hard · GRE Verbal

Passage: A recurring puzzle in the study of animal signaling is why displays of quality are not simply faked. If a peacock's train advertises health, why do unhealthy birds not grow equally splendid trains and cheat? The influential answer holds that reliable signals are costly in a way that only high-quality individuals can afford: a lavish train is a handicap that a sickly bird could not sustain. But the argument has a subtle requirement often glossed over. The cost need not be large in absolute terms; it must merely be steeper for low-quality signalers than for high-quality ones. A signal cheap for everyone would indeed invite deception, yet so, paradoxically, would a signal ruinously expensive for all, since it would exclude the honest and dishonest alike. With which of the following statements about signal cost would the author most likely agree? (A) The reliability of a signal depends on the difference in cost between low- and high-quality signalers, not on the signal's absolute cost (B) A signal can remain reliable only if its absolute cost is high enough to deter most individuals (C) Low-quality individuals will always find some means of faking costly signals (D) The handicap principle has been shown to be internally contradictory (E) Peacocks with the most lavish trains are invariably the healthiest members of a population

1. The reliability of a signal depends on the difference in cost between low- and high-quality signalers, not on the signal's absolute cost
2. A costly signal can remain reliable only if its absolute cost is set high enough to deter most ordinary individuals from ever attempting it
3. Low-quality individuals will, given enough time and ingenuity, always discover some means of faking even the most costly quality signals
4. The handicap principle, once its assumptions are examined carefully, turns out to be internally contradictory and therefore untenable
5. The peacocks that grow the most lavish and elaborate trains are invariably the very healthiest members of any given population

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