READING PASSAGE 3

You should spend about 20 minutes on questions 28 – 40, which are based on Reading
Passage 3 below
Label your emotions
Unusual emotions routinely swirl within us, and they aren't easily named. But it may be useful
to stop, examine them, and try to put them into words. "When we label an emotion, it might
make it more manageable," says Seth J. Gillihan, a clinical assistant professor of psychology
at the University of Pennsylvania. "It might not change the emotion, but it does allow us the
possibility of choosing our response."
You would assume that there's an agreed-upon definition of emotion, at least among those who
study and write about it professionally. You'd be wrong. "There are several different
definitions, each aligned with a particular theoretical view," says Lisa Feldman Barrett, a
psychology professor at Northeastern University. "I think that an emotion is your brain
categorizing sensations, making them meaningful so you know what they are and what you
should do about them." Attempts to pinpoint emotion centers within the brain have been largely
unsuccessful. "Empirically, there's no biological imprint or even neural circuit for a category
of emotion like 'anger,'" Barrett says. Instead, our inner feelings appear to arise from complex
systems of chemical and electrical interactions within and between cells.
Labeling emotions isn't necessary for their primary—and immediate—purpose. "The conscious
understanding of emotions is superfluous from a survival standpoint," Gillihan says. "If I'm
running away from a tiger in caveman days, I never say to myself, 'I am afraid.' I just think,
Tiger! I've got to get out of here! I handle the threat and survive." In modern times, however,
our feelings often arise from our relationships, careers, and travel, and we benefit from a more
considered response, he says. "It helps to be able to put a frame around more complex
emotions."
Aristotle categorized many familiar emotions—anger, fear, shame, pity, love. But our feelings
often seem far more nuanced than these common terms can capture. At a given moment, they
might incorporate varying shades of multiple emotions or be heavily influenced by context.
Consider pride: We feel it when we've accomplished something difficult or impressive at work.
But that's different from the pride we feel when our adult child achieves a milestone. Or the
pride that surges through us when our national soccer team wins the World Cup. The variation
in just one significant variable—cause—changes our experience of pride and our resulting
actions: We might bask quietly in success at work, brag to friends about our child, or high-five
strangers in soccer jerseys on the street.
"I think about our descriptions of emotions like our descriptions of the weather," says Mark R.
Leary, a professor of psychology and neuroscience at Duke University. "There are all different
kinds of cloudy days. There are really dark, cloudy days; there are bright, cloudy days; and
then there are cloudy days where the sun just breaks through. Sometimes it's raining and
sometimes it's not. But we use a single word to describe it: 'It was cloudy today.'
"Emotions don't come in neat little boxes," he says. "They're often blends of a lot of different
things you're experiencing." For example, we can feel happiness tinged with sadness, and
happiness accompanied by fear. "I'm happy to get this job, but I'm also afraid because I'm going
to have to prove myself," Leary says. "You have these mixed feelings that don't feel exactly
like any of the standard emotion words because they're a mixture of things. A lot of dimensions
are being activated." And while emotions sometimes do combine smoothly into an easily
comprehensible new experience, the way a tiny dab of white paint can turn a dollop of red paint
a vibrant pink, at other times they clash and confuse, leaving us unsure how to respond.
"Emotions have motivational consequences," Leary says. "They tell us what to do." Fear tells
you to get away from danger. Anger tells you to strike out or defend yourself. "If you can't tell
what you're feeling, then it's a lot more puzzling to know how you should react: I don't know
whether to laugh or cry. I don't know whether to approach you or avoid you."
Our states of inner feeling are a great source of information, and those that are hard to name
have a special sort of power: "They are so intense, so overwhelming, that we lose our ability
to step outside of them, put a circle around them, and call them something," says Carrie Barron,
an assistant clinical professor of psychiatry at Columbia University. If odd emotions disturb or
distract you, a therapist could help you sort things out and, if possible, put them into words. "It
might be fear for you. It might be anger. It might be tenderness," Barron says. But it's almost
never just one thing: "Conflict and ambivalence are part of the human condition. You might
feel two opposite things at the same time. But when you can name it, you are more in control.
You feel better."
Once you have wrapped your head around, or even named, an odd emotion, you can do
something with it, and about it. You might make a change in your life, so that you don't
experience an unpleasant feeling as often—or so you're more likely to feel a lovely, hard-to-
capture one. With work, you can ideally become able to simply sit quietly with it. A crucial
realization, Barron says, is that "running from emotions is much more exhausting than actually
feeling them."
(Adapted from Psychology Today)
Questions 28 – 32
Do the following statements agree with the claims of the writer in Reading Passage 3?
In boxes 28 – 32 on your answer sheet, write
YES if the statement agrees with the claims of the writer
NO if the statement contradicts the claims of the writer
NOT GIVEN if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this
28. Experts share the same idea of how emotion is defined.
29. Scientists have failed to locate the part of the brain that control emotions.
30. Naming feelings is more essential in modern times than in ancient times.
31. How we feel and react to an emotion might depend largely on the context.
32. Emotions and weather are deeply connected.

Questions 33 - 37
Look at the following ideas (Questions 33 – 37) and the list of people below.
Match each idea with the correct people, A, B, C or D
Write the correct letter, A, B, C or D, in boxes 33 – 37 on your answer sheet.
NB You may use any letter more than once.

List of People
A. Seth J. Gillihan
B. Lisa Feldman Barrett
C. Mark R. Leary
D. Carrie Barron

33. Labelling emotions is redundant in the case of survival.

34. Usual emotion vocabularies are often unable to describe people’s assorted feelings.
35. People are motivated by emotions to respond to particular situations.
36. Emotions are not biologically fixed on your brain but classified and made purposeful by
it.
37. It is less fatiguing facing unpleasant emotions than avoiding them.

Questions 38 - 40
Complete the notes below.
Choose ONE WORD ONLY from Reading Passage 3 for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 38 – 40 on your answer sheet.

Odd emotions
Odd emotions – those we are unable to name – are so (38) ……… that we cannot identify them
properly. And when they bother you, help from a (39) ……… could make you feel better.
When you understand odd emotions, you could adjust your (40) ……… so that you are less
likely to encounter irksome feelings, or more likely to enjoy positive ones.