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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. According to Brooks at the beginning of Chapter 1, where does all the furniture of the upper class liberal group come from?

2. In the introduction, Brooks says a study of the inner mind highlights the capacity of humanity to do what?

3. Based on a misunderstanding with his parents in Chapter 5, what does Harold fear will happen if he does not behave?

4. According to Brooks in his introduction, what is different about his book compared to the other social science books published in recent years?

5. In Chapter 3, what does Brooks show that neurons do when we are near someone we are bonded to socially?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Brooks use the meeting of Julia and Rob to illustrate the surprise of similarities?

2. What is the Composure Class?

3. Describe young Harold's relationship with falling things.

4. How does Ms. Taylor permanently affect Harold's life?

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

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

7. According to Brooks in the introduction, why are Harold and Erica so successful?

8. How does Ms. Taylor shape Harold's interest in the classical world?

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

10. What does Damasio determine about living without emotion in Chapter 1?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write an essay about the prenatal and early childhood relationship between Julia and Harold. How is Julia's life different before and after she becomes pregnant? What is Harold's goal from the moment he develops sentience? How does he break down Julia's personality, and how does he rebuild her? Discuss how this process leads to a reinvented Julia who makes caring for Harold her primary concern?

Essay Topic 2

In an essay, discuss the role of imagination and play in the development of children. How does Harold's imagination function both as a gift and as a liability? What fears does it engender in his parents? What delineations does Brooks draw between play in affluent children and p[lay in working class children? How does each type of play reflect a cultural stratus, and how does it indicate future development?

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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