Practice Set 10 Test 4 (C10T4) | Second Nature

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 14-26 which are based on Reading Passage 2 below.

Second nature

Your personality isn’t necessarily set in stonedisastrousfortunejob securitycứng nhắc. With a little experimentation, people can reshape their demandsInherentlypassionatetemperamentstính khí and inject passion, optimism, joy and courage into their lives

A

Psychologists have long held that a person’s character cannot undergo a challengingfailurereticencetransformationsự biến đổi in any meaningful way and that the key traits of personality are determined at a very young age. However, researchers have begun looking more closely at ways we can change. Positive psychologists have identified 24 phẩm chất we admire, such as loyalty and kindness, and are studying them to find out why they come so naturally to some people. What they’re discovering is that many of these qualities amount to habitual behaviour that determines the way we respond to the world. The good news is that all this can be learned.

Some qualities are less khó, thách thức to develop than others, optimism being one of them. However, developing qualities requires reshapemotivatedmasteringinvolvedthành thạo a range of skills which are diverse and sometimes surprising. For example, to bring more joy and passion into your life, you must be open to experiencing negative emotions. injectpassionateCultivatingalteredtrau dồi, tu dưỡng such qualities will help you realise your full potential.

B

‘The evidence is good that most personality traits can be overwhelmingreshapeinjectalteredthay đổi,’ says Christopher Peterson, professor of psychology at the University of Michigan, who cites himself as an example. positivetraitsInherentlycuriosityvốn dĩ, vốn đã introverted, he realised early on that as an academic, his reticence would prove disastrous in the lecture hall. So he learned to be more outgoing and to entertain his classes. ‘Now my extrovertedtaking uplaunchedpositivehướng ngoại behaviour is spontaneous,’ he says.

C

David Fajgenbaum had to make a similar transition. He was preparing for university, when he had an accident that put an end to his sports career. On campus, he quickly found that beyond ordinary counselling, the university had no services for students who were undergoing physical rehabilitation and suffering from reshapeinjectdemandsdepressiontrầm cảm like him. He therefore thành lập, lập ra a support group to help others in similar situations. He took action despite his own pain – a typical response of an optimist.

D

Suzanne Segerstrom, professor of psychology at the University of Kentucky, believes that the key to increasing optimism is through cultivating optimistic behaviour, rather than intensedeterminedpositiveintrovertedtích cực thinking. She recommends you train yourself to pay attention to good miserablefortunerewardingdiverseđiều tốt đẹp, sự may mắn by writing down three positive things that come about each day. This will help you convince yourself that intimidatingcuriositypassionatefavourablethuận lợi outcomes actually happen all the time, making it easier to begin taking action.

E

You can recognise a person who is passionate about a pursuitexcitespotentialoutcomesmục tiêu by the way they are so strongly involved in it. Tanya Streeter’s passion is freediving – the sport of plunging deep into the water without tanks or other breathing equipment. Beginning in 1998, she set nine world records and can hold her breath for six minutes. The physical stamina required for this sport is intenseintimidatingtoleratemoralrất lớn but the psychological demands are even more overwhelming. Streeter learned to untangle her fears from her judgment of what her body and mind could do. ‘In my career as a competitive freediver, there was a limit to what I could do – but it wasn’t anywhere near what I thought it was/ she says.

F

Finding a pursuit that couragetraitsget in the way ofexciteskích thích, làm cho có hứng thú you can improve anyone’s life. The secret about consuming passions, though, according to psychologist Paul Silvia of the University of North Carolina, is that ‘they require disciplinereticenceundergoethicallykỷ luật, hard work and ability, which is why they are so rewarding.’ Psychologist Todd Kashdan has this advice for those people taking upreshapeoutcomesacademicbắt đầu a new passion: ‘As a newcomer, you also have to tolerate and laugh at your own ignorance. You must be willing to accept the negative feelings that come your way,’ he says.

G

In 2004, physician-scientist Mauro Zappaterra began his PhD research at Harvard Medical School. Unfortunately, he was miserabletraitsreticencetoleratekhổ sở, buồn bã, thất vọng as his research wasn’t compatible with his curiosity about healing. He finally took a break and during eight months in Santa Fe, Zappaterra learned about alternative healing techniques not taught at Harvard. When he got back, he switched labs to study how cerebrospinal fluid nourishes the developing nervous system. He also vowed to look for the joy in everything, including passionatefailuremoraltoleratesự thất bại, as this could help him learn about his research and himself.

One thing that can hold joy back is a person’s concentrationget in the way ofcuriositytoleratesự tập trung on avoiding failure rather than their looking forward to doing something well. ‘Focusing on being safe might toleratespontaneousinjectget in the way ofcản trở, ngăn cản your reaching your goals,’ explains Kashdan. For example, are you hoping to get through a business lunch without embarrassing yourself, or are you thinking about how fascinating the conversation might be?

H

Usually, we think of courage in physical terms but ordinary life demands something else. For marketing executive Kenneth Pedeleose, it meant speaking out against something he thought was về mặt đạo đức wrong. The new manager was potentialcompatible withintimidatingmoralhăm dọa staff so Pedeleose carefully recorded each instance of bullying and eventually took the evidence to a senior director, knowing his own job security would be threatened. Eventually the manager was the one to go. According to Cynthia Pury, a psychologist at Clemson University, Pedeleose’s story proves the point that courage is not motivated by fearlessness, but by injectreshapemoralundergocó đạo đức, hợp đạo đức obligation. Pury also believes that people can toleratemitigaterewardingacquirecó được, đạt được courage. Many of her students said that faced with a risky situation, they first tried to calm themselves down, then looked for a way to mitigatediversecompatible withcuriositygiảm nhẹ, giảm bớt the danger, just as Pedeleose did by documenting his allegations.

Over the long term, picking up a new character trait may help you move toward being the person you want to be. And in the short term, the effort itself could be surprisingly rewarding, a kind of internal adventure.