The Power of Failure

PART A: Which statement identifies the central idea of the text?

• Focusing on the negative emotions of failures can help you make better decisions in tasks related and unrelated to the original failed task.

• It’s important to embrace the negative emotions that come with certain failures, as this could help you do better in the future and avoid additional failures.

• It’s better to focus on how you can improve in the future than the negative emotions associated with a perceived failure.

• People who avoid focusing on the negative emotions associated with failure report being happier overall, but tend not to learn from their mistakes.

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PART B: Which detail from the text best supports the answer to Part A?

• “Academics and the mainstream media tend to offer a simple solution: Don’t let it get to you and think about how things could have been worse.” ( Paragraph 2)

• “Those who had focused on their failure — rather than dwelling on how they felt — tended to have defensive responses: ‘I didn’t care much about this anyway’” ( Paragraph 14)

• “Perhaps when you reflect on how bad you feel after failing, it motivates you to avoid experiencing that feeling again.” ( Paragraph 16)

• “Clearly, one-off events or inconsequential mistakes — taking the wrong turn in a foreign city or being late to a party with friends — don’t make the best candidates (hence the saying ‘don’t sweat the small stuff’).” ( Paragraph 20)

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How does the introduction of the text contribute to our understanding of failure (Paragraphs 1-4)?

• They explore why people often don’t learn from the mistakes that they make.

• They discuss the benefits of remaining positive in the face of failure.

• They explore how people are typically encouraged to deal with failure.

• They emphasize how normal it is to experience failure at some point in your life.

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What is the relationship between how a person thinks about negative emotions and their actions?

• Focusing on negative emotions can encourage someone to do what’s necessary to avoid feeling that way again.

• Acknowledging negative emotions can make someone more upset and act more impulsively.

• Avoiding negative emotions makes people feel better about themselves and helps them make better decisions.

• Thinking about negative emotions or experiences as an opportunity for growth helps people perform better in tasks.

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The author discusses different tasks participants were asked to do after failing at something. How does this contribute to our understanding of the effects of focusing on failure? ANSWERS WILL VARY

• ANSWERS WILL VARY

• The way the author discusses different tasks participants were asked to do after failing something, contributes to our understanding of the effects of failure because it shows how different people have different opinions on failure. For example, the people who got frustrated and didn't even try said things like,"oh well I didn't care about this anyway". But the people who tried there best on the task said things like, "I could have taken more time and then I could have done better." This shows how if you really work for something you can fail and if you don't work for something you can fail. But you should always learn form your failure to do better next time. Some people just give up,the right thing to do is learn from your failure.

• ANSWERS WILL VARY

• ANSWERS WILL VARY

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