LSAT 134 | Section 4 | Reading Comprehension: Q16

RC Question 16 Explanation

DISCUSSION: Passage A argues that evolutionary psychology can explain human behavior. If your genes make you do something that helps you reproduce, then you’ll likely pass on those genes.

The genes for altruism increased the survival of our relatives, who also had the gene for altruism. So the genes for altruism were passed on. The spread of altruism led to better group survival, and the further spread of the genes.

In general, genetic behaviors which helped survival were passed on. So evolutionary psychologists claim that most of our behavior can be explained by this genetic process.

A very simple way to get the right answer is to notice that only answer choice A mentions genes. For a passage about evolution, that makes things fairly obvious.

___________

1. CORRECT. This was the whole point of passage A. Lines 27-30 mention it specifically. 
2. This describes altruism. That was just an example used in passage A. The passage’s overall point was about all behaviors. This answer choice also leaves out genes.
3. This is never mentioned. You might think a behavior would have to improve health to get passed on. But a behavior that hurts you might get passed on if it increased your chances of reproducing or if it kept your children alive.
4. Who knows? The author of passage A was mainly concerned about genes being passed on. You might pass on genes even if you’re bad at finding food.
5. Altruism helped make groups mutually dependent, but that was just an example. Some other behaviors may have helped survival even if they didn’t make us live in groups.