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Suyash1331
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Essentially the question asks in "order to EVALUATE the support", meaning - in order to see if the conclusion is correct or not - D would show us whether the monkeys already preferred Person B, regardless of helpfulness.

If monkeys still prefer Person B even without any observed behavior, then the conclusion about "avoiding unhelpful individuals" becomes weaker.

But if, without the interaction, monkeys show no preference, it strengthens the idea that the unhelpful behavior is the reason they avoid Person A.

Thus, choice D will help us see, if "the support provided for the researchers' conclusion" is grounded or not.
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C goes directly to the heart of the researchers??? conclusion: Did the monkeys actually understand that Person A was being unhelpful? If not, the conclusion that monkeys prefer to avoid "unhelpful" individuals is unsupported.

D only helps eliminate a potential confound (preexisting preference), but even if the monkeys had no prior preference, the study would still be invalid if the monkeys didn???t grasp what was happening in the interaction.

I chose D, but I feel C is not incorrect. Can experts please throw some light on this.
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I understand why D is correct but I feel like C could also be a correct answer because if they didn't understand the request then we can't really attribute their accepting of food from person B more than Person A to being due to person A not being helpful

Suyash1331
In an experiment, capuchin monkeys watched Person A refuse Person B's request to help open a jar of food. Afterward, each monkey could select which of the two people to accept food from. The monkeys accepted food less often from the unhelpful person, Person A, than from Person B. The researchers concluded that capuchin monkeys generally prefer to avoid unhelpful individuals.

In order to evaluate the support provided for the researchers' conclusion, it would be most helpful to know whether

A. capuchin monkeys, in a second, similar experiment, conducted for comparison, watched Person A being helpful to Person B

B. capuchin monkeys with more-helpful dispositions are more likely than those with less-helpful dispositions to offer food to and accept food from other capuchin monkeys

C. the researchers considered that the capuchin monkeys might not have understood whether Person A was refusing Person B's request

D. capuchin monkeys would accept food more often from Person B than from Person A in a similar experiment in which Person A and Person B did not interact

E. monkeys of some other species resemble capuchin monkeys in their responses to unhelpful individuals in similar experimental conditions
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Can someone explain why A can not be the answer?
In A's experiment, if monkeys "watched Person A being helpful to Person B", then monkey still prefer person B, then the conclusion "avoiding unhelpful individuals" become weaker

what's the fault in my thinking?
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Hi celialem Su1206 ssb_619 LYC1018

Sharing my thoughts to help...

Evaluate usually asks a question which has a yes/no answer and focuses on the topic of interest in the conclusion

Conclusion: The researchers concluded that capuchin monkeys generally prefer to avoid unhelpful individuals.


A. capuchin monkeys, in a second, similar experiment, conducted for comparison, watched Person A being helpful to Person B
We are concerned to evaluate the conclusion from the first experiment. Here, we do not know if they chose person A or B after the second experiment. Also they prefer to avoid unhelpful individuals, nothing has been said about preference for helpful people. Out

B. capuchin monkeys with more-helpful dispositions are more likely than those with less-helpful dispositions to offer food to and accept food from other capuchin monkeys
We are concerned about their interactions with each other based on their dispositions. Out

C. the researchers considered that the capuchin monkeys might not have understood whether Person A was refusing Person B's request
This is interesting, let's say monkeys understood that person A was unhelpful, then this is a supporter. However if they don't understand that person A was unhelpful, then we cannot say if they preferred person B because they were not unhelpful or some other reason. Out

D. capuchin monkeys would accept food more often from Person B than from Person A in a similar experiment in which Person A and Person B did not interact
This suggests that monkeys might be favouring person B for some other factor - may be appearance, gender, smell, body language, etc. If they do prefer person B for any of these reasons then it does break the conclusion, else the conclusion holds.

E. monkeys of some other species resemble capuchin monkeys in their responses to unhelpful individuals in similar experimental conditions
We aren't concerned about other species. Out

Hope this was helpful!
Suyash1331
In an experiment, capuchin monkeys watched Person A refuse Person B's request to help open a jar of food. Afterward, each monkey could select which of the two people to accept food from. The monkeys accepted food less often from the unhelpful person, Person A, than from Person B. The researchers concluded that capuchin monkeys generally prefer to avoid unhelpful individuals.

In order to evaluate the support provided for the researchers' conclusion, it would be most helpful to know whether

A. capuchin monkeys, in a second, similar experiment, conducted for comparison, watched Person A being helpful to Person B

B. capuchin monkeys with more-helpful dispositions are more likely than those with less-helpful dispositions to offer food to and accept food from other capuchin monkeys

C. the researchers considered that the capuchin monkeys might not have understood whether Person A was refusing Person B's request

D. capuchin monkeys would accept food more often from Person B than from Person A in a similar experiment in which Person A and Person B did not interact

E. monkeys of some other species resemble capuchin monkeys in their responses to unhelpful individuals in similar experimental conditions
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ssb_619
can someone elaborate why D is the answer?

D is the correct answer because the base assumption here is that the capuchin monkeys are choosing one person over the other due to their helpful behaviour, showing preference for helpful individuals. However, this could only be true if the monkeys have already witnessed one person being good over the other.
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