Passage
Human emotions play an important role in individual and group behaviors, influencing both prosocial and antisocial exchanges. Complex and personal, emotions are difficult to study. Although physiological indicators of emotion, such as pulse or skin conductance, are easy to measure, the subjective experience of emotion is much harder to assess.Further complicating the issue, there is no universally accepted theory regarding the role of physiological processes in the experience of emotion. Common sense would suggest that emotion is experienced first, followed by physiological and behavioral events: we feel scared and then break into a cold sweat. However, one of the earliest modern theories of emotion proposed just the opposite-emotion occurs after a physiological response, not before: we break into a cold sweat and then feel scared.Males and females also appear to experience emotion differently; however, it is unclear whether this is the result of nature or nurture. Studies using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) suggest a biological difference. Data suggest that compared to females, males demonstrated greater activation of the amygdala while viewing images meant to induce fear, anger, or sexual arousal, but when asked to suppress negative emotions, females demonstrated greater activation of the prefrontal cortex than males. Research also suggests that females may demonstrate more empathy; when watching another person experience an emotion (eg, pain), females show more neural activation of the same areas that are active during the personal experience of that emotion.Social factors also appear to play an important role in gender differences. One study, which assessed how boys and girls express emotion from infancy to adolescence, concluded that gender differences appear to emerge around age 2-4 and become more pronounced with age. The researchers hypothesized that children learn gendered behavior regarding emotion through social learning. Cultural differences in the expression of emotion lend support to this argument: several studies suggest that, in general, men are expected to express less emotion than women, with the exception of anger.
T. Singer and C. Lamm ©2009 by New York Academy of Sciences, and T. M. Chaplin and A. Aldao ©2012 by American Psychological Association, and S. R. Wester, D. L. Vogel, P. K. Pressly, and M. Heesacker ©2002 by American Psychological Association
-Which of the following conclusions is most supported by information in the third paragraph?

Question

Passage
Human emotions play an important role in individual and group behaviors, influencing both prosocial and antisocial exchanges.  Complex and personal, emotions are difficult to study.  Although physiological indicators of emotion, such as pulse or skin conductance, are easy to measure, the subjective experience of emotion is much harder to assess.Further complicating the issue, there is no universally accepted theory regarding the role of physiological processes in the experience of emotion.  Common sense would suggest that emotion is experienced first, followed by physiological and behavioral events: we feel scared and then break into a cold sweat.  However, one of the earliest modern theories of emotion proposed just the opposite-emotion occurs after a physiological response, not before: we break into a cold sweat and then feel scared.Males and females also appear to experience emotion differently; however, it is unclear whether this is the result of nature or nurture.  Studies using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) suggest a biological difference.  Data suggest that compared to females, males demonstrated greater activation of the amygdala while viewing images meant to induce fear, anger, or sexual arousal, but when asked to suppress negative emotions, females demonstrated greater activation of the prefrontal cortex than males.  Research also suggests that females may demonstrate more empathy; when watching another person experience an emotion (eg, pain), females show more neural activation of the same areas that are active during the personal experience of that emotion.Social factors also appear to play an important role in gender differences.  One study, which assessed how boys and girls express emotion from infancy to adolescence, concluded that gender differences appear to emerge around age 2-4 and become more pronounced with age.  The researchers hypothesized that children learn gendered behavior regarding emotion through social learning.  Cultural differences in the expression of emotion lend support to this argument: several studies suggest that, in general, men are expected to express less emotion than women, with the exception of anger.
T. Singer and C. Lamm ©2009 by New York Academy of Sciences, and T. M. Chaplin and A. Aldao ©2012 by American Psychological Association, and S. R. Wester, D. L. Vogel, P. K. Pressly, and M. Heesacker ©2002 by American Psychological Association
-Which of the following conclusions is most supported by information in the third paragraph?

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Mirror neurons are a type of neuron that fires when an individual both observes and performs a behavior; they may play a central role in observational learning and the experience of vicarious emotions. Mirror neurons appear to be involved in grasping the intentions and in understanding the emotions of others. Deficiencies in the mirror neuron system are hypothesized to play a role in autism spectrum disorders. Vicarious emotions occur when an observer intuits the feelings that another might be experiencing. Vicarious emotions are thought to have evolved to help individuals relate to and understand one another through shared emotional expression. fMRI data suggest that neural activation when one experiences an emotion is similar to when one watches someone else experience that emotion, suggesting that vicarious emotions are linked to the mirror neuron system. The third paragraph suggests that vicarious emotions may be associated with greater activation of the mirror neuron system in females than in males. (Choice A) The third paragraph states that "males demonstrated greater activation of the amygdala while viewing images meant to induce fear, anger, or sexual arousal." While the amygdala is a component of the limbic system, this does not support the conclusion that the entire limbic system appears to be more active overall in males than in females. (Choice B) The third paragraph states that "when asked to suppress negative emotions, females demonstrated greater activation of the prefrontal cortex than males." This does not support the conclusion that the prefrontal cortex is more likely to be active in males when expressing anger. (Choice D) There is no information in the third paragraph to suggest that suppression of negative emotions is associated with activation of the limbic system in females. Educational objective: Mirror neurons, which fire both during observation and performance of a behavior, are believed to play a role in the experience of vicarious emotions. Vicarious emotions involve the ability to intuit how someone else feels and are thought to encourage prosocial behaviors through shared emotional expression.

Passage Human Emotions Play an Important Role in Individual and Group