Laughter is universal and full of social information. Listeners from 24 societies could tell friends' laughter from strangers' about 60% of the time, and a fraternity teasing study showed dominant laughs signal high status (and can lift low-status people). An Australian study found that watching Mr. Bean after a dull task made people persist far longer at a nearly impossible one: humour energises.
The multiple choice (27-31) covers the first five paragraphs. The summary (32-36) covers the Australian studies. YES / NO / NOT GIVEN (37-40) moves from the Santa Cruz study to the conclusion.
Multiple choice
Questions 27-31
How to attack this block: The opening frames laughter as a rich resource for scientists. Douglass wanted home viewers to feel part of a crowd. The Santa Cruz study matters for its consistent results across 24 cultures. In San Diego, participants took turns teasing and being teased. High-status people were always rated high-status, whatever laugh they tried.
Question 27
Answer: CParagraph 1, last sentence
What does the first paragraph stress about laughter?
laughter and humour provide psychological scientists with rich resources for studying human psychology
Question says → Passage says
its value to scientific researchprovide psychological scientists with rich resources for studying
Why: The paragraph builds to its last sentence: laughter gives scientists 'rich resources' for study. That's its value to research, and it also sets up the rest of the article, which is a series of studies.
The trap: D picks up the rats, chimps and bonobos, but the passage only says laughter exists 'in some form' in some animals. That's background, not the point. A: language development is just one example of what can be studied.
Question 28
Answer: AParagraph 2, fourth sentence
What does the writer suggest about Charley Douglass and his laugh tracks?
These were intended to help people at home feel like they were in a social situation, such as a crowded theatre.
Question says → Passage says
in a group settinga social situation, such as a crowded theatre
enjoying humourhelp people at home feel like they were
Why: Douglass made laugh tracks so viewers would feel part of a crowd. That shows he knew humour is better shared, which is option A's 'enjoying humour in a group setting'.
The trap: B: the tracks were there to create a social feeling, not to tell people when to laugh. D is the opposite of the truth: he hated the 'unpredictable laughter of live audiences'. C misreads his recordings of men, women and children, which were types of laughter, not target audiences.
Question 29
Answer: BParagraph 3, last sentence
Why is the Santa Cruz study especially important?
On average, the results were remarkably consistent: worldwide, people's guesses were correct approximately 60% of the time.
Question says → Passage says
similar resultsremarkably consistent
a wide range of cultureslisteners from 24 diverse societies / worldwide
Why: Listeners came from 24 very different societies, from New Guinea tribes to city-dwellers, yet they scored about the same everywhere. 'Remarkably' is the writer flagging what's significant: the consistency.
The trap: C is tempting because the team had psychologists, anthropologists and biologists, but that's a detail, not what the writer finds remarkable. D is wrong: the laughs all came from English-speaking students. It was the listeners who varied.
Question 30
Answer: BParagraph 4, middle
What happened during the San Diego study?
Laughter was recorded as each student took a turn at being teased by the others
Question says → Passage says
Participants exchanged roleseach student took a turn at being teased by the others / when they were in the 'powerful' role of teasers
Why: Each student was teased in turn, and the others did the teasing, so everyone moved between teaser and teased. The newcomers' laughter changed when they were 'in the powerful role of teasers', which confirms the roles switched.
The trap: A is tempting because the teasing used insulting nicknames, but they were only 'mildly insulting', and nobody is said to be upset. C and D aren't mentioned.
Question 31
Answer: DParagraph 5, last sentence
What did the fifth-paragraph results show?
However, high-status individuals were rated as high-status whether they produced their natural dominant laugh or tried to do a submissive one.
Question says → Passage says
can always be identifiedwere rated as high-status whether… or
by their way of laughingtheir natural dominant laugh… a submissive one
Why: 'Whether… or' means it made no difference which laugh they used: listeners still rated high-status people as high-status. So their laughter always gives them away.
The trap: A says you can tell who produced a dominant laugh, but the paragraph shows the opposite: low-status people with a dominant laugh were rated much higher, so a dominant laugh doesn't reveal status. B contradicts paragraph 4, where newcomers in power laughed more dominantly.
Summary completion (word list A-H)
Questions 32-36
How to attack this block: Each clip was meant to produce a different emotion, and the amusing one worked best. The multiplication task was boring. Humour is already known to relieve stress (anxiety), and the new finding is that it's energising (stimulating). 'Relaxing' describes the dolphin clip and is a trap.
Question 32
Answer: FParagraph 6, second-to-last sentence
Each of the three videos was designed to produce a different kind of what?
The students then were randomly assigned to watch a video clip eliciting either humour, contentment, or neutral feelings.
Question says → Passage says
designed to generateeliciting
a different kind ofeither humour, contentment, or neutral feelings
Why: 'Eliciting' means drawing out, so the summary's 'generate'. Humour, contentment and neutral feelings are three kinds of feeling, and the word in the box for that is 'emotion' (F).
The trap: 'Enjoyment' (G) fits the comedy and maybe the dolphins, but a 'neutral' factual video doesn't generate enjoyment. Only 'emotion' covers all three.
Question 33
Answer: HParagraph 7, last sentence
Which video's viewers kept going longest on the frustrating task?
Students who had watched the Mr. Bean video ended up spending significantly more time working on the task
Question says → Passage says
persisted with the task for longerspending significantly more time working on the task
the ___ videothe BBC comedy Mr. Bean
Why: The Mr. Bean clip is the comedy, the one meant to produce humour. In the box, the adjective for a funny video is 'amusing' (H).
The trap: 'Relaxing' (B) is the dolphin clip, which is the passage's own word for it. That group did no better than the factual-video group.
Question 34
Answer: CParagraph 8
What sort of task was used in the second study?
they had participants complete long multiplication questions by hand… spent significantly more time working on this tedious task
Question says → Passage says
a particularly ___ taskthis tedious task
similar resultsreplicated these results
Why: The passage calls long multiplication by hand 'tedious', and the box word for tedious is 'boring' (C).
The trap: 'Stimulating' (E) fits the grammar, but it's the opposite of tedious, and the summary saves it for the last gap. 'Anxiety' is a noun, so it can't describe a task.
Question 35
Answer: DLast paragraph
Humour was already known to reduce what?
Although humour has been found to help relieve stress and facilitate social relationships
Question says → Passage says
reducesrelieve
helps build social connectionsfacilitate social relationships
Why: The second half of the summary sentence ('helps build social connections') matches 'facilitate social relationships', which tells you the gap is the other known benefit: relieving stress. Stress = 'anxiety' (D).
The trap: 'Boring' was already used, and 'laughter' (A) isn't something humour reduces. 'Relaxing' is an adjective, so it can't follow 'reduces'.
Question 36
Answer: ELast paragraph, last sentence
What new effect on body and mind do Cheng and Wang suggest humour has?
We suggest that humour is not only enjoyable but more importantly, energising.
Question says → Passage says
not only… but it may also have a ___ effectnot only enjoyable but more importantly, energising
Why: 'Energising' means giving you energy, and in the box that's 'stimulating' (E). It's the new idea that explains why the Mr. Bean group kept going longer.
The trap: 'Relaxing' (B) is the opposite of energising. 'Enjoyment' (G) echoes 'enjoyable', but it's a noun, so 'a enjoyment effect' doesn't work, and enjoyment isn't the new point.
YES / NO / NOT GIVEN
Questions 37-40
How to attack this block: The San Diego predictions about high-status laughs came true (YES). The Australian participants could quit at any time, so there was no fixed time (NO). The traditional view says to avoid distractions such as humour, which Cheng and Wang contradict (NO). Santa Cruz reports overall accuracy, not friends versus strangers.
Question 37
Answer: NOT GIVENParagraph 3, last two sentences
In the Santa Cruz study, were people better at recognising friends' laughter than strangers'?
Participants were asked whether they thought the people laughing were friends or strangers. On average, the results were remarkably consistent
Question says → Passage says
identifying the laughs of friends than those of strangerswhether they thought the people laughing were friends or strangers
more accuratecorrect approximately 60% of the time
Why: You get one overall accuracy figure, about 60%. The passage never splits it into friends versus strangers, so you can't say which was easier. NOT GIVEN.
The trap: The question uses the passage's own words, 'friends' and 'strangers', which makes it feel answerable. But the comparison it needs simply isn't there.
Question 38
Answer: YESParagraph 4, second half
Did the San Diego researchers correctly predict how high-status people would laugh?
Analysis revealed that, as expected, high-status individuals produced more dominant laughs and fewer submissive laughs relative to the low-status individuals.
Question says → Passage says
were correct in their predictionsas expected
the behaviour of the high-status individualshigh-status individuals produced more dominant laughs
Why: 'As expected' means the result matched what the researchers predicted. The behaviour in question is how the high-status students laughed. So YES.
The trap: Paragraph 5 has 'In line with predictions' too, but that's about how listeners rated laughs. The statement is about the high-status students' behaviour, which is in paragraph 4.
Question 39
Answer: NOParagraph 7, third sentence
Did the ANU participants have a set time limit for the employee-profile task?
Participants were allowed to quit the task at any point.
Question says → Passage says
given a fixed amount of timeallowed to quit the task at any point
the task focusing on employee profilesguess the potential performance of employees based on provided profiles
Why: If participants could stop whenever they liked, the time wasn't fixed. That's why time spent could measure persistence: the Mr. Bean group chose to keep going. The statement is contradicted, so NO.
The trap: The '10 correct assessments in a row' is a target, not a time limit. Students who think 'the passage never mentions a time limit' pick NOT GIVEN, but 'quit at any point' rules one out.
Question 40
Answer: NOLast paragraph
Did Cheng and Wang's conclusions agree with the traditional view of task performance?
the traditional view of task performance implies that individuals should avoid things such as humour that may distract them
Question says → Passage says
established notions regarding task performancethe traditional view of task performance
Cheng and Wang's conclusionsWe suggest that humour is not only enjoyable but more importantly, energising
Why: The traditional view says avoid humour while working because it distracts. Cheng and Wang conclude the opposite: humour is energising and made people work longer. So their conclusions go against established notions. NO.
The trap: The sentence starts with 'Although humour has been found to help relieve stress', which is established and positive. Some students take that as the traditional view. It isn't: 'the traditional view' is named directly, and it's anti-humour.
B. Each student 'took a turn at being teased by the others', and newcomers laughed differently when they were the teasers, so roles were exchanged.
Words from this passage worth keeping
stimuli(Paragraph 1)
things that cause a reaction
hierarchies(Paragraph 4)
systems where people have higher or lower rank
submissive(Paragraph 4)
showing that you accept someone else's power
respite(Paragraph 6)
a short break from something unpleasant
replenishment(Paragraph 6)
filling something up again
ostensibly(Paragraph 6)
apparently, though the real reason is different
eliciting(Paragraph 6)
drawing out or producing a reaction
tedious(Paragraph 6)
long and boring
Sit this test on Langujet, then come back
The full Cambridge 15 Test 2 reading paper: all three passages, 60 minutes, marked the second you finish with a review of every answer. Already done it? Take it again and see if the same traps still get you.
Cambridge IELTS 15, Test 2, Reading Passage 3. The passage and questions belong to Cambridge University Press and are not reproduced here. We quote short extracts only as evidence for our own commentary, and the answers are published for self-marking. Get the book for the full text, or sit the test on Langujet.
