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Set 2: Command of Evidence (Intermediate)

Explanation

Answer: D

PASSAGE

The 'mere exposure effect' shows that people prefer familiar stimuli. A study found that students rated abstract shapes more positively after seeing them multiple times. Researchers suggest this has evolutionary roots: familiar things are safer than unknown ones.

Which finding would weaken the evolutionary explanation?

A. The effect is observed in infants as young as 3 months.
B. The effect only occurs with shapes, not with sounds or smells.
C. People who grew up in unpredictable environments do not show the effect.
D. The effect is seen in many different cultures.✓ Correct

Detailed Explanation

The evolutionary explanation is 'familiar = safer. ' If people from unpredictable (potentially dangerous) environments don't show the effect, it suggests the mechanism isn't universal/innate evolutionary.

Key Evidence:

• "familiar things are safer than unknown ones"

Why others are wrong: A (Early appearance would support, not weaken, evolutionary origins.), B (Modality limitations don't directly contradict evolutionary basis.), D (Cross-cultural presence would support evolutionary/universal explanation.).

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