Challenge can be an important source of self-knowledge

Question

Challenge can be an important source of self-knowledge, since those who pay attention to how they react, both emotionally and physically, to challenge can gain useful insights into their own weaknesses.

Which one of the following most closely conforms to the principle above?
 
(A) A concert pianist should not have an entirely negative view of a memory lapse during a difficult performance. By understanding why the memory lapse occurred, the pianist can better prepare for future performances.
(B) A salesperson should understand that the commission earned is not the only reward of making a sale. Salespeople should also take satisfaction from the fact that successful sales reflect well on their personalities.
(C) Compassion is valuable not only for the wonderful feelings it brings, but also for the opportunities it affords to enrich the lives of other people.
(D) While some of the value of competition comes from the pleasure of winning, the primary reward of competition is competition itself. 
(E) Even people who dread public speaking should accept invitations to speak before large groups. People will admire their courage and they will experience the fulfillment of having attempted something that is difficult for them.

amit28akp · Answer

The answer choice A provides an example how challenges can improve self knowledge.
Lets look at other choices:

B-  A salesperson should understand that the commission earned.....  - is salesperson under a challenge, heart strings, irrelevant.
C-   Compassion is valuable not only for the wonderful feelings it brings....  - irrelevant as we are not talking about compassion.
D-  While some of the value of competition comes from....  - too strong, we cannot say this.
E-   Even people who dread public speaking should accept....  - People, third party we are talking about self knowledge.

MMahadevan · Answer

I cant understand why option E is wrong.. It also means people overcame their weakness / stage fear

amit28akp · Answer

Yeah option E says people will praise and the one who perform will fill fulfillment. But it does not say he they will achieve fulfilment. It may or not be because he was paying attentions to his reactions, it may be because he was inspired to see people applauding and it has nothing to do with study of emotions.

thakurarun85 · Answer

I think the key word is useful insights. E says all about challenge but miss any gain of self knowledge. "They will experince fulfilment of attempting something difficult" but no self knowledge is present.

However in A the pianist has gained self knowledge by facing his weakness. This is what it is.

However in A the pianist has gained self knowledge by facing his weakness. This is what it is.

unraveled · Answer

Only A and E seem to make the cut. Others are wrong for the red text.
In E the difference is between 'weakness' and 'fulfillment'. The original principle is about improving while in E it is about admiration and fulfillment, there's nothing about improvement. Whether people who have already publicly spoken improved or not is not at all the point of concern. On the other hand, A gives improvement aspect by pianist being able to perform better in future.

The difficultly lies in the way the original principle is stated w.r.t. to A. Original is kind of passive in structure while A is active plain.

Answer A.

VerbalBot · Answer

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Challenge can be an important source of self-knowledge

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Challenge can be an important source of self-knowledge

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