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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. How much more likely are people to laugh with others than by themselves?

2. In the introduction, Brooks states that Harold and Erica have what type of skills?

3. How many characters does Brooks say he will focus on in "The Social Animal"?

4. What book about Classical culture does Ms. Taylor give to Harold in Chapter 6?

5. What terms does Brooks use at the beginning of Chapter 1 to describe the upper-middle class liberal socialites of today?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is Harold's goal from conception on?

2. According to Brooks, what separates us from other animals?

3. What are mirror neurons?

4. What is Brooks' stated political reason for writing "The Social Animal"?

5. What trauma does Harold experience at the end of Chapter 5?

6. Why does Timothy Wilson think that the unconscious mind does the majority of the work in thinking?

7. How does Ms. Taylor guide Harold's reading in Chapter 6?

8. Describe Ms. Taylor.

9. What is the Composure Class?

10. Who is Elliot, and how did he become involved with Antonio Damasio?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write an essay about the teaching style that Ms. Taylor employs while assisting Harold with his senior paper. What are the five steps that are involved in this process? How does this teaching style internalize the knowledge? What role does Harold's journal have in this internalization? Discuss how this style of learning forever changes the way Harold takes in information.

Essay Topic 2

Seemingly in the name of evenhandedness, David Brooks presents two protagonists with disparate backgrounds. Write a three-part essay comparing and contrasting the early lives of Harold and Erica. How are their lives different? What effect does this background have on the worldview of each? Do you think this is a realist portrayal of this life experience?

Part 1) Racial background.

Part 2) Hometown and neighborhood.

Part 3) Education.

Essay Topic 3

In writing "The Social Animal", David Brooks is presenting an alternate view of history and the way societies work. Write an essay about this alternate view of histories driving forces. What, from the text, does Brooks believe drives human connections? How has current social policy ignore this guiding force? What failing institutions does Brooks point out over the process of this book?

(see the answer keys)

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