Five jumbled up sentences (labelled 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5), related to a topic, are given below. Four of them can be put together to form a coherent paragraph. Identify the odd sentence and key in the number of that sentence as your answer.

Options:

1 - Having an appreciation for the workings of another person's mind is considered a prerequisite for natural language acquisition, strategic social interaction, reflexive thought, and moral judgment.

2- It is a ‘theory of mind’ though some scholars prefer to call it ‘mentalizing’ or ‘mindreading’, which is important for the development of one’s cognitive abilities.

3 - Though we must speculate about its evolutionary origin, we do have indications that the capacity evolved sometime in the last few million years.

4 - This capacity develops from early beginnings in the first year of life to the adult’s fast and often effortless understanding of others’ thoughts, feelings, and intentions.

5 - One of the most fascinating human capacities is the ability to perceive and interpret other people’s behaviour in terms of their mental states.

Question

Five jumbled up sentences (labelled 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5), related to a topic, are given below. Four of them can be put together to form a coherent paragraph. Identify the odd sentence and key in the number of that sentence as your answer.

Options:

1 - Having an appreciation for the workings of another person's mind is considered a prerequisite for natural language acquisition, strategic social interaction, reflexive thought, and moral judgment.

2- It is a ‘theory of mind’ though some scholars prefer to call it ‘mentalizing’ or ‘mindreading’, which is important for the development of one’s cognitive abilities.

3 - Though we must speculate about its evolutionary origin, we do have indications that the capacity evolved sometime in the last few million years.

4 - This capacity develops from early beginnings in the first year of life to the adult’s fast and often effortless understanding of others’ thoughts, feelings, and intentions.

5 - One of the most fascinating human capacities is the ability to perceive and interpret other people’s behaviour in terms of their mental states.

Accepted Answer

The sentences primarily discuss the concept of "theory of mind" and its role in understanding mental states, its development over time, and its evolutionary origins. However:

Sentence 2, which talks about "mentalizing" or "mindreading" as important for cognitive abilities, shifts focus from the broader concept discussed in the other sentences to a specific term and its relevance to cognitive development. This makes it unrelated to the cohesive theme presented by the other sentences.

The coherent paragraph can be formed as follows:

Sentence 5 introduces the main idea about perceiving and interpreting mental states.

Sentence 4 elaborates on how this capacity develops over time.

Sentence 1 explains its usefulness in various aspects like language acquisition and moral judgment.

Sentence 3 concludes by discussing its evolutionary origins.

Thus, Sentence 2 is the odd one out and is the correct answer.