GATE XH-C5 2021 XH-B1 Q14: Reading Comprehension

Imagine that you’re in a game show and your host shows you three doors. Behind one of them is a shiny car and behind the others are goats. You pick one of the doors and get what lies within. After making your choice, your host chooses to open one of the other two doors, which inevitably reveals a goat. He then asks you if you want to stick with your original pick, or switch to the other remaining door. What do you do? Most people think that it doesn’t make a difference and they tend to stick with their first pick. With two doors left, you should have a 50% chance of selecting the one with the car. If you agree, then you have just fallen afoul of one of the most infamous mathematical problems – the Monty Hall Problem. In reality, you should switch every time which doubles your odds of getting the car. Over the years, the problem has ensnared countless people, but not, it seems, pigeons. The humble pigeon can learn with practice the best tactic for the Monty Hall Problem, switching from their initial choice almost every time. Amazingly, humans do not!

(Adapted from an article by Ed Yong in Discover Magazine.)

Which of the following conclusions follow from the passage above?

Your answerSelect all correct options. You can choose more than one.

Humans calculate the probability of independent, random events such as the opening of a door by dividing the specific outcomes by the total number of possible outcomes.

Humans find it very difficult to learn to account for the host’s hand in making the event non-random and, thereby, changing the outcome of the event.

Calculating probabilities is difficult for humans but easy for pigeons; which is why the pigeons succeed where the humans fail.

Humans are governed by reason, but pigeons are irrational and only interested in the outcome and will do whatever it takes to get food.

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Section: Section XH-B1
Question type: Multiple select (MSQ)
Marks: 2 marks

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Question 14: Reading Comprehension

Question 14

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GATE XH-C5 2021 · Paper 1

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GATE XH-C5 2021 · Paper 1

Practise related topics

psychology

behavioral science

social science

reading comprehension

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