1. According to the passage, in which of the following hypothetical cases would a person be able to consciously control his or her emotions?
i. If a person becomes angry at the slightest of provocations but no hormone is released.
ii. If a person consumes a recently developed drug that greatly increases the rate of dissipation of hormones in the human body.
iii. If a person is taking a medication that prevents the release of adrenaline in the human body.
(A) ii and iii only
(B) i and ii only
(C) iii only
(D) ii only
(E) i, ii and iii
(i) If someone is already angry, he has already lost control of his/her emotion. So, fails.
(ii) If the rate of dissipation of hormones is increased, emotions too get heightened. So, fails.
(iii) If a medication can prevent the release of adrenaline, then somehow, he/she may be able to control things spiraling out of control. Hence, the only possibly correct option.
2. According to the passage, a rational person differs from a highly impulsive person in that:
(A) a rational person’s body produces a controllable amount of hormones.
(B) a rational person is able to better control his judgment of events.
(C) a rational person does not let his hormones affect his emotions.
(D) a rational person does not allow emotions to bypass his conscious mind.
(E) a rational person has no less a tendency to jump to conclusions.
The passage speaks about a rational person as someone who has the ability to not let his/her emotions get better of him by not jumping to conclusions and by not keeping his judgments on his sleeves, and that's what the option B states. Hence, correct.
3. What is the meaning of the word ‘misconstrue’ as used in the passage (paragraph two)?
(A) Mislead
(B) Misdemeanor
(C) Misguide
(D) Misinterpret
(E) Misrepresent
Misconstrue is used to depict misinterpretation of something as trivial as looking at a direction as a sign of bullying (sort of). Hence, option D is correct.
4. Why does the author use the term 'unfortunately' in the second sentence of the passage?
(A) To underscore the inherent sorrow that a person who is unable to contain his emotions, faces.
(B) To provide a contrast with the previous sentence by stating that in some cases a person may not be able to voluntarily control his emotions in the first place.
(C) To assert that a person not being able to contain his emotions is not the desired state of affairs.
(D) To conclude that all the efforts of researchers have gone in vain because there is actually a connection between hormones and emotions.
(E) To arrive at a conclusion about the relationship between hormones and emotions later in the passage.
The author starts the passage by mentioning a study that hints towards a possibility of humans being able to control their emotions. But, then he stated another study that has "conclusive evidence" to state otherwise, and the usage of "unfortunately" depicts his preference in the matter. He would have preferred if the humans had the ability to control their emotions. Hence, keeping this in mind the option B is correct.