CAT Questions | CAT Paragraph Completion Questions

The question is from CAT Paragraph Completion. CAT exam will have 1~2 questions from Paragraph Completion. Solve CAT Questions from Paragraph Completion to get more practice and 2IIMs CAT questions bank provides you with CAT questions from Para Completion that can help you gear for CAT Exam.

Question 37: A series of fascinating papers suggest that in humans and other social mammals, social pain and physical pain are processed by the same neural circuits. This might explain why, in many languages, it is hard to describe the impact of breaking social bonds without the words we use to denote physical pain and injury. Social contact even reduces physical pain.

1. As the prison system knows only too well, one of the most effective forms of torture is solitary confinement.
2. This is why we hug our children when they hurt themselves: affection is a powerful analgesic.
3. Self-harm is often used as an attempt to alleviate distress: another indication that physical pain is not as bad as emotional pain.
4. The impact of loneliness on physical health is comparable to that of smoking 15 cigarettes a day: loneliness appears to raise the risk of early death by 26%.

Explanatory Answer

Method of solving this CAT Question from Paragraph Completion:

This paragraph explains that our brains process social pain and physical pain in the same way. The words we use to describe the breaking of social bonds are words we use to denote physical injury. The penultimate line states that social contact reduces physical pain.

Option B, which explains how social contact relieves pain, fits the given paragraph very well.

Option A is about the lack of social contact being a form of torture. This does not relate to how social contact reduces physical pain.

Option C talks of self-harm or self-inflicted physical pain to alleviate emotional pain. This is an unrelated idea.

Option D talks of the impact of loneliness, or the lack of social contact on physical health. The penultimate line, on the other hand, is about the positive impact of social contact on physical pain. These are two different ideas.

The question is " Choose the Sentence that completes the Paragraph "

Hence, the answer is Sentence B

Choice B is the correct answer.