Question

Decision-making under Stress

A new review based on a research shows that acute stress affects the way the brain considers the advantages and disadvantages, causing it to focus on pleasure and ignore the possible negative (负面的) consequences of a decision.

The research suggests that stress may change the way people make choices in predictable ways.

“Stress affects how people learn,” says Professor Mara Mather. “People learn better about positive than negative outcomes under stress.”

For example, two recent studies looked at how people learned to connect images(影像) with either rewards or punishments. In one experiment, some of the participants were first stressed by having to give a speech and do difficult math problems in front of an audience; in the other, some were stressed by having to keep their hands in ice water. In both cases, the stressed participants remembered the rewarded material more accurately and the punished material less accurately than those who hadn’t gone through the stress.

This phenomenon is likely not surprising to anyone who has tried to resist eating cookies or smoking a cigarette while under stress –at those moments, only the pleasure associated with such activities comes to mind. But the findings further suggest that stress may bring about a double effect. Not only are rewarding experiences remembered better, but negative consequences are also easily recalled.

The research also found that stress appears to affect decision-making differently in men and women. While both men and women tend to focus on rewards and less on consequences under stress, their responses to risk turn out to be different.

Men who had been stressed by the cold-water task tended to take more risks in the experiment while women responded in the opposite way. In stressful situations in which risk-taking can pay off big, men may tend to do better, when caution weighs more, however, women will win.

This tendency to slow down and become more cautious when decisions are risky might also help explain why women are less likely to become addicted than men: they may more often avoid making the risky choices that eventually harden into addiction.

1. We can learn from the passage that people under pressure tend to ______.

A. keep rewards better in their memory

B. recall consequences more effortlessly

C. make risky decisions more frequently

D. learn a subject more effectively

2. According to the research, stress affects people most probably in their ______.

A. preference for pleasure      B. ways of making choices

C. tolerance of punishments     D. responses to suggestions

3. The research has proved that in a stressful situation, ______.

A. women find it easier to fall into certain habits

B. men have a greater tendency to slow down

C. women focus more on outcomes

D. men are more likely to take risks

Answer

1.A

2.B

3.D

【解析】

试题分析: 文章介绍了在压力之下人们作出决定时的考虑是不一样的，并通过实验说明人们在有压力的时候通常想到的是积极的一面比较多，同时也介绍了男人和女人在面对不同的压力时反映也是不同的。

1.A主旨题，原文第一段大意是面对压力的环境，人们会想到积极的东西，忽视消极的东西，故选A。

2.B细节题，题干词为research，定位于第二段，原文说 stress may change the way peoplemake choices(压力可能改变人们做选择的方式).,故选B项。

3.D细节题，题干关键词为 stressful situation，定位于第三段最后一句话。即In stressful situation in which risk-taking can pay off big, men tend to do better, when caution weighs more, however, women will win.(在压力情况下，如果冒险的回报很大，男人们会做的更好，但是，谨慎更重要时，女人们做的更好) ，D选项说男人们更倾向于冒险，故选D。

考点：社会现象类阅读。