#14 - Specific Reference, Must Be True, Purpose/Function

[jwheeler]

I was a little stumped on this one. I thought B, C, and E were all decent contenders. Is E the winner because it brings in the perspective of traditional theorists, which the rest of the passage goes on to present an alternative theory for?

I ended up eliminating B because it's more of an example than suggestion, and eliminated C because it doesn't necessarily provide evidence for the highly ritualized conflict mitigation techniques employed by most species.

This was one I marked and definitely thought I had a solid chance of missing, so any clarification as to what makes E the better of the 3 would be appreciated!

[Brook Miscoski]

Hi, Wheeler.

This question asks you to identify the function of a specific portion of the text--the mention of the Galapagos tortoises. The "for instance" used by the author lets you know that the Galapagos tortoises are an example of ritualized behavior that is part of the species-specific model. This is all given as initial information about a common approach; the remainder of the passage is about a new approach that assumes ritual and combat vary based on the situation.

Looking at (B), (C), and (E),

(B) is wrong because the passage says that the evolutionary model discusses both ritual and combat--so it's a both/and, not an either/or.
(C) is wrong because the author doesn't say whether or not it is common for behavior to alter from contest to contest.
(E) is the best choice because it lines up exactly with the pattern the author is adopting--introduce and briefly describe old theory, then spend the remainder of the passage discussing a new theory.

[ashpine17]

I took out E because it says "most" how on earth are we supposed to know that traditional theorists assume this to be true for most species? otherwise, i would have gone for either B or E.

[ashpine17]

like it's true it says the norm and i thought that was fine, but most species? i didn't see support for that.

[ashpine17]

in terms of purpose i thought e fit because i thought the tortoises were an example of the traditional theory but i didn't think it was factually supported enough?? i was between b and e and thought b was a bit sketchy in terms of purpose "suggests" but i thought it was factually correct??

[Rachael Wilkenfeld]

Hi ash,

This question is asking a combination of things from the reader, so it's completely reasonable that it's a bit of a struggle. The first is to recognize why the author uses a particular part of the argument. That's a standardish question type, and hopefully looks familiar. The trick here comes with the second bit. You need to figure out what the various viewpoints would say about an example.

Our example of the Galapagos tortoise uses physical movement to assert dominance, stretching their necks in a challenge to see who can stretch taller. It is animal conflict within species, ritualized, and does not actually harm the tortoises. The traditional theorists claim that this type of behavior varies from species to species in the specific ritual, but is common as a category of behavior. The first paragraph specifically states that the model "assumes" that the behavior is common in the animal world. We just don't have support for the contention that the traditional theorists use this example to show that some animals DO NOT engage in this behavior, as suggested by answer choice (B). Therefore, answer choice (E) is our correct answer.

Hope that helps!

[jigjigjig]

I'm still confused about how we can know that traditional theorists believe their theory applies to most animals. What enables us to infer that?

[Luke Haqq]

Hi jigjigjig!

The language in the first sentence of the first paragraph can help with that inference. We're told that the traditional theories are "theories of animal behavior." That doesn't really contain or mention exceptions, but rather it's stating that the traditional theories concern animals generally, i.e., most animals. Galapagos tortoises are then provided as example.