Critical Reading ***?

Test Preparation
1

<p>Apes raised by humans seem to pretend more frequently
than do apes in the wild. Animal handlers see behaviors
they interpret as pretending practically every day. But Anne
Line Russon, a psychologist, says she has found only about 20
5 recorded cases of possible pretending in free-ranging
orangutans, culled from thousands of hours of observation.
One possible reason, she noted in an e-mail interview from
her field station in Borneo, is that researchers have not been
looking for such behavior. But many researchers believe
10 that interaction with humans—and the encouragement to
pretend that comes with it—may play a major role in why
domesticated apes playact more.</p>

<ol>
<li> Russon’s hypothesis would be most fully tested by which possible research project?</li>
</ol>

<p>(A) Examining data from observations of pretending behavior in apes other than orangutans
(B)Expanding ongoing observations of orangutans to include pretending behavior
(C) Documenting pretending behavior among orangutans raised by humans
(D)Comparing specific pretending behaviors in free-ranging and domesticated orangutans
(E) Reviewing existing data on free-ranging orangutans to determine the earliest record of pretending behavior
ANSWERS AND EXPLANATIONS </p>

<p>Explanation for Correct Answer B : </p>

<p>Choice (B) is correct. Researchers had not been studying pretending behavior in free-ranging orangutans; if they had done so, they would have had data to compare with the data about orangutans raised by humans.</p>

<p>How can it be choice B?The explanation says that researchers have not been studying free-ranging oranguatns, but in the passage (line 6) it says that there’s been thousands of hours of observation. Can someone explain?</p>

2

<p>Russon’s hypothesis is that pretending behavior is not seen in the wild because researchers have not been looking for it–in other words, the apes in Borneo might engage in pretending behavior but nobody’s noticed it because it wasn’t on the researchers’ radar.</p>

<p>To test this hypothesis, all they’d have to do is start looking for that behavior. If they found it, it would prove her hypothesis correct; if they didn’t, it would prove her hypothesis incorrect.</p>

<p>The “thousands of hours of observation” obviously did NOT include looking for pretending behavior–the researchers were observing, yes, but not looking for that in particular, just like you can observe your room for an hour and not notice a pencil unless you’re looking for it.</p>

3

<p>(you’re welcome, btw)</p>