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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. What field does Erica explore in Chapter 11?

2. According to Brooks in the end of Chapter 13, the end-point of limerence is what?

3. What industry does Erica go into after graduating college?

4. According to Brooks in Chapter 9, a disproportionate number of ambitious people live with what?

5. What personal problem does Harold begin having after he becomes romantically involved with Erica?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Brooks describe the relationship between the unconscious and the conscious mind in Chapter 15?

2. How does the success of Erica's business affect her marriage?

3. How is the Academy schedule different from public school?

4. In Chapter 9, what does Brooks say is often true ambitious individuals?

5. Describe Erica's experience at the consulting firm.

6. What did the marshmallow test predict about child development?

7. Why is Amy facing so may problems in Chapter 7?

8. How do Erica and Harold form a close bond in Chapter 13?

9. What traumatic event occurs to Erica during a tennis match in Chapter 8?

10. What is limerence?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Throughout "The Social Animal", David Brooks explains the unconscious processes that are involved in the choice of a sexual mate. Write a three-part essay about these processes:

Part 1) What processes do both Rob and Julia go through when they first meet each other? Why are they attracted to one another? Discuss how the two make unconscious choices as they have dinner together for the first time.

Part 2) Discuss the meeting and initial relationship between Harold and Erica. What is the nature of this relationship, and how does Erica work to maintain this stasis? What changes occur that allow it to develop romantically?

Part 3) Discuss the subconscious processes that lead Erica to sleep with Mr. Make-Believe. What does she feel about this tryst as it occurs, and how does her subconscious mind react to it after the fact?

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay about the role of emotion in feeding raw information to the reasonable mind. How are decisions made? How is it impossible to measure options in a rational way without emotion acuity? Discuss the case discussed in the book of the man who was unable to experience emotion in daily life. How was his rational ability ruined as a result? What does this case say about the primacy of emotion in daily life?

Essay Topic 3

Much of the latter half of "The Social Animal" is dedicated to the marriage between Harold and Erica. Write an essay charting the trajectory of this marriage. What attracts Erica to Harold and vice versa? Discuss the conflict that nearly tears them apart and how the two manage to make the marriage work? What is the state of the marriage in the last year of their lives?

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