Even though we look different and we believe in different things, we all have one thing in common – emotions. Psychologists and other experts have been researching the way we feel for over a hundred years.

AIn 1980, Robert Plutchik created the 'wheel of emotions'. This consisted of eight basic emotions that could be paired into four sets of opposites. These opposite pairs are joy and sadness, trust and disgust, fear and anger, and surprise and anticipation. He went further by classifying feelings, such as optimism, love, disappointment, aggression and a few more, as the results of emotions.

He suggested that the eight basic emotions have existed since primitive times, and that they have evolved in order to increase the ability of all animals - not just humans - to survive when they have to deal with issues in their environments. An example of this is the fight-or-flight response. When we feel fear due to a threat, our brains are programmed to make the body react in certain ways. Our heart rate increases to pump more blood around the body and we breathe faster to get more oxygen into our blood. The blood then carries oxygen to the muscles, allowing them to work harder, and thus helping us to either fight or run away.

BThe concept of emotional intelligence was investigated in the famous marshmallow experiment conducted by psychologist Walter Mischel in the late 1960s. In the test, a group of four-year-old children were given a marshmallow and told they could eat it right away or they would get another one if they could wait for the researcher to return. Some children ate the marshmallow immediately; others waited for a short while before they ate it; while others waited for the researcher to come back about 15 minutes later.

The researchers then followed the progress of each child into adolescence, and discovered that those with the ability to wait were better adjusted, more dependable, popular, confident, and adventurous than those who had given in to temptation; they also scored higher on school tests. The children who had not been able to wait were more likely to be lonely, easily frustrated and stubborn, did not cope well with stress and were afraid of challenges.

It became clear to researchers that the ability to fight an impulse is an important skill and a sign of emotional intelligence.

CWe know that certain illnesses are catching, but did you know that emotions are, too? This explains why we tend to feel happy around happy people and agitated around anxious people. Psychologists refer to this as 'emotional contagion' and it can be traced to a network of brain cells that form the Mirror Neuron System (MNS).

Here's an example of how it works. When you see a smiling, happy person, your MNS notices activity in the muscles that pull the lips upwards and the ones that crease the sides of the eyes. The MNS will then signal your own smile muscles so that you too smile.

Emotional contagion helped early humans to understand each other before the development of language and it is present from birth. For example, one crying baby will cause another baby to cry. Studies also show that infants mirror the facial expressions of their mothers, which suggests that they feel the same emotions, too, and that their MNS has recorded and reacted to the emotions of the mother.

DThe Monster Study was a stuttering experiment on 22 orphan children in the USA, in 1939 conducted by Wendell Johnson and Mary Tudor, a student of his at the University of Iowa.

The children were told they were going to receive speech therapy and were divided into two groups. The real purpose of the experiment, however, was to create stuttering in healthy children and to see whether stutterers' speech would improve if they were told they spoke well.

Tudor gave positive comments to one group of the children. She praised their speech and told them they were fine speakers. The second group, however, received the opposite treatment. They were informed that their speech was imperfect and that they stuttered. Many of the children who spoke normally, but received negative comments, developed speech problems that lasted for the rest of their lives.

It was named 'The Monster Study' by some of Johnson’s colleagues who were horrified that he had experimented on orphan children to prove a theory, and the University of Iowa publicly apologised for the Monster Study in 2001.

Reading

1Progress Test Units 1 & 2

Name:Date:Mark: /80marks

A Scientific Look at Human Emotions and Behaviour

Read the article about human emotions and behaviour.

Copyright © National Geographic Learning. Permission granted to photocopy for classroom use.

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arewardforcertainbehaviour? 1

somefunctionsofthehumanbrain? 2 3

copyinganotherperson'smood? 4

researchthatwascriticised? 5

theimportanceofemotionsforsurvival? 6

studiesconductedonchildren? 7 8

aconnectionbetweencharacterandacademicsuccess? 9

aspecificsurvivalmechanism? 10

Read the article again to find the following information. Which section(s) mention(s)

Marks / 10

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A Complete the sentences with these words.

anxiety disgust eagerness enthusiasm fear fury joy misery optimism pride

1 Thechildrencouldn'thidetheir whentheygotacutelittlepuppyforChristmas.

2 Mydadflewintoa whenournewcomputerstoppedworkingandtheshoprefusedtorepairit.

3 Therescueworkerswitnessedterriblescenesofhuman whentheywerehelpingthesurvivorsoftheearthquake.

4 Darioisthenervoustypesostressand causehimtobitehisnails.

5 I'mafraidIcan'taccompanyyoutothetopofthetowerbecauseIhavea ofheights.

6 Evafeltagreatsenseof asshewatchedherdaughterreceiveherdegreeatthegraduationceremony.

7 IwassurprisedbyBob's tohelpmewiththeshoppingashe'susuallyextremelylazy.

8 Thedemonstratorsshowedtheirangerand atthebehaviouroftheiruselesspoliticians.

9 Manyyoungpeoplehaveno andfeelthatthereisnothingtohopeforinthefuture.

10 Afterhesplitupwithhisgirlfriend,Charlielosthis forgoingoutandhavingfun.

B Complete the sentences with the correct nationality words.

1 chocolate,watchesandbanksarejustsomeofthethingsSwitzerlandisfamousfor.

2 MostpeoplethinkRiodeJaneiroisthe capital,butinactualfact,thecapitalcityofBrazilisBrasilia.

3 ThoughSwedenisamemberoftheEuropeanUnion,theydon'tusetheeuro.Theircurrencyisthekrona.

4 MahatmaGandhiwastheleaderofthe peopleintheirstruggletothrowtheBritishoutofIndia.

5 TheForbiddenCityinthecapitalofChina,Beijing,wasbuiltbetween1406and1420andwasthehomeoftheemperorsforalmost500years.

6 The arethetallestpeopleintheworld,withthoseinthenorthoftheNetherlandsabout2cmtallerthanthoseinthesouth.

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Vocabulary

C Replace the words in bold with these phrasal verbs in the correct form.

bottle up call back call off call out call round calm down cheer up chicken out

1 IwaslisteningtomusiconmyMP4playeranddidn'theartheheadteacherwhensheshoutedmyname.

2 'Stop cryingandtellmewhathappened,'saidmymotherinasoftvoice.

3 MybestfriendmademepromisetovisitbeforeIleftonmyround-the-worldtrip.

4 Afterthinkingaboutitverycarefully,Igot scaredanddecidednottogointothehauntedhouse.

5 MumtoldmethatMaryhadphonedmewhileIwasout,soIwillreturn her call.

6 'Don't worry! Be happy!'saidmyfriendafterIgotmymathstestbackandfoundoutIgotapoormark!

7 Noonewasreallyinthemoodtogooutlastnight,sowecancelledourplansforthecinema.

8 Helenfindsitverydifficulttoexpressherselfandshenever discussesherfeelings.

D Complete each sentence with one word.

1 Ourcompanydoesalotof withfactoriesinAsiaandAustralia.

2 Justoutof ,Iaskedhimhowhefeltaboutthesituationhewasin.

3 Theinventionofshipsplayedahuge inthedevelopmentofinternationaltrade.

4 Icouldn'tputthemysterybookdownandIwasin frombeginningtoend.

5 TheRomansbuilta(n) thatstretchedacrossEurope,theMiddleEastandNorthAfrica.

6 Itwaswith thatthemanagerannouncedtheclosingoftheshop.

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Marks / 6 Copyright © National Geographic Learning.

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Progress Test 1

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E Circle the correct words.

1 Angelaisexhaustedbecauseshehasworked/hasbeenworkingveryhard.

2 What'swrong,Jim?Youlook/arelookingreallysad.

3 Tinawouldbe/usedtobeahappychild,butnowshe'sagrumpyteenager!

4 Jasongrabbed/wasgrabbinghisbagandranoutoftheroom.

5 Ivanadidn'teat/hasn'teatenKoreanfoodbefore.Ihopeshelikesit!

6 Thegirlsstay/arestayingwiththeirgrandmotherforthetimebeing.

F Complete the sentences with one word in each gap.

1 WevisitourrelativesinItaly year.

2 No,I've listenedtoJapanesemusic;isitnice?

3 I tolivebytheseaanditwaslovelythere.

4 Idon'tknowwhereJillisnow,butshewasherefiveminutes .

5 Sallyhasn'tfinishedherprojectoninternationaltrade .

6 BeforetheInternet,people sendletters,notemails.

G Complete the sentences with the correct form of the verbs in brackets.

1 ThecityofRome forover2,500years.(exist)

2 Manyculturestoday similarmythsandlegendsfromthepast.(share)

3 I forJoeforoveranhour.Iwonderwhyhe'slate.(wait)

4 We forsomeoldbooksintheatticwhenwefoundgrandma'solddiary.(look)

5 Martha already Europetwiceandshe'sonlytenyearsold.(visit)

6 toShanghaiwhenyouwereinChina?(you/go)

7 Why always ?Stopit!It'sboring!(you/complain)

8 I'mafraidI theanswertoyourquestion.(notknow)

H Complete the second sentences so that they have a similar meaning to the first sentences. Use the words in bold. You must use between two and five words including the word given.

1 WhenIwasyoung,Ilikedreadingcomics,butIdon'tnow.to

I comics,butIdon'tnow.

2 Wemovedherefiveyearsago.for

We fiveyears.

3 TomhasneverbeentoaJapaneserestaurantbefore.the

It's beentoaJapaneserestaurant.

4 HowlonghavetheybeeninNewYork?arrive

When inNewYork?

5 ThelasttimeJosesawMiguelwasthedaytheywonthechampionship.seen

Jose thedaytheywonthechampionship.

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Grammar

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Marks / 10

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Close-Up B2 Teacher’s Resource PackProgress Test 1

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Choose one of the writing tasks below.

1 YourEnglishspeakingfriend,Nigel,isthinkingoftravellingaroundyourcountry.ReadNigel'semailandthenotesyouhavemade.ThenwriteanemailtoNigelusingallyournotes.(120-150words)

Writing 2 Youhaveseenthisannouncementinan

internationalmagazine.

Writeyourarticlein120-180wordsinanappropriatestyle.

MY BEST FRIENDTell us about your best friend and say what you like about

him or her.

We will publish the most interesting articles next month.

Marks / 10

email

From: NigelCarruthersSent: 19thAprilSubject: Travel

Hi!

Howareyou?Howwereyourexams?

I'vebeenthinkingaboutvisitingyourcountry!IwanttotravelaroundandseeasmuchofitasIcan.I'dliketocomeinAprilorMay.Isthatagoodtime?

Iknowyou'vebeentomanyplacestheresoIwaswonderingifyoucouldrecommendsomeformetosee.Iparticularlylikehistoricalsights.

Also,canyoutellmeaboutsomeofthecustomsortraditionsinyourcountry?WillIbeabletoexperienceanywhileI'mthere?

Onelastthing,wouldyoubeabletotravelwithme?

Replysoon,Nigel

Tell him

Yes, because …

Suggest

Yes, give details

No. Explain why.

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