This uidity and situational dependence is uniquely human. In other species, in-group/outgroup distinctions re ect degrees of biological relatedness, or what evolutionary biologists call “kin selection.” Rodents distinguish between a sibling, a cousin, and a stranger by smell—xed, genetically determined pheromonal signatures—and adapt their cooperation accordingly. Those murderous groups of chimps are largely made up of brothers or cousins who grew up together and predominantly harm outsiders. Humans are plenty capable of kin-selective violence themselves, yet human group mentality is often utterly independent of such instinctual familial bonds. Most modern human societies rely instead on cultural kin selection, a process allowing people to feel closely related to what are, in a biological sense, total strangers. Often, this requires a highly active process of inculcation, with its attendant rituals and vocabularies. Consider military drills producing “bands of brothers,” unrelated college freshmen becoming sorority “sisters,” or the bygone value of welcoming immigrants into “the American family.” This malleable, rather than genetically xed, path of identity formation also drives people to adopt arbitrary markers that enable them to spot their cultural kin in an ocean of strangers—hence the importance various communities attach to ags, dress, or facial hair. The hipster beard, the turban, and the “Make America Great Again” hat all fulfill this role by sending strong signals of tribal belonging. Moreover, these cultural communities are arbitrary when compared to the relatively axed logic of biological kin selection. Few things show this arbitrariness better than the experience of immigrant families, where the randomness of a visa lottery can radically reshu e a child’s education, career opportunities, and cultural predilections. Had my grandparents and father missed the train out of Moscow that they instead barely made, maybe I’d be a chain smoking Russian academic rather than a Birkenstock-wearing American one, moved to tears by the heroism during the Battle of Stalingrad rather than that at Pearl Harbor. Scaled up from the level of individual family histories, our big-picture group identities—the national identities and cultural principles that structure our lives— are just as arbitrary and subject to the vagaries of history.
Based on the passage, how are rodents and humans similar to each other?
Show Hint
- Both rodents and humans divide the world between “us” and “them.”
- Both rodents and humans can reign their instincts.
- Both rodents and humans make their groups exclusive of brothers and cousins.
- Both rodents and humans are hostile towards outsiders.
- Both rodents and humans carry a genetically determined pheromonal signature.
The Correct Option is A
Approach Solution - 1
To determine how rodents and humans are similar based on the passage, let's examine the key points emphasized in the text.
The passage highlights how both rodents and humans have in-group and out-group distinctions:
- The passage discusses that rodents differentiate between their siblings, cousins, and strangers primarily through genetically determined pheromonal signatures. This division of the world is largely biological and instinctual.
- In humans, however, the distinction between "us" and "them" does not solely rely on biological family bonds. Instead, humans form these distinctions through cultural means, which can involve inculcation through rituals, vocabularies, and shared symbols.
- This concept is further substantiated by examples such as military drills creating "bands of brothers" or immigrant families adapting to new national identities.
Therefore, the similarity between rodents and humans described in the passage is that both species divide the world between “us” and “them,” although the bases for these divisions are different.
Thus, the correct answer is:
Both rodents and humans divide the world between “us” and “them.”
Let us now rule out the other options:
- Option: "Both rodents and humans can reign their instincts." - The passage does not discuss the ability of either species to control instincts.
- Option: "Both rodents and humans make their groups exclusive of brothers and cousins." - Although rodents form groups of brothers or cousins, the passage highlights human group formations as culturally constructed rather than inherently familial.
- Option: "Both rodents and humans are hostile towards outsiders." - While the passage mentions rodents being more likely to attack outsiders, the mention of humans reflects cultural diversity rather than hostility.
- Option: "Both rodents and humans carry a genetically determined pheromonal signature." - This is true for rodents but the passage specifies cultural identity formation in humans, not genetic.
In conclusion, the nuanced reading of the passage points towards the division between "us" and "them" as the core similarity, rendering the first option as the correct choice.
Approach Solution -2
Rodents rely on pheromonal signatures to distinguish between kin and strangers, thereby separating in-group vs out-group. Humans, though not bound by pheromones, also practice “kin-selective violence” and cultural kinship, dividing the world into “us” vs “them.”
Step 2: Evaluate options.
- Option A: Correct. Both species demonstrate an in-group/out-group mentality. - Option B: Incorrect — rodents act instinctively; humans may override, but not a shared similarity. - Option C: Wrong — rodents’ groups are made of kin; humans’ are arbitrary and cultural. - Option D: Partially true, but hostility was not emphasized as the key similarity. - Option E: Incorrect — only rodents have genetically determined pheromones.
Step 3: Conclusion.
The valid similarity is Option A.
Final Answer: \[ \boxed{\text{A}} \]
What does the author BEST mean when they say, “This fluidity and situational dependence is uniquely human?”
Show Hint
- Humans’ kin selection is not based on instinctual familial bonds while relating to strangers.
- Humans’ in-group/out-group thinking is influenced by their space and time.
- Humans use cognitive architecture to detect any potential cues about social coalitions and alliances.
- The implicit traits that humans associate with can change over time.
- Humans are uniquely progressive and ever evolving.
The Correct Option is B
Approach Solution - 1
To accurately determine what the author means by the phrase “This fluidity and situational dependence is uniquely human,” we need to analyze and understand the context provided in the passage. The passage discusses how humans distinguish between in-groups and out-groups not solely based on biological or instinctual bonds, like other species, but through cultural and situational factors.
- The passage contrasts human behavior with that of other species, such as rodents and chimpanzees, which rely on biological cues like pheromones or familial bonds to form group distinctions.
- Humans, on the other hand, construct group identities and distinctions through cultural processes that are flexible and can change based on circumstances and environments.
- The author provides examples of how cultural factors—such as military drills, sorority affiliations, and cultural symbols—formulate these social constructs and relationships through active social interaction rather than predetermined biological factors.
Therefore, when the author mentions "This fluidity and situational dependence," they stress that human social structures are influenced by time and place, shaping identity and group dynamics beyond fixed biological determinism.
Evaluating the provided options:
- The first option discusses humans' kin selection avoiding instinctual bonds, but this doesn't directly capture the essence of situational dependence discussed in the passage.
- The second option, "Humans’ in-group/out-group thinking is influenced by their space and time," aligns exactly with the given passage's discussion about the fluid nature of human cultural affiliations.
- The third option relates to cognitive architecture but focuses more on cognitive detection rather than fluidity and situational impacts.
- The fourth option about implicit traits changing over time doesn't directly address the unique situational and spatial elements the author emphasizes.
- The last option mentions overall human progressiveness, which is broader and not specific to the in-group/out-group discussion.
Thus, the best answer is: "Humans’ in-group/out-group thinking is influenced by their space and time." This reflects the passage's key points about the adaptability and contextual nature of human social structures.
Approach Solution -2
Unlike rodents, humans do not rely on fixed, genetic markers but on cultural kinship, which is malleable and changes depending on context, space, and historical period.
Step 2: Evaluate options.
- Option A: Partially true but narrower than the idea of “fluidity and situational dependence.” - Option B: Correct. The author emphasized that human in-group/out-group markers are situational, not fixed. - Option C: Over-technical, not directly stated in passage. - Option D: True but incomplete, since it’s not only traits but whole identity markers. - Option E: Too generic and vague.
Step 3: Conclusion.
Thus, the correct interpretation is Option B.
Final Answer: \[ \boxed{\text{B}} \]
What does the author BEST mean when they refer to the Battle of Stalingrad and Pearl Harbour?
Show Hint
- Our identities and emotional attachments are subject to erratic interpretation of history.
- Humans do not follow any specific logic when they develop association with a particular cultural community.
- Humans’ relationship with any specific place depends upon their lineage and ancestry.
- Humans’ interpretation of specific events depends on their emotional association with them.
- Humans are capable of selective violence towards each other.
The Correct Option is D
Approach Solution - 1
To provide a comprehensive understanding of the author's intent when referring to the Battle of Stalingrad and Pearl Harbor, we should analyze the context given in the comprehension passage. The passage discusses how human groups form identities that are culturally, rather than biologically, determined. This process involves creating emotional bonds and shared identities within groups that are not based on direct biological relationships.
Specifically, the passage articulates how cultural symbols and shared historical events or narratives contribute to group identity, explaining that people emotionally connect to events based on their cultural upbringing, rather than their biological heritage. In this context, the references to the Battle of Stalingrad and Pearl Harbor serve as examples of how such historical events elicit different emotional responses and identification depending on one's cultural background and personal history.
Now, let's evaluate the options to identify the correct answer:
- Our identities and emotional attachments are subject to erratic interpretation of history.- This option suggests inconsistency in how we perceive history, but the passage focuses more on the emotional aspect influenced by culture, not the erratic nature.
- Humans do not follow any specific logic when they develop an association with a particular cultural community.- This option implies randomness or lack of logic in associations, but the passage describes a specific cultural process involving emotional connections.
- Humans’ relationship with any specific place depends upon their lineage and ancestry.- This option contradicts the passage, which emphasizes cultural over biological factors in group relations.
- Humans’ interpretation of specific events depends on their emotional association with them.- This is the correct answer as it directly reflects the passage's argument that emotional associations, arising from cultural identity, shape how people perceive historical events like the Battle of Stalingrad and Pearl Harbor.
- Humans are capable of selective violence towards each other.- While related to group dynamics, this option does not address the author's main focus concerning cultural versus biological ties.
The correct interpretation, consistent with the passage's content, is that human perception of historical events is deeply influenced by their emotional connections, shaped by cultural identity rather than lineage.
Approach Solution -2
The author notes how their family background could have made them emotionally moved by Stalingrad rather than Pearl Harbor — showing that human associations with events are not absolute, but shaped by emotional and cultural attachments.
Step 2: Evaluate options.
- Option A: Too broad — it is not just “erratic interpretation of history.” - Option B: Overstates — humans follow cultural logics, not absence of logic. - Option C: Incorrect — not lineage, but emotional-cultural background. - Option D: Correct. Interpretation of historical events is shaped by subjective emotional ties. - Option E: Irrelevant to this example.
Step 3: Conclusion.
Therefore, the meaning is best captured by Option D.
Final Answer: \[ \boxed{\text{D}} \]
Top Questions on Reading Comprehension
- Shown below are letters ‘e’ taken from four popular logos, arranged in a sequence. Which of the options is the correct sequence?
- UCEED - 2026
- English Language Comprehension
- Reading Comprehension
- Shown below are four options, each showing consecutive frames representing the movement of a pendulum of an old-style wall clock for an animation movie. Which is the correct option?
- UCEED - 2026
- English Language Comprehension
- Reading Comprehension
- Acrucial moderating factor in how people experience comparisons is self-esteem. Individuals with high self-esteem are more likely to interpret upward comparison as informative rather than threatening. They are more resilient in the face of others’ success and more likely to believe they can reach their own goals. In contrast, people with low self-esteem are more prone to interpret comparison as judgment, reinforcing negative self-views and triggering feelings of inadequacy.
This dynamic creates a self-reinforcing loop. People with high self-esteem are less vulnerable to upward comparison, which intensifies those doubts. Those with a secure sense of self are more likely to use comparison as a learning tool. The same external stimulus—a colleague’s achievements, a friend’s popularity—can have radically different effects depending on internal stability.
Self-esteem also influences how people choose their comparison targets. Research has found that individuals often engage in “selective comparison,” seeking out those who confirm their existing beliefs about themselves. This can become a subtle form of self-sabotage. Someone who feels unworthy may subconsciously seek out targets that reinforce that sense, perpetuating a narrative of inferiority. One of the most promising antidotes to social comparison is temporal comparison—evaluating oneself not against others, but against one’s own past. This method has been shown to increase motivation and satisfaction, especially when individuals can see concrete progress. Temporal comparison activates the same reward circuits as social comparison but avoids the threat systems associated with social ranking. It also reinforces agency: individuals focus on what they can control and improve rather than what others control. In therapeutic and coaching settings, temporal comparison is used to help clients build self-efficacy and track growth over time.
Moreover, people who focus on self-improvement rather than social dominance are less likely to fall into cycles of envy or self-pity. They can still use others as inspiration, but they do so without attaching their self-worth to the outcome. This is not to say they never compare—but that they focus on learning, rather than judgment. The most skilful approach to comparison may lie in eliminating it, but in reframing it as feedback. When we interpret comparison as information rather than a verdict, we can ask, “What can I learn from this?” This shift turns comparison into a growth tool. Teachers mentor their students, not as rivals. Psychologists emphasize that the key variable here is mindset.
A fixed mindset sees comparison as a threat. If someone else is better, it means we are worse. A growth mindset sees comparison as a map. If someone else has reached a certain level, it means the path exists. This reframing is not just a cognitive trick. It changes the emotional tone of comparison, making it more likely to inspire than to wound. Reframing also requires emotional regulation—the ability to notice an initial pang of envy or shame without reacting impulsively. With practice, individuals can learn to pause, reflect, and reinterpret their emotional responses. Over time, this builds resilience and self-trust, allowing comparison to become a learning tool rather than a cage.- XAT - 2026
- Verbal and Logical Ability
- Reading Comprehension
When people who are talking don’t share the same culture, knowledge, values, and assumptions, mutual understanding can be especially difficult. Such understanding is possible through the negotiation of meaning. To negotiate meaning with someone, you have to become aware of and respect both the differences in your backgrounds and when these differences are important. You need enough diversity of cultural and personal experience to be aware that divergent world views exist and what they might be like. You also need the flexibility in world view, and a generous tolerance for mistakes, as well as a talent for finding the right metaphor to communicate the relevant parts of unshared experiences or to highlight the shared experiences while demphasizing the others. Metaphorical imagination is a crucial skill in creating rapport and in communicating the nature of unshared experience. This skill consists, in large measure, of the ability to bend your world view and adjust the way you categorize your experiences. Problems of mutual understanding are not exotic; they arise in all extended conversations where understanding is important.
When it really counts, meaning is almost never communicated according to the CONDUIT metaphor, that is, where one person transmits a fixed, clear proposition to another by means of expressions in a common language, where both parties have all the relevant common knowledge, assumptions, values, etc. When the chips are down, meaning is negotiated: you slowly figure out what you have in common, what it is safe to talk about, how you can communicate unshared experience or create a shared vision. With enough flexibility in bending your world view and with luck and charity, you may achieve some mutual understanding.
Communication theories based on the CONDUIT metaphor turn from the pathetic to the evil when they are applied indiscriminately on a large scale, say, in government surveillance or computerized files. There, what is most crucial for real understanding is almost never included, and it is assumed that the words in the file have meaning in themselves—disembodied, objective, understandable meaning. When a society lives by the CONDUITmetaphor on a large scale, misunderstanding, persecution, and much worse are the likely products.- XAT - 2026
- Verbal and Logical Ability
- Reading Comprehension
Later, I realized that reviewing the history of nuclear physics served another purpose as well: It gave the lie to the naive belief that the physicists could have come together when nuclear fission was discovered (in Nazi Germany!) and agreed to keep the discovery a secret, thereby sparing humanity such a burden. No. Given the development of nuclear physics up to 1938, development that physicists throughout the world pursued in all innocence of any intention of finding the engine of a new weapon of mass destruction—only one of them, the remarkable Hungarian physicist Leo Szilard, took that possibility seriously—the discovery of nuclear fission was inevitable. To stop it, you would have had to stop physics. If German scientists hadn’t made the discovery when they did, French, American, Russian, Italian, or Danish scientists would have done so, almost certainly within days or weeks. They were all working at the same cutting edge, trying to understand the strange results of a simple experiment bombarding uranium with neutrons. Here was no Faustian bargain, as movie directors and other naifs still find it intellectually challenging to imagine. Here was no evil machinery that the noble scientists might hide from the problems and the generals. To the contrary, there was a high insight into how the world works, an energetic reaction, older than the earth, that science had finally devised the instruments and arrangements to coart forth. “Make it seem inevitable,” Louis Pasteur used to advise his students when they prepared to write up their discoveries. But it was. To wish that it might have been ignored or suppressed is barbarous. “Knowledge,” Niels Bohr once noted, “is itself the basis for civilization.” You cannot have the one without the other; the one depends upon the other. Nor can you have only benevolent knowledge; the scientific method doesn’t filter for benevolence. Knowledge has consequences, not always intended, not always comfortable, but always welcome. The earth revolves around the sun, not the sun around the earth. “It is a profound and necessary truth,” Robert Oppenheimer would say, “that the deep things in science are not found because they are useful; they are found because it was possible to find them.”
...Bohr proposed once that the goal of science is not universal truth. Rather, he argued, the modest but relentless goal of science is “the gradual removal of prejudices.” The discovery that the earth revolves around the sun has gradually removed the prejudice that the earth is the center of the universe. The discovery of microbes is gradually removing the prejudice that disease is a punishment from God. The discovery of evolution is gradually removing the prejudice that Homo sapiens is a separate and special creation.- XAT - 2026
- Verbal and Logical Ability
- Reading Comprehension
Questions Asked in XAT exam
- An artificial swimming pool is circular and water is flowing clockwise at a speed of 3 km/hr. Two swimmers Ayub and Rana start from diametrically opposite points, Ayub in the anticlockwise direction and Rana in the clockwise direction. They first meet at a point such that Ayub has covered 60 m by that time. Their second meeting point is such that Rana has covered another 180 m after the first meeting point. If the speed of Rana in still water is 3 km/hr, find the time taken by Ayub to cover one full circle in the clockwise direction.
- XAT - 2026
- Time and Work
- Arrange the following generations from the oldest to the youngest:
1. Generation X
2. Silent Generation
3. Generation Alpha
4. Baby Boomers
5. Millennials
- XAT - 2026
- Current Affairs
- Read the following scenario and answer the THREE questions that follow.
Brijbhushan, a microfinancier, lends money at the rate of Rs.10 per square meter to small farmers at a village. He charges an annual interest rate of 10%. All the farming plots in that village are rectangular, with areas varying between a minimum of 1000 square meters and a maximum of 10,000 square meters.
This year, Brijbhushan has lent money only to five farmers: Aditya, Binod, Chhuttan, Dabloo and Govind. The perimeter of Chhuttan’s plot is 250 meters, with the length and width being at a ratio of 4:1. Aditya’s plot has an area three times the area of Govind’s plot. The area of Aditya’s plot is also the average of the areas of Govind’s plot and Dabloo’s plot. The plots belonging to Aditya, Binod and Dabloo are of the same width, but of different lengths. Moreover, the length of Binod’s plot is the sum of the lengths of Aditya’s plot and Dabloo’s plot.- XAT - 2026
- Mensuration
Light Chemicals is an industrial paint supplier with presence in three locations: Mumbai, Hyderabad and Bengaluru. The sunburst chart below shows the distribution of the number of employees of different departments of Light Chemicals. There are four departments: Finance, IT, HR and Sales. The employees are deployed in four ranks: junior, mid, senior and executive. The chart shows four levels: location, department, rank and gender (M: male, F: female). At every level, the number of employees at a location/department/rank/gender are proportional to the corresponding area of the region represented in the chart.
Due to some issues with the software, the data on junior female employees have gone missing. Notice that there are junior female employees in Mumbai HR, Sales and IT departments, Hyderabad HR department, and Bengaluru IT and Finance departments. The corresponding missing numbers are marked u, v, w, x, y and z in the diagram, respectively.
It is also known that:
a) Light Chemicals has a total of 210 junior employees.
b) Light Chemicals has a total of 146 employees in the IT department.
c) Light Chemicals has a total of 777 employees in the Hyderabad office.
d) In the Mumbai office, the number of female employees is 55.
- XAT - 2026
- Pie Charts
An investment company, Win Lose, recruit's employees to trade in the share market. For newcomers, they have a one-year probation period. During this period, the employees are given Rs. 1 lakh per month to invest the way they see fit. They are evaluated at the end of every month, using the following criteria:
1. If the total loss in any span of three consecutive months exceeds Rs. 20,000, their services are terminated at the end of that 3-month period,
2. If the total loss in any span of six consecutive months exceeds Rs. 10,000, their services are terminated at the end of that 6-month period.
Further, at the end of the 12-month probation period, if there are losses on their overall investment, their services are terminated.
Ratan, Shri, Tamal and Upanshu started working for Win Lose in January. Ratan was terminated after 4 months, Shri was terminated after 7 months, Tamal was terminated after 10 months, while Upanshu was not terminated even after 12 months. The table below, partially, lists their monthly profits (in Rs. ‘000’) over the 12-month period, where x, y and z are masked information.
Note:
• A negative profit value indicates a loss.
• The value in any cell is an integer.
Illustration: As Upanshu is continuing after March, that means his total profit during January-March (2z +2z +0) ≥
Rs.20,000. Similarly, as he is continuing after June, his total profit during January − June ≥
Rs.10,000, as well as his total profit during April-June ≥ Rs.10,000.
- XAT - 2026
- Logical and Analytical Reasoning Skills