Multiple choice

Directions: Read the passage/argument and answer the question that follows it.

A phenomenon that is unique to humans is deferred gratification - patient anticipation of a reward. Dr Reyes-Garcia et al therefore argued that as the Tsimane became more enmeshed in modern society, the more patient of them would do better than the less. The traditional of Tsimane subsistence economy depends on folk knowledge and learned skills that have quick pay-offs. Formal schooling does not pay off for years, but opens the door to bigger potential incomes.

Which of the following would be best possible way of evaluating the Reyes-Garcia hypothesis?

  1. Looking at the length of schooling and average incomes of different people.

  2. Looking at the ages and incomes of different people.

  3. Looking at the incomes of people and knowing what they had to do to achieve those respective levels.

  4. Looking at the incomes of farmers and comparing it with what they ancestors had earned as farmers.

  5. Looking at the minimum level of annual income above which people start sending their children to school.
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A Correct answer
Explanation

Option (2) talks of one’s age as being a parameter in deciding one’s income. More age could imply better skills, it could also imply income from other sources or something else. So evaluating this data may not yield much as we would not be sure whether older people did have more education or not. Thus, option (2) is incorrect. Even option (3) is quite similar and is, therefore, wrong. Option (4) speaks of a comparison between the incomes earned by today’s farmers and their ancestors, without focusing on the patience level as a determinant of income. Again option (5) talks of the consequences of having a lesser or a higher income in the form of ability to send children to school, which will not help us at all in evaluating the hypothesis.  Correlating average incomes and the length of schooling will establish the truth or otherwise of the hypothesis as the main point is whether patience has its rewards in the form of better income or not. Hence, option (1) is the best choice

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