Choose the correct answer: The word 'despondent ” in the passage is closest in meaning to _______________.

Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to each of the questions from 35 to 40.

Happiness and sadness are experienced by people in all cultures around the world, but how can we tell when other people are happy or despondent? It turns out that the expression of many emotions may be universal. Smiling is apparently a universal sign of friendliness and approval. Baring the teeth in a hostile way,  as  noted  by  Charles  Darwin  in  the  nineteenth  century,  may  be  a  universal  sign  of  anger.  As  the originator of the theory of evolution, Darwin believed that the universal recognition of facial expressions would  have  survival  value.  For  example,  facial  expressions  could  signal  the  approach  of  enemies  (or friends) in the absence of language.

Most  investigators  concur  that  certain  facial  expressions  suggest  the  same  emotions  in  all  people. Moreover,  people  in  diverse  cultures  recognize  the  emotions  manifested  by  the  facial  expressions.  In classic research Paul Ekman took photographs of people exhibiting the emotions of anger, disgust, fear, happiness,  and  sadness.  He  then  asked  people  around  the  world  to  indicate  what  emotions  were  being depicted in them. Those queried ranged from European college students to members of the Fore, a tribe that dwells in the New Guinea highlands. All groups, including the Fore, who had almost no contact with Western  culture,  agreed  on  the  portrayed  emotions.  The  Fore  also  displayed  familiar  facial  expressions when asked how they would respond if they were the characters in stories that called for basic emotional responses. Ekman and his colleagues more recently obtained similar results in a study of ten cultures in which participants were permitted to report that multiple emotions were shown by facial expressions. The participants  generally  agreed  on  which  two  emotions  were  being  shown  and  which  emotion  was  more intense.

Psychological  researchers  generally  recognize  that  facial  expressions  reflect  emotional  states.  In  fact, various emotional states give rise to certain patterns of electrical activity in the facial muscles and in the brain. The facial-feedback hypothesis argues, however, that the causal relationship between emotions and facial expressions can also work in the opposite direction. According to this hypothesis, signals from the facial  muscles  (“feedback)  are  sent  back  to  emotion  centers  of  the  brain,  and  so  a  person’s  facial expression can influence that person’s emotional state. Consider Darwin’s words: “The free expression by outward  signs  of  an  emotion  intensifies  it.  On  the  other  hand,  the  repression,  as  far  as  possible,  of  all outward  signs  softens  our  emotions.”  Can  smiling  give  rise  to  feelings  of  good  will,  for  example,  and 
frowning to anger?

Psychological  research  has  given  rise  to  some  interesting  findings  concerning  the  facial-feedback hypothesis. Causing participants in experiments to smile, for example, leads them to report more positive feelings and to rate  cartoons (humorous drawings of people or situations) as being more humorous. When they are caused to frown, they rate cartoons as being more aggressive.

What are the possible links between facial expressions and emotion? One link is arousal, which is the level of activity or preparedness for activity in an organism. Intense contraction of facial muscles, such as those  used  in  signifying  fear,  heightens  arousal.  Self-perception  of  heightened  arousal  then  leads  to heightened  emotional  activity.  Other  links  may  involve  changes  in  brain  temperature  and  the  release  of neurotransmitters  (substances  that  transmit  nerve  impulses.)  The  contraction  of  facial  muscles  both influences the internal emotional state and reflects it. Ekman has found that the so-called Duchenne smile, which is characterized by “crow’s feet” wrinkles around the eyes and a subtle drop in the eye cover fold so  that  the  skin  above  the  eye  moves  down  slightly  toward  the  eyeball,  can  lead  to  pleasant  feelings. 
Ekman’s  observation  may  be  relevant  to  the  British  expression  “keep  a  stiff  upper  lip”  as  a recommendation for handling stress. It might be that a “stiff” lip suppresses emotional response - as long as  the  lip  is  not  quivering  with  fear  or  tension.  But  when  the  emotion  that  leads  to  stiffening  the  lip  is more intense, and involves strong muscle tension, facial feedback may heighten emotional response.

The word “ despondent ” in the passage is closest in meaning to _______________.

• A. Curious
• B. Unhappy
• C. Thoughtful
• D. Uncertain