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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

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

2. In an experiment, male respondents in rooms with women were more likely to rate what as an important goal?
(a) Survival.
(b) Career.
(c) Attractiveness.
(d) Wealth acquisition.

3. When thoughts arise during meditation, the author states that they generally have all but which of the following characteristics?
(a) The thoughts will be accompanied by feelings of physical stress.
(b) They will involve the past or the future, rather than the present.
(c) The thoughts will reference other people.
(d) The thoughts will be self-referential.

4. The author repeatedly refers to the mental modules as temporarily taking what action against the focus of the mind?
(a) Erasing it.
(b) Hijacking it.
(c) Setting it ablaze.
(d) Eradicating it.

5. What object does the author use as a metaphor for the feelings that connect one’s conscious mind and one’s thoughts?
(a) Rubber.
(b) Concrete.
(c) Glue.
(d) Foam.

Short Answer Questions

1. What doctrine emphasizes that nothing has any essence?

2. Who is said to have remarked that our faculties of reason are controlled by passions, otherwise known as feelings, according to the author?

3. What object does the author NOT list when explaining what he means by "forms" (142)?

4. When the author describes the colors of his hallucination during meditation, what colors does he name?

5. The Capgras delusion causes an afflicted person to think that a loved one is what?

Short Essay Questions

1. In what way is Robert Wright's writing style self-referential?

2. Explain the emptiness doctrine presented by the author within the chapter entitled Encounters with the Formless.

3. What three careers are used to characterize the three different schools of meditation and on which type does the author focus within Buddhism is True?

4. What is the significance of the author's discussion of the Capgras delusion?

5. What is the purpose of mindfulness meditation and how is it performed?

6. How does the author use the example of weeds and flowers to make a point about emptiness?

7. What four themes does the author state are generally focused upon within the passing thoughts observed during meditation?

8. What is the author's message about the intertemporal utility function and its relationship to the permanence of the self?

9. How does the author use self-deprecation and discussion of his own flaws to further his purpose?

10. For what purpose does the author discuss his disagreement with a prominent meditation teacher?

(see the answer keys)

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