Foundation Quiz 3

The reading for this quiz is Habits of a Happy Brain Chapters 7-9 and watch the video series, You Have Power Over Your Happy Brain Chemicals, and read its Action Guide.

When you pass this quiz, you get a free copy of I, Mammal and qualify for the Advanced Inner Mammal Training and for 3 CEUs. You are on your way to becoming a Certified Inner Mammal Trainer!

Foundation Level #3

Foundation Quiz #3

20 multiple-choice questions. When you complete all 3 Foundation Quizzes, you'll earn a free copy of I, Mammal and qualify for the Advanced Training and Certification.

1. Everyone experiences conflict because:

other people should meet your needs but they often fail

a step toward one happy chemical often risks another, or the perceived risk of pain

our society shames you for feeling good

immediate good feelings destroy long-term good feelings

2. Free will:

does not exist because your neural pathways are shaped by experience.

means acting on your mammalian urges.

is the ability to resist an impulse and generate an alternative.

has been lost to more powerful forces.

3. Every path to happy chemicals includes:

bad people you must avoid.

inner truth you must follow.

bad decisions you must undo.

trade-offs you must navigate.

4. When you take a step that stimulates your dopamine,

you develop an addiction.

all your other happy chemicals move with it.

your serotonin and oxytocin fall in proportion.

you risk disappointment, which stimulates cortisol.

5. Why do people tend to repeat old behaviors instead of wiring in new ones?

Old survival learning helped you feel strong so departing from those lessons can feel weak.

Threatened feelings are released when you depart from old pathways and we interpret those feelings as a real threat.

You have to focus on your needs to build new pathways, and you may have learned not to focus on your own needs.

You can feel good about ignoring new choices by telling yourself it's “lowering your standards”

all of the above

6. When you blame your ups and downs on “our society,” you can expect all of the following EXCEPT:

your brain can easily find evidence to fit the expectation.

you can easily build trust with people who share that expectation.

you gain power over these ups and downs.

the happiness you are waiting for will never come because no society can reach into your brain and activate your neurons; and every society is made of mammals.

7. If you expect some future accomplishment to make you happy forever:

the anticipated reward triggers some dopamine in the present if the reward seems to get closer.

you will be disappointed in the future because the brain habituates to new rewards.

you can disprove this belief by reading the tabloids, which are full of evidence that big accomplishments do not make you happy forever.

all of the above

8. A good reason to mirror other people is:

to get them to take care of you.

to learn a healthy new behavior by observing someone who takes pleasure in it

to replace your thought process with someone else’s.

all of the above

9. If you find it easier to trigger one happy chemical, you can benefit by focusing on the others. Which of the following is NOT an example of this?

If you feel like a “dopamine person” who enjoys getting things done, you’d benefit most from new productivity strategies to get more done.

If you feel like an “oxytocin person” who easily enjoys social bonds, you’d get more from adding the dopamine of independent goal-seeking.

If you feel like a “serotonin person” who tends to enjoy a position of importance, you’d get more from adding the oxytocin of building trust.

If you feel like an “endorphin person,” good at mastering pain, you’d get more from adding the serotonin of seeking respect for your accomplishments.

10. Which of the following is a good tool for building new circuits?

Destroy an old circuit at its roots so you can graft a new one onto it.

Stay very busy so you have no energy to worry about your new challenge.

Replace your desire for big things with a desire for small things.

Reproduce as much as possible.

Divide a big challenge into small parts and enjoy accomplishing each one.

11. What can you do today to improve your future prospects for happiness?

Focus on your dreams and forget about everything else.

Focus on what goes wrong so you will never repeat the same mistake.

Sample new rewards so you will have alternatives when old rewards fade.

Buy chocolate in large boxes so it will always be available.

12. Frustration is natural because:

rewards are predictable.

you are consciously aware of your threat response.

it’s nature’s way of redirecting your energy away from an action that is not getting rewarded.

all of the above

13. Accepting your inner mammal means:

accepting threats instead of resisting them.

following your impulses.

knowing that your good and bad feelings are information to help you navigate tough choices on the path to meeting your needs.

all of the above

14. Cortisol builds big neural pathways that wire you to feel threatened when:

you see an obstacle to meeting your needs.

your expectations are disappointed.

a new experience resembles something that hurt you before.

all of the above

15. You can see a world of opportunity instead of a world of threat if you:

battle every threat you see, and win.

change the world to fit your vision of the way things should be.

focus on good things until you build a new place for your electricity to flow.

get lucky when opportunities come along.

16. To manage frustration, be prepared with a plan based on:

sugar, alcohol, and anger.

love, forgiveness, and compassion.

energy, discipline, and attention to detail.

variety, focus, and realistic expectations.

17. Realistic expectations help you:

eliminate disappointment

reduce cortisol

let go of the future

activate your sense of urgency

18. When you feel frustrated, a good strategy is to:

rely on the “happy habit” that always makes you feel good again.

have a variety of mood-lifting strategies so none is used to excess.

tell other people how they have let you down.

find evidence of all the ways you’ve been wronged.

19. Your brain focuses on what you lack because it’s designed to keep striving to meet your needs. You can easily end up feeling deprived and frustrated with a brain like this. A good solution is to:

grieve with people who feel the same way.

party with people who feel the same way.

know that your feeling was triggered by electricity flowing down a well-developed pathway, and build a new pathway by focusing on what you have instead of what you lack.

get “help” and expect "them" to fix it for you.

20. Comparing yourself to others is:

Dopamine habituates to old rewards, so you have to keep finding new rewards to enjoy it.

a huge source of frustration.

a natural survival impulse for a mammal.

a habit that you can alter if you create an alternative and repeat it.

all of the above

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