PrepTest 150, Section 2, Question 21
A chimp who displays feelings of affection toward(82 more words not shown)
Which one of the following(8 more words not shown)
- AChimps express their(6 more words not shown)
- BFeelings of affection(8 more words not shown)
- CFeelings of affection(8 more words not shown)
- DExpression of affection(14 more words not shown)
- EFeelings of affection,(12 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
Protecting a friendly chimp makes intuitive sense. But does one similarity show that affection plays the same role in both communities?
My first concern is how much that conclusion covers. Suppose affection has ten important roles in human communities, and we've observed only this one protective pattern in chimps. That observation wouldn't settle whether the other roles match. We have evidence of one connection involving protection, not a complete account of affection in either community.
What we’re looking for
The question asks for a necessary assumption. My initial objection raises the breadth of the comparison, but we shouldn't demand that affection have no other roles at all; both communities could share additional roles too. We need something the argument relies on to make its comparison work. Let's see which choice identifies that missing support.
Working the answers
- A
Chimps needn't display every emotion whenever they feel it. The argument concerns a particular pattern involving displayed affection and protection. It could rely on that pattern even if chimps sometimes concealed affection or other emotions. A's rule about every occasion is more than the comparison requires.
- BCorrect
Look carefully at who feels affection toward whom. The chimp that receives protection has shown affection toward the others. That establishes its feelings, not the defenders' feelings. The human comparison, however, concerns defenders protecting people toward whom those defenders feel affection.
To compare the two, the argument needs at least some affection to go back the other way: some defenders must feel affection toward the chimp that showed affection to them. Defending someone isn't itself proof of those feelings; a chimp might defend another for a different reason. If affection were never returned, the observed chimp pattern wouldn't show the same affection-based protection described for humans. B supplies this needed link, even though it doesn't settle my broader initial concern about all the roles affection might play.
- C
Affection can make humans more willing to protect someone without being their only reason to do so. A person might also protect someone from a sense of duty, for example. The comparison needs affection to play the relevant protective role, not to exclude every other possible motive for protection.
- D
Chimps could display affection outside their group as well as inside it. That wouldn't undo the described pattern within their group or prevent a comparison with human affection. Limiting all expression to group members isn't needed for the argument.
- E
The argument doesn't require altruistic behavior to be the usual way affection is displayed in either community. It concerns affection and willingness to take risks in this particular protective setting. A broad claim about how affection is typically expressed goes beyond the link needed here.
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