The text is for the following question. Philosophers and psychologists have long debated the nature of emotions such as happiness. Findings in neuroscience suggest how brains generate emotions through a combination of cognitive appraisal and bodily perception. Suppose that something really good happens to you today: you win the lottery, your child gets admitted to Harvard, or someone you've been interested in asks you out. Naturally, you feel happy, but what does this happiness amount to? On the traditional dualist view of a person, you consist of both a body and a soul, and it is the soul that experiences mental states such as happiness. This view has the appealing implication that you can even feel happiness after your body is gone, if your soul continues to exist in a pleasant location such as heaven. Unfortunately, there is no good evidence for the existence of the soul and immortality, so the dualist view of emotions and the mind in general can be dismissed as wishful thinking or motivated inference. There are currently two main scientific ways of explaining the nature of emotions. According to the cognitive appraisal theory, emotions are judgments about the extent that the current situation meets your goals. Happiness is the evaluation that your goals are being satisfied, as when winning the lottery solves your financial problems and being asked out holds the promise of satisfying your romantic needs. Similarly, sadness is the evaluation that your goals are not being satisfied, and anger is the judgment aimed at whatever is blocking the accomplishment of your goals. Alternatively, William James and others have argued that emotions are perceptions of changes in your body such as heart rate, breathing rate, perspiration, and hormone levels. On this view, happiness is a kind of physiological perception, not a judgment, and other emotions such as sadness and anger are mental reactions to different kinds of physiological stages. The problem with this account is that bodily states do not seem to be nearly as finely tuned as the many different kinds of emotional states. Yet there is undoubtedly some connection between emotions and physiological changes. What is the passage about? (SBMPTN 2016)

Pembahasan

Soalnya menanyakan topik dari teks di atas. Untuk mengetahuinya, kita dapat melihat dari gagasan utama tiap-tiap paragraf. Pada paragraf pertama, gagasan utamanya terletak pada kalimat pertama, yaitu “Philosophers and psychologists have long debated the nature of emotions such as happiness” . Di situ dikatakan bahwa perdebatan tentang sifat emosi sudah lama terjadi di antara para filsuf dan psikolog. Gagasan utama paragraf kedua terletak pada kalimat ketiga, yaitu “On the traditional dualist view of a person, you consist of both a body and a soul, and it is the soul that experiences mental states such as happiness.” Menurut pandangan dualis tradisional, seseorang itu terdiri dari tubuh dan jiwa. Paragraf ini berisi pandangan yang berbeda tentang sifat emosi. Pernyataan “Suppose that something really good happens to you today” pada kalimat pertama bukanlah gagasan utama, melainkan kalimat penjelas karena menunjukkan permisalan atau contoh. Gagasan utama paragraf ketiga terletak pada kalimat pertama, yaitu “There are currently two main scientific ways of explaining the nature of emotions.” Di situ dibahas tentang sifat emosi dari sudut pandang ilmiah. Paragraf ini berisi pandangan yang berbeda dengan pandangan-pandangan pada paragraf pertama dan kedua tentang sifat emosi. Gagasan utama paragraf keempat terletak pada kalimat pertamanya, yaitu “Alternatively, William James and others have argued that emotions are perceptions of changes in your body such as heart rate, breathing rate, perspiration, and hormone levels.” Di situ dibahas tentang sifat emosi dari sudut pandang William James dan rekan-rekan. Menurut mereka, emosi adalah persepsi. Pandangan ini juga berbeda dengan pandangan-pandangan di tiga paragraf sebelumnya. Gagasan-gagasan utama di atas dapat disederhanakan sebagai berikut: Paragraph 1: Philosophers and psychologists long debated emotions Paragraph 2: On the traditional dualist view Paragraph 3: Main scientific ways Paragraph 4: Alternatively, William James and others Setelah mengetahui gagasan utama dari tiap-tiap paragraf, mari kita bahas pilihan jawabannya. Pilihan A. Emotion as a matter of perception Pernyataan ini disampaikan oleh William James dan rekan-rekan. Informasinya hanya terdapat pada paragraf keempat saja sehingga tidak bisa dikatakan sebagai topik teks. Jadi, pilihan jawaban ini salah. Pilihan B. A long standing debate on emotion Pernyataan ini benar karena gagasan utama dari setiap paragraf berisi tentang berbagai perbedaan pendapat tentang sifat emosi. Pilihan C. Definition of emotion Pernyataan ini terlalu spesifik. Yang dibahas pada teks tidak hanya definisi dari emosi. Dengan demikian, pilihan jawaban ini salah. Pilihan D. The traditional view on emotion Pernyataan ini hanya terdapat pada paragraf kedua sehingga tidak bisa dikatakan sebagai topik teks. Jadi, jawaban ini salah. E. Human soul as a factor for the emotion to occur. Informasinya tidak ada pada gagasan utama sehingga pilihan jawaban ini salah. Jadi, jawaban yang tepat adalah B.