy to help here. The "radical reinterpretation" is that what had appeared to be altruistic behavior - which is a generous, giving thing, taking care of others without concern for yourself - turns out to be entirely selfish behavior. The groups of ravens that are sharing meat aren't doing so in order to generously help each other, but so they can gang up on other ravens and drive them away by force! That's a pretty radical difference!

Glasann, you are right that there is no argument in the stimulus, just the facts that Heinrich observed. Our goal, though, is simply to find an answer that best describes what we saw in the stimulus. This is a very odd question - we called it a Method of Reasoning question, because it is about describing the stimulus in abstract terms, but it doesn't very neatly fit into that category, since there is no actual reasoning going on. Nor does it very cleanly fit any other category that we normally encounter, except perhaps a soft Must Be True (aka Most Strongly Supported). LSAC has been trying to innovate the last few years to keep students on their toes, and this looks to me like something kind of new! Whatever we may call it, though, our job is to pick the answer that most strongly resembles what was given to us, and answer B looks a lot like what actually happened in the stimulus. Heinrich confirmed what had been previously reported - groups of ravens sharing meat - but his observations suggested that it was not altruistic but the exact opposite.

It's a strange one! We'll have to stay sharp in case more oddballs like this one come along!