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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. In Dawkins' discussion, what is the detriment of raising offspring, if there is something wrong with it?

2. To what does Dawkins attribute a male backing down from a powerful rival over territory?

3. What does Dawkins say removes humanity from the cruel and harsh laws of nature?

4. What reason does Dawkins give that animal populations are about 50-50 male and female?

5. What does Wynne-Edwards teach?

Short Essay Questions

1. What factors does Dawkins mention that affect the human birthrate and population?

2. What does higher PI mean, in R.L. Trivers' ideas?

3. Does Dawkins agree or disagree with the theory about parental suffering for children's success, and why?

4. According to Dawkins, what selfish behavior might birds that have fewer eggs because of overpopulation exhibit?

5. What examples does Dawkins give of male animals resisting raising offspring that's not their own?

6. What is Hamilton's explanation of how herds are formed?

7. What does Dawkins substitute for survival of a species?

8. What factors does Dawkins mention that weigh into caring for older versus younger offspring?

9. Explain the conflict between Wynne-Edwards and Dawkins over territory behavior.

10. What two possible explanations for the behavior of the baby swallow observed by the Spanish researchers does Dawkins present?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the concept of relatedness in Dawkins' book.

1) What is the relationship between relatedness and altruism? What is its relationship to selfishness?

2) How does Dawkins calculate relatedness mathematically? What does this math represent?

3) How does Dawkins' treatment of relatedness differ from most people's cultural ideas of being related? What is the relationship between relatedness and genes?

Essay Topic 2

One of Dawkins' primary premises is that the good of the individual is what organisms strive for, not the good of the species. Discuss the conflict between the individual and the species in The Selfish Gene.

1) Why are individuals representative of their genes?

2) What is Dawkins' central argument for selfishness of individuals within a species? Why does the selfishness of genes translate to the selfishness of individuals?

3) What are the arguments that other scientists pose for individuals acting for the good of the species, and how does Dawkins counter those arguments?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss hive behavior in Dawkins' book.

1) How does Dawkins' idea of the selfish gene explain the behavior of hives and of sterile individuals in a species?

2) Why does Dawkins discuss hive behavior and the behavior of insects? Why does he only devote a part of a chapter to this discussion?

3) How much variation is there in insect behavior? How much variation is there between insect behavior and other types of animal organisms? How does this variation affect Dawkins' ideas?

(see the answer keys)

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