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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Lessing refers to examples such as the acceptance of Jean Rhys' work as what type of mentality?

2. According to Lessing, what type of absolutes do group minds often express?

3. For how many years have governments and priesthoods used brainwashing techniques?

4. What attitude did Lessing strive for, when it came to tragedy?

5. Who turned down Lessing's first book written under a pseudonym?

Short Essay Questions

1. What type of wars did Lessing live through?

2. Who is Jean Rhys? Why did all of her work become popular?

3. What was the Milgram experiment?

4. What is the value of brainwashing to a government?

5. What type of ideas can be put into a subject's mind during the brainwashing process?

6. Why was Lessing opposed to mass emotion?

7. When confronted with a group opinion, why is it often difficult to maintain an opposing, individual opinion?

8. When it comes to commentators and critics, what breeds an air of familiarity with viewers?

9. During the Korean War, why were American soldiers confessing to crimes they had nothing to do with?

10. Why do most people not want to hear about brainwashing?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

According to Lessing, what is the role of novelists in a society?

Essay Topic 2

Mass insanity is a concept Lessing used to describe the tendency of people to accept ideas based on nothing found in reality. What did she mean by this?

Essay Topic 3

Brainwashing is an unpleasant idea for those who believe they are susceptible.

1) According to Lessing, who feels susceptible to brainwashing?

2) What is the process of brainwashing?

3) Who is susceptible to brainwashing?

(see the answer keys)

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