PrepTest 136, Section 3, Question 17
Traditional theories of animal behavior assert that animal(454 more words not shown)
Which one of the following(11 more words not shown)
- AIt develops a(12 more words not shown)
- BIt continues a(14 more words not shown)
- CIt describes an(12 more words not shown)
- DIt describes a(15 more words not shown)
- EIt describes predictions(16 more words not shown)
Reading the passage
The final paragraph puts evolutionary game theory to work. It predicts that opponent size, predation risk, alternative sites, and competition will affect territorial behavior. Then it gives a specific expected difference: grassland spiders should be more willing to escalate than riparian spiders.
What we’re looking for
Those are consequences we could check. The paragraph moves from explaining the theory to showing what we should expect if it fits these disputes.
Working the answers
- A
The comparison between classical and evolutionary game theory occurs in the preceding paragraph. Here Riechert applies the evolutionary account to the spiders.
- B
The theory is described as recently developed, but it isn't established as controversial. More importantly, this answer doesn't capture the paragraph's specific work of generating predictions.
- C
We aren't given an experiment's results confirming the theory. The paragraph tells us what Riechert predicts, which is different from reporting successful tests.
- D
The unusual fighting is introduced in the second paragraph. By the third, we already know that it occurs and are using a theory to predict how it should vary. This answer describes an earlier step rather than the function of the paragraph we're asked about.
- ECorrect
Differences in escalation between the two habitats could be compared with the theory's predictions. Can be used to test doesn't say that researchers have already performed those tests, or promise that they will. It describes what those checkable predictions allow us to do.
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