PrepTest 159, Section 1, Question 16
A recent study carefully tracked the specific behaviors(67 more words not shown)
Which one of the following,(9 more words not shown)
- AChimpanzees sometimes copy(13 more words not shown)
- BChimpanzees that are(16 more words not shown)
- CThe chimpanzee groups(12 more words not shown)
- DThe behavioral differences(17 more words not shown)
- EOf the chimpanzee(21 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
Being in the same subspecies doesn't mean having identical genes. So why have we ruled genetics out?
The study compares five East African groups from one subspecies with two West African groups from another. One East African group behaves more like the West African groups than like its fellow East African groups. That is an interesting result. The behavioral pattern doesn't line up neatly with the subspecies labels.
But a label isn't a complete genetic description. There could be genetic variation within the East African subspecies, and that variation might help explain why this group behaves differently. Comparing the groups is perfectly reasonable; jumping from the comparison to a cultural explanation is what needs support.
What we’re looking for
I'd initially want a strengthener that reduces the genetic possibility. For example, evidence of especially close genetic similarity within the East African subspecies could make a genetic account of the behavioral difference harder to maintain. That wouldn't by itself prove culture is the only explanation, but it would address my first objection. Let's also allow for an answer that supplies direct support for culture instead.
Working the answers
- ACorrect
Copying another chimpanzee is a way to acquire behavior without inheriting it genetically. If chimpanzees sometimes copy others regardless of how closely related they are, we have a plausible mechanism for learned group behavior.
This isn't the strong exclusion of genetics I first wanted. It doesn't show that every observed difference is cultural or that genes have no role. It supports the proposed explanation from the other side by showing how behavior can be passed along through learning. That's a real improvement, even though it doesn't settle the entire question.
- B
A newcomer brings both different behavior and different genetic characteristics. That keeps the two possible explanations together instead of helping us distinguish them. We aren't told that the existing group learns the newcomer's behavior independently of those genetic differences.
- C
Different environmental challenges could offer another explanation for different behavior. Animals might behave differently because their surroundings demand different responses. C doesn't establish that cultural transmission, rather than genetics or a response to the environment, accounts for the pattern observed.
- D
We already know the groups behave differently. Making the differences recognizable doesn't tell us what causes them. Clear differences could still arise through genes, learning, environmental conditions, or some combination.
- E
Relative distance between groups doesn't establish how their behavior was acquired. Knowing that the East African groups live closer together still leaves us asking why one resembles the West African groups. E supplies neither evidence against a genetic explanation nor a mechanism for the proposed cultural one.
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