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- Mon May 23, 2016 11:11 am
#25342
Passage Discussion
As with many Comparative Reading passages, the two authors take different tones in discussing the same general topic: the ability of evolutionary psychology to explain altruistic behavior.
Passage A
Overall, this author seeks to explain altruistic behavior as a result of certain psychological states brought about by cues indicating the presence of shared genetic material. As a whole, the passage has a predictable structure for a science passage: it begins by describing a puzzling phenomenon and then offers a novel explanation for it.
Paragraph One:
Introduce the basic tenets of evolutionary psychology (lines 3-7) and describe a phenomenon—altruism—that defies an easy explanation.
Paragraph Two:
Explain altruism as an evolutionary phenomenon. Cues, such as physical resemblance, indicate the presence of shared genetic material and provoke psychological states of identification and empathy. The resulting “altruistic” behavior, in turn, enhances the survival and replication of genes that influence the capacity for identification and empathy. The end of this paragraph provides a nice summary of the “selfish gene” theory—“genes promoting their own self-propagation may thus operate through instinctive actions that appear unselfish” (lines 24-26).
Paragraph Three:
Examine the application of altruistic mechanisms to small, kin-based groups.
Passage B
The author of the second passage is overtly skeptical about the ability of evolutionary psychology to explain altruistic behavior, because the concern to propagate our genes is not necessarily the only plausible motive for such behavior.
Paragraph One:
Redefine evolutionary psychology as a “conspiracy theory” and cast that theory in a dubious light.
Paragraph Two:
Describe monogamy as an example of human behavior for which evolutionary psychologists propose a questionable explanation.
Paragraph Three:
Explain why the theory of evolutionary psychology is of questionable value.
Passage Similarities and Differences
With a clear understanding of the two passages, we need to make a basic analysis of the passage relationships. The author of passage B is clearly more skeptical of evolutionary psychology than is the author of passage A, although both authors exhibit a tone that is more speculative than assertive. Both authors provide evidence suggesting that certain human behaviors can be explained by showing that genes promote their own self-propagation, but the author of passage B suggests that an interest in the behavior itself can serve the same explanatory purpose.
As with many Comparative Reading passages, the two authors take different tones in discussing the same general topic: the ability of evolutionary psychology to explain altruistic behavior.
Passage A
Overall, this author seeks to explain altruistic behavior as a result of certain psychological states brought about by cues indicating the presence of shared genetic material. As a whole, the passage has a predictable structure for a science passage: it begins by describing a puzzling phenomenon and then offers a novel explanation for it.
Paragraph One:
Introduce the basic tenets of evolutionary psychology (lines 3-7) and describe a phenomenon—altruism—that defies an easy explanation.
Paragraph Two:
Explain altruism as an evolutionary phenomenon. Cues, such as physical resemblance, indicate the presence of shared genetic material and provoke psychological states of identification and empathy. The resulting “altruistic” behavior, in turn, enhances the survival and replication of genes that influence the capacity for identification and empathy. The end of this paragraph provides a nice summary of the “selfish gene” theory—“genes promoting their own self-propagation may thus operate through instinctive actions that appear unselfish” (lines 24-26).
Paragraph Three:
Examine the application of altruistic mechanisms to small, kin-based groups.
Passage B
The author of the second passage is overtly skeptical about the ability of evolutionary psychology to explain altruistic behavior, because the concern to propagate our genes is not necessarily the only plausible motive for such behavior.
Paragraph One:
Redefine evolutionary psychology as a “conspiracy theory” and cast that theory in a dubious light.
Paragraph Two:
Describe monogamy as an example of human behavior for which evolutionary psychologists propose a questionable explanation.
Paragraph Three:
Explain why the theory of evolutionary psychology is of questionable value.
Passage Similarities and Differences
With a clear understanding of the two passages, we need to make a basic analysis of the passage relationships. The author of passage B is clearly more skeptical of evolutionary psychology than is the author of passage A, although both authors exhibit a tone that is more speculative than assertive. Both authors provide evidence suggesting that certain human behaviors can be explained by showing that genes promote their own self-propagation, but the author of passage B suggests that an interest in the behavior itself can serve the same explanatory purpose.
