M: It is almost impossible to find a person between the ages of 85 an 90 who primarily uses the left hand.
Q: Seventy to ninety years ago, however, children were punished for using their left hands to eat or to write and were forced to use their right hands.
Q's response serves to counter any use by M of the evidence about 85 to 90 year olds in supports of which one of the following hypotheses?
(A) Being born right-handed confers a survival advantage.
(B) Societal attitudes toward handedness differ at different times.
(C) Forcing a person to switch from a preferred hand is harmless.
(D) Handedness is a product of both genetic predisposition and social pressures.
(E) Physical habits learned in school often persist in old age.
Left Hand
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The correct answer is definitely choice A. This is another explain the phenomenon or cause of the effect argument. M raises the phenomenon: there aren't many old left-handers.
Why would this be? There are different possible explanations. Q raises evidence that tends to suggest that the explanation for this phenomenon is social. So, Q's response serves to counter the idea that the explanation is genetic.
Choice E is tempting. But it does the opposite of what we want. Presuming that some of these people were punished in school for using their left-hand, if that habit persists into old age, M's comments are consistent with choice E. Opposite wrong answers are very common in stn/wkn questions.
Why would this be? There are different possible explanations. Q raises evidence that tends to suggest that the explanation for this phenomenon is social. So, Q's response serves to counter the idea that the explanation is genetic.
Choice E is tempting. But it does the opposite of what we want. Presuming that some of these people were punished in school for using their left-hand, if that habit persists into old age, M's comments are consistent with choice E. Opposite wrong answers are very common in stn/wkn questions.
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