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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Which philosopher compared the relationship between feelings and the rational self to the relationship between horses and a charioteer?
(a) Plato.
(b) Hume.
(c) Maslow.
(d) Descartes.

2. The author states that rather than seeing the world as hopeless and empty, enlightened and otherwise accomplished meditators see each individual object, person, and experience as empty in the sense that it does not have a preset what?
(a) Connotation.
(b) Value.
(c) Truth.
(d) Worth.

3. The author compares self-discipline to what part of the human body?
(a) A blood vessel.
(b) A muscle.
(c) A heart.
(d) A bone.

4. The author introduces what concept in order to urge the reader to find more happiness in his or her own life?
(a) Aesthetic beauty.
(b) Formlessness.
(c) Serenity.
(d) Emptiness.

5. The psychologist Paul Bloom writes that what concept is a human universal?
(a) Humanism.
(b) Essentialism.
(c) Deconstructionism.
(d) Altruism.

6. The author states that the idea of enlightenment is to take what action in regard to one's delusions?
(a) To define them.
(b) To obscure them.
(c) To lose them.
(d) To remember them.

7. What animals are involved in the pellet experiment described by the author?
(a) Mice.
(b) Monkeys.
(c) Rats.
(d) Rabbits.

8. When it feels like the rational self makes a decision, what is really happening, according to Kurzban?
(a) It is actually that one module is stronger than another in a particular situation.
(b) It is actually that the not-self is becoming fully realized.
(c) It is actually that one mental compartment is larger than another.
(d) It is actually that the sense of self is ebbing away.

9. What sound does the author refer to in his personal anecdote about reducing negative feelings?
(a) The sound of traffic.
(b) The sound of a buzz saw.
(c) The sound of a jackhammer.
(d) The sound of the dishwasher.

10. The author notes that generally, the thoughts that arise during meditation follow how many common themes?
(a) Six.
(b) Four.
(c) Two.
(d) Three.

11. The author states that what elements are just tools to help the brain sort the importance of various thoughts?
(a) Senses.
(b) Feelings.
(c) Sounds.
(d) Modules.

12. The author states that he suspects that our recognition of familiar people, pets, and even objects within our lives is based on what?
(a) Competitive feelings.
(b) Survival tactics.
(c) Our feelings about them.
(d) Our ideas about them.

13. What type of bird was rated the most highly in the study introduced by the author under the heading "Infiltration of Perception by Feeling" (159)?
(a) Eagles.
(b) Swans.
(c) Sparrows.
(d) Robins.

14. The author states that "modules seem to have the ability to recruit" (130) what on behalf of their goals?
(a) Faith.
(b) Other modules.
(c) Reasons.
(d) Tenets of belief.

15. What is the term for the tendency to attribute inner essences to things?
(a) Surrealism.
(b) Deconstructionism.
(c) Essentialism.
(d) Realism.

Short Answer Questions

1. The author states that repeated studies have shown that the brain reacts similarly to physical pain and what other element?

2. The author states that neither kind of module in the chocolate anecdote was more what than another?

3. The author states that people often impose beliefs and structure onto various what?

4. When thoughts arise during meditation, the author states that they generally have all but which of the following characteristics?

5. Toward what goal does the author hope to propel his readers?

(see the answer keys)

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