The Unselfish Gene — IELTS Reading Answers

What is the writer doing in the first paragraph?

1. Asetting out two opposing views about human nature
2. Bjustifying his opinion about our tendency to be greedy
3. Cdescribing a commonly held belief about people’s behaviourcorrect
4. Dexplaining why he thinks that humans act in a selfish manner

“There has long been a general assumption that human beings are essentially selfish.”

The opening presents 'a general assumption that human beings are essentially selfish', a commonly held belief rather than the writer's own.

What point is made about Richard Dawkins’ book The Selfish Gene?

1. AIts appeal lay in the radical nature of its ideas.
2. BIts success was due to the scientific support it offered.
3. CIt presented a view that was in line with the attitudes of its time.correct
4. DIt took an innovative approach to the analysis of human psychology.

“This bleak view of human nature is closely associated with the science writer Richard Dawkins, whose 1976 book The Selfish Gene became popular because it fitted so well with-and helped to justify-the competitive and individualistic ethos that was so prevalent in late 20th-century societies.”

The book 'became popular because it fitted so well with... the competitive and individualistic ethos' of late 20th-century societies.

What does the writer suggest about the prehistoric era in the fourth paragraph?

1. ASocieties were more complex than many people believe.
2. BSupplies of natural resources were probably relatively plentiful.correct
3. CMost estimates about population sizes are likely to be inaccurate.
4. DHumans moved across continents more than was previously thought.

“Humans at that time were hunter-gatherers: people who lived by hunting wild animals and collecting wild plants. With such small population densities, it seems unlikely that prehistoric hunter-gatherer groups had to compete against each other for resources or had any need to develop ruthlessness and competitiveness,”

With 'such small population densities', hunter-gatherers did not need to compete for resources, implying supplies were relatively plentiful.

The writer refers to Bruce Knauft’s work as support for the idea that

1. Aselfishness is a relatively recent development in human societies.correct
2. Bonly people in isolated communities can live in an unselfish manner.
3. Cvery few lifestyles have survived unchanged since prehistoric times.
4. Dhunter-gatherer cultures worldwide are declining in number.

“As the anthropologist Bruce Knauft has remarked, hunter-gatherers are characterized by ‘extreme political and sexual egalitarianism’. Knauft has observed that individuals in such groups don’t accumulate property or possessions and have an ethical obligation to share everything.”

Knauft's hunter-gatherers show 'extreme political and sexual egalitarianism', implying selfishness came later with agriculture and settled life.

“As the anthropologist Bruce Knauft has remarked, hunter-gatherers are characterized by ‘extreme political and sexual egalitarianism’.”

Knauft says hunter-gatherers are characterised by 'extreme political and sexual egalitarianism', the noun the gap needs.

“They also have methods of preserving egalitarianism by ensuring that disparities of status don’t arise.”

They preserve equality by ensuring 'disparities of status don't arise', so the gap is 'status'.

“The !Kung people of southern Africa, for example, swap arrows before going hunting and when an animal is killed, the acclaim does not go to the person who fired the arrow, but to the person the arrow belongs to.”

The !Kung 'swap arrows before going hunting', so the activity the gap needs is 'hunting'.

“And if a person becomes too domineering, the other members of the group ostracise them, exiling the offender from society.”

A person who becomes 'too domineering' is ostracised, so the adjective required is 'domineering'.

“Women in hunter-gatherer groups worldwide often benefit from a high level of autonomy, being able to select their own marriage partners, decide what work they do and work whenever they choose to.”

Women 'benefit from a high level of autonomy', choosing partners and work whenever they wish, so the gap is 'autonomy'.

Some anthropologists are mistaken about the point when the number of societies such as the !Kung began to decline.

“Many anthropologists believe that societies such as the !Kung were normal until a few thousand years ago, when population growth led to the development of agriculture and a settled lifestyle.”

Anthropologists' timing for when such societies declined is reported, but no mistake by them is ever claimed.

Humans who developed warlike traits in prehistory would have had an advantage over those who did not.

“In view of the above, there seems little reason to assume that traits such as racism, warfare and male domination should have been selected by evolution-as they would have been of little benefit in the prehistoric era.”

Traits like warfare 'would have been of little benefit in the prehistoric era', so warlike humans had no advantage.

Being peaceful and cooperative is a natural way for people to behave.

“It makes more sense, then, to see traits such as cooperation, egalitarianism, altruism and peacefulness as innate characteristics of human beings.”

The writer concludes it 'makes more sense... to see traits such as cooperation, egalitarianism, altruism and peacefulness as innate'.

Negative traits are more apparent in some modern cultures than in others.

“Perhaps these negative traits should be seen as a later development, the result of environmental and psychological factors.”

Negative traits are called 'a later development', but no comparison between different modern cultures is made.

Animal research has failed to reveal a link between changes in the environment and the emergence of aggressive tendencies.

“Perhaps these negative traits should be seen as a later development, the result of environmental and psychological factors. Research has shown repeatedly that when the natural habitats of primates such as apes and gorillas are disrupted, they tend to become more violent and hierarchical.”

Research shows disrupted primate habitats make apes 'more violent and hierarchical', so a link has been found, not ruled out.