Goldman Sachs Sample Aptitude Questions and Answers

Q61 Direction: Read the passage and answer the five questions that follow.

Nature and culture are often seen as opposite ideas - what belongs to nature cannot be the result of human intervention and, on the other hand, cultural development is achieved against nature. However, this is by far not the only take on the relationship between nature and culture. Studies in the evolutionary development of humans suggest that culture is part and parcel of the ecological niche within which our species thrived, thus rendering culture a chapter in the biological development of a species.

Several modern authors - such as Rousseau - saw the process of education as a struggle against the most eradicated tendencies of human nature. Humans are born with wild dispositions, such as the one of using violence to achieve one’s own goals, to eat and behave in a disorganized fashion, and/or to act egotistically. Education is that process which uses culture as an antidote against our wildest natural tendencies; it is thanks to culture that the human species could progress and elevate itself above and beyond other species.

Over the past century and a half, however, studies in the history of human development have clarified how the formation of what we refer to as "culture" in an anthropological sense is part of the biological adaptation of our ancestors to the environmental conditions in which they came to live. Consider, for example, hunting. Such an activity seems an adaptation, which allowed hominids to move from the forest into the savannah some millions of year ago, opening up the opportunity to change diet and living habits. At the same time, the invention of weapons is directly related to that adaptation - but from weapons descend also a whole series of skill sets characterizing our cultural profile, from butchering tools to ethical rules relating to the proper use of weapons (e.g., should they be turned against other human beings or against uncooperative species?). Hunting also seems responsible for a whole set of bodily abilities, such as balancing on one foot as humans are the only primates that can do that. Now, think of how this very simple thing is crucially connected to dance, a key expression of human culture. It is then clear that our biological development is closely tied to our cultural development. The view that came to be most plausible over the past decades seems to be that culture is part of the ecological niche within which humans live. Just as snails carry their shell, so do we bring along our culture.

Now, the transmission of culture seems not to be directly related to the transmission of genetic information. Certainly the significant overlap between the genetic makeup of humans is a premise for the development of a common culture that can be passed along from one generation to the next.

However, cultural transmission is also horizontal among individuals within the same generation or among individuals belonging to different populations. You can learn how to make lasagna even if you were born from Korean parents in Kentucky just as you can learn how to speak Tagalog even if none of your immediate family or friends speak that language.
How is hunting by primevals different from that in the modern age?

Q62 Direction: Read the passage and answer the five questions that follow.

Socio-emotional selectivity theory is a theory of motivation throughout the lifespan. It suggests that as people age they become more selective in the goals they pursue, with older people prioritizing goals that will lead to meaning and positive emotions and younger people pursuing goals that will lead to the acquisition of knowledge.

While aging is often associated with loss and infirmness, socio-emotional selectivity theory indicates that there are positive benefits to aging. The theory is based on the idea that humans change their goals as they age due to the uniquely ability to understand time. Thus, when people are young adults and see time as open-ended, they prioritize goals that focus on the future, such as learning new information and expanding their horizons through activities like travel or enlarging their social circle. Yet, as people grow older and perceive their time as more constrained, their goals shift to become more focused on emotional gratification in the present. This leads people to prioritize experiences that are meaningful, such as deepening relationships with close friends and family and saving favorite experiences.

It's important to understand that as much as socio-emotional selectivity theory tends to emphasize age-related changes in goals, those changes aren't the result of chronological age per se. Instead, they come about because of people's perceptions of the time they have left. Because people perceive their time dwindling as they age, adult age differences are the easiest way to see socio-emotional selectivity theory at work. However, people's goals may shift in other situations too. For example, if a young adult becomes terminally ill, their goals will shift as their time is truncated. Similarly, if one knows a specific set of circumstances is coming to an end, their goals may shift as well. For instance, if one is planning to move out of state, they will be more likely to spend time cultivating the relationships that matter most of them while worrying less about expanding their network of acquaintances in the town they will be leaving.

Research on socio-emotional selectivity theory also revealed that older adults have a bias towards positive stimuli, a phenomenon called the positivity effect. The positivity effect suggests that, in contrast to young adults, older adults tend to pay more attention to and remember positive information over negative information. Studies have shown that the positivity effect is the result of both enhanced processing of positive information and diminished processing of negative information as we age. Moreover, research suggests that while both older and younger adults pay more attention to negative information, older adults do this significantly less. Some scholars have proposed that the positivity effect is the result of cognitive decline because positive stimuli are less cognitively demanding than negative stimuli.

What does the author want to convey through the passage on socio-emotional selectivity theory?

Q63 Direction: Read the passage and answer the five questions that follow.

Socio-emotional selectivity theory is a theory of motivation throughout the lifespan. It suggests that as people age they become more selective in the goals they pursue, with older people prioritizing goals that will lead to meaning and positive emotions and younger people pursuing goals that will lead to the acquisition of knowledge.

While aging is often associated with loss and infirmness, socio-emotional selectivity theory indicates that there are positive benefits to aging. The theory is based on the idea that humans change their goals as they age due to the uniquely ability to understand time. Thus, when people are young adults and see time as open-ended, they prioritize goals that focus on the future, such as learning new information and expanding their horizons through activities like travel or enlarging their social circle. Yet, as people grow older and perceive their time as more constrained, their goals shift to become more focused on emotional gratification in the present. This leads people to prioritize experiences that are meaningful, such as deepening relationships with close friends and family and saving favorite experiences.

It's important to understand that as much as socio-emotional selectivity theory tends to emphasize age-related changes in goals, those changes aren't the result of chronological age per se. Instead, they come about because of people's perceptions of the time they have left. Because people perceive their time dwindling as they age, adult age differences are the easiest way to see socio-emotional selectivity theory at work. However, people's goals may shift in other situations too. For example, if a young adult becomes terminally ill, their goals will shift as their time is truncated. Similarly, if one knows a specific set of circumstances is coming to an end, their goals may shift as well. For instance, if one is planning to move out of state, they will be more likely to spend time cultivating the relationships that matter most of them while worrying less about expanding their network of acquaintances in the town they will be leaving.

Research on socio-emotional selectivity theory also revealed that older adults have a bias towards positive stimuli, a phenomenon called the positivity effect. The positivity effect suggests that, in contrast to young adults, older adults tend to pay more attention to and remember positive information over negative information. Studies have shown that the positivity effect is the result of both enhanced processing of positive information and diminished processing of negative information as we age. Moreover, research suggests that while both older and younger adults pay more attention to negative information, older adults do this significantly less. Some scholars have proposed that the positivity effect is the result of cognitive decline because positive stimuli are less cognitively demanding than negative stimuli.
A young adult's perception of time differs from that of an older person because:

Q64 Direction: Read the passage and answer the five questions that follow.

Socio-emotional selectivity theory is a theory of motivation throughout the lifespan. It suggests that as people age they become more selective in the goals they pursue, with older people prioritizing goals that will lead to meaning and positive emotions and younger people pursuing goals that will lead to the acquisition of knowledge.

While aging is often associated with loss and infirmness, socio-emotional selectivity theory indicates that there are positive benefits to aging. The theory is based on the idea that humans change their goals as they age due to the uniquely ability to understand time. Thus, when people are young adults and see time as open-ended, they prioritize goals that focus on the future, such as learning new information and expanding their horizons through activities like travel or enlarging their social circle. Yet, as people grow older and perceive their time as more constrained, their goals shift to become more focused on emotional gratification in the present. This leads people to prioritize experiences that are meaningful, such as deepening relationships with close friends and family and saving favorite experiences.

It's important to understand that as much as socio-emotional selectivity theory tends to emphasize age-related changes in goals, those changes aren't the result of chronological age per se. Instead, they come about because of people's perceptions of the time they have left. Because people perceive their time dwindling as they age, adult age differences are the easiest way to see socio-emotional selectivity theory at work. However, people's goals may shift in other situations too. For example, if a young adult becomes terminally ill, their goals will shift as their time is truncated. Similarly, if one knows a specific set of circumstances is coming to an end, their goals may shift as well. For instance, if one is planning to move out of state, they will be more likely to spend time cultivating the relationships that matter most of them while worrying less about expanding their network of acquaintances in the town they will be leaving.

Research on socio-emotional selectivity theory also revealed that older adults have a bias towards positive stimuli, a phenomenon called the positivity effect. The positivity effect suggests that, in contrast to young adults, older adults tend to pay more attention to and remember positive information over negative information. Studies have shown that the positivity effect is the result of both enhanced processing of positive information and diminished processing of negative information as we age. Moreover, research suggests that while both older and younger adults pay more attention to negative information, older adults do this significantly less. Some scholars have proposed that the positivity effect is the result of cognitive decline because positive stimuli are less cognitively demanding than negative stimuli.
The positivity effect explains why:

Q65 Direction: Read the passage and answer the five questions that follow.

Socio-emotional selectivity theory is a theory of motivation throughout the lifespan. It suggests that as people age they become more selective in the goals they pursue, with older people prioritizing goals that will lead to meaning and positive emotions and younger people pursuing goals that will lead to the acquisition of knowledge.

While aging is often associated with loss and infirmness, socio-emotional selectivity theory indicates that there are positive benefits to aging. The theory is based on the idea that humans change their goals as they age due to the uniquely ability to understand time. Thus, when people are young adults and see time as open-ended, they prioritize goals that focus on the future, such as learning new information and expanding their horizons through activities like travel or enlarging their social circle. Yet, as people grow older and perceive their time as more constrained, their goals shift to become more focused on emotional gratification in the present. This leads people to prioritize experiences that are meaningful, such as deepening relationships with close friends and family and saving favorite experiences.

It's important to understand that as much as socio-emotional selectivity theory tends to emphasize age-related changes in goals, those changes aren't the result of chronological age per se. Instead, they come about because of people's perceptions of the time they have left. Because people perceive their time dwindling as they age, adult age differences are the easiest way to see socio-emotional selectivity theory at work. However, people's goals may shift in other situations too. For example, if a young adult becomes terminally ill, their goals will shift as their time is truncated. Similarly, if one knows a specific set of circumstances is coming to an end, their goals may shift as well. For instance, if one is planning to move out of state, they will be more likely to spend time cultivating the relationships that matter most of them while worrying less about expanding their network of acquaintances in the town they will be leaving.

Research on socio-emotional selectivity theory also revealed that older adults have a bias towards positive stimuli, a phenomenon called the positivity effect. The positivity effect suggests that, in contrast to young adults, older adults tend to pay more attention to and remember positive information over negative information. Studies have shown that the positivity effect is the result of both enhanced processing of positive information and diminished processing of negative information as we age. Moreover, research suggests that while both older and younger adults pay more attention to negative information, older adults do this significantly less. Some scholars have proposed that the positivity effect is the result of cognitive decline because positive stimuli are less cognitively demanding than negative stimuli.
Based on the given passage, it may be derived that:

Q66 Direction: Read the passage and answer the five questions that follow.

Socio-emotional selectivity theory is a theory of motivation throughout the lifespan. It suggests that as people age they become more selective in the goals they pursue, with older people prioritizing goals that will lead to meaning and positive emotions and younger people pursuing goals that will lead to the acquisition of knowledge.

While aging is often associated with loss and infirmness, socio-emotional selectivity theory indicates that there are positive benefits to aging. The theory is based on the idea that humans change their goals as they age due to the uniquely ability to understand time. Thus, when people are young adults and see time as open-ended, they prioritize goals that focus on the future, such as learning new information and expanding their horizons through activities like travel or enlarging their social circle. Yet, as people grow older and perceive their time as more constrained, their goals shift to become more focused on emotional gratification in the present. This leads people to prioritize experiences that are meaningful, such as deepening relationships with close friends and family and saving favorite experiences.

It's important to understand that as much as socio-emotional selectivity theory tends to emphasize age-related changes in goals, those changes aren't the result of chronological age per se. Instead, they come about because of people's perceptions of the time they have left. Because people perceive their time dwindling as they age, adult age differences are the easiest way to see socio-emotional selectivity theory at work. However, people's goals may shift in other situations too. For example, if a young adult becomes terminally ill, their goals will shift as their time is truncated. Similarly, if one knows a specific set of circumstances is coming to an end, their goals may shift as well. For instance, if one is planning to move out of state, they will be more likely to spend time cultivating the relationships that matter most of them while worrying less about expanding their network of acquaintances in the town they will be leaving.

Research on socio-emotional selectivity theory also revealed that older adults have a bias towards positive stimuli, a phenomenon called the positivity effect. The positivity effect suggests that, in contrast to young adults, older adults tend to pay more attention to and remember positive information over negative information. Studies have shown that the positivity effect is the result of both enhanced processing of positive information and diminished processing of negative information as we age. Moreover, research suggests that while both older and younger adults pay more attention to negative information, older adults do this significantly less. Some scholars have proposed that the positivity effect is the result of cognitive decline because positive stimuli are less cognitively demanding than negative stimuli.
Which of the following statements is incorrect?