In this I guessed the answer to be anger and confrontation, which I realized is incorrect.
I want to understand why @gregmat emphasized on using “unlike” as a reference to identify the blank. Doesn’t “unlike” mean “different from” here?
In this I guessed the answer to be anger and confrontation, which I realized is incorrect.
The word “unlike” suggests that the Gibsons were not afraid of being different from their neighbors. Therefore, the words that fill the blanks should be related to this idea of being different or not conforming to social norms.
Also, from the sentence we could infer that the first blank should be filled with a word that describes something that the Gibsons were not inclined to do, while the second blank should be filled with a word that describes something that they were not afraid of.
Ah I see, now I understand. Thanks @HoldMyBeer!