#20 - The peppered moth avoids predators by blending into

[Nicholas Bruno]

Hi Kappe,

I'll answer your first question first since its easier! The stimulus (basically) says lightest=most likely to be eaten, therefore, darkest are the least likely to be eaten.

Answer Choice D points out that this is a "false dilemma"--there is another option. Namely, the fact that there could be a *intermediate* group that is really the least likely to be eaten.

On the second question, it is hard for me to answer without seeing all of your work. On this particular question, I would think that you need to focus on the "extremes." The stimulus talks about the "darkest" and the "lightest" but leaves out a whole intermediate group. Recognizing that there is a group that is left out of the stimulus's discussion helps to clarify the question.

I hope that helps!

[co659]

Hello ! I'm having a hard time understanding why D is correct here. When I took this the first time, I chose (C,) then when reviewing, I ended up choosing A cause I just did not understand the other answer choices. Perhaps you could help with my pre-phrase?:

Since this was a flaw question I pre-phrased that the author suggested that because group A (the lightest) had a characteristic that differed from group B (the darkest) an event was more likely to occur to group A. This led me to chose C the first time around.

I chose A the second time because I pre-phrased that if the light moths had more predators than the dark moths then the argument overlooks the possibility that there was another factor (i.e. Thy taste better, bigger size, etc.) that is irrelevant to their shade color.

Obviously I'm wrong on both ends so could you point out where I went wrong ?

[Alexandra Ruby]

Hi co659,

I see where you are going with the question. The problem with the argument is that the conclusion makes a jump by stating that the darker moths were less likely to be seen and eaten simply because the lighter moths had greater contrast with their environment and were more likely to be seen and eaten. To put it another way, if the stimulus had said that white moths did not contrast with their environment and thus were more likely to be seen and eaten and, thus, black moths are less likely to bee seen and eaten you can see the jump in reasoning and the flaw more readily. The conclusion misses everything in between light and dark (or white and black such as green or yellow) as being possibly better at blending into the environment and being less likely to bee seen and eaten

As for answer choices A and C, while they may be true, and they might weaken the argument, they are not the flaw in this conclusion, which is based distinctly on the shade color.

[persde]

Hello all. Am I correct in stating that the flaw in the argument is a false dilemma? In other words, since the stimulus notes that the lightest pigmented moths were the most likely to be eaten, the author directly jumps to the conclusion that the darkest moths must be the least likely to be eaten, and assumes there is no third scenario (i.e. moths of intermediate colors).

Am I thinking about this correctly?

Thank you!

[Jennifer Janowsky]

Hi, persde! Yes, you're correct that the flaw in this case is False Dilemma--the author falsely assumes there are "either" dark "or" light moths, and overlooks the possibility of intermediate shades.