AAMC Psych

Question 1

Sociologist definition of reference groups is?

Answer 1

A group that an individual admires and wishes to be part of. These groups are important for self-evaluation and identity formation.

Question 2

George Miller contribution to memory understanding was among others?

Answer 2

George Miller recognized that the working memory capacity was between 5 and 9 items. The so called “magic number 7 plus and minus 2”.

Question 3

If a self-report measure and a behavioral measure are positively correlated they are said to be?

Answer 3

They are said to support the validity of each measure.

Question 4

Harlequin ichthyosis, a rare genetic disorder caused thick and scaly skin behind the eyelids. This is most likely to damage which eye structure?

Answer 4

The cornea is in direct contact with the eyelid. Therefore, is most susceptible to damage from flaking skin.

Question 5

What does group polarization refers to?

Answer 5

Group polarization refers to the fact that people’s attitudes towards some attitude object becomes more extreme after interacting with like-minded individuals.
For example, a group that is risk averse will be more risk averse after interacting with them.

Question 6

How is the concept of assimilation defined as?

Answer 6

Assimilation is similar to the concept of social integration and generally refers to when new members adopt the main elements of a culture.

Some of these include cultural adaptation, adopting new norms, and relinquishing old norms.

Question 7

What is refers as role conflict?

Answer 7

Role conflict refers to the tension between different roles that a single individual holds.

Question 8

Interoceptice awareness involves sensitivity to?

Answer 8

Autonomic nervous system induced sensations such as increased heart beat and blood pressure, which are regulated by the autonomic nervous system.

Question 9

According to piaget’s theory of cognitive development?

Answer 9

Conservation tasks such as comparing a thinner and taller container with same water are mastered during the concrete operations stage, which starts at approximately 7 years of age and ends around 11 to 12. The majority of the 11 year olds will have completed this stage.

Question 10

Role strain refers to?

Answer 10

The tension of satisfying demands within the context of a single role. Cultural liaisons dealing with a patient and a physician will experience role strain between different responsibilities within the same occupational role.

Question 11

Sound induced vibration induce the hairs in the cochlea in what ways?

Answer 11

Mechanically, hair cells of the cochlea are specialized mechanoreceptors

Question 12

Social network analysis is?

Answer 12

Social network analysis involves the mapping of social relationships among individuals.

Question 13

Neighborhoods that are segregated by socioeconomic status create?

Answer 13

Neighborhoods that are segregated by socioeconomic status create increased social distance to the extend that people form different backgrounds have trouble relating to each others experiences.

Question 14

What is the most likely reason to drop highly anxious people?

Answer 14

It is ethically practicable to conduct research on people that score high in anxiety. However, having outliers in the experimental group can lead to errors or confounding in statistical inference. It can also lead limits in the generalizability of the results.

Question 15

According to the actor-observer bias, how the actor and the observer view this behavior?

Answer 15

According to the actor-observer bias actors attribute their own behaviors to situational factors (not feeling well) whereas observers attribute actor’s behavior to tendencies (social awkwardness)

Question 16

Conditioned and interpretation refer to what type of processes?

Answer 16

Conditioning such as classical or operant and cognitive processes

Question 17

Individuals are more likely to trust?

Answer 17

Research on group dynamics shows that people are more likely to to trust In-group rather than out-group members.

Question 18

Race-concordant physician patient relationships have higher levels of trust because?

Answer 18

Members of in-groups share common background and similar identities, which generally results in higher level of trust among in-groups. Race/ethnic identity can be an important characteristic of an in-group, resting in shared culture, language and community

Question 19

Which brain region is most likely to be involved in the execution of a coordinated motor task?

Answer 19

The cerebellum

Question 20

According to the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis?

Answer 20

According to the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis or linguistic relativity, the benefits of bilingualism are related to the idea that the structure of the language affects the perception of its speakers.

Question 21

Objects presented in serial condition will result in?

Answer 21

In a serial condition objects are presented one at a time and might result in better memory for events at the beginning of the series known as the primacy effect.

Question 22

A researcher is studying reduced responding to a repeating stimuli, what process is this researching most likely studying?

Answer 22

Habituation and dishabituation

Question 23

The health benefits of social support refer to?

Answer 23

Social support refers to the social network ties with friends, family and other types of RELATIONSHIPS. BUT, not activities.

Question 24

According to Selye’s general adaptation syndrome?

Answer 24

People’s response to various stressors is similar. Selye’s theory does not make claims about avoidance-avoidance or approach-approach conflicts

Question 25

Data on research about the classical manipulation of physiological states and their sensitivity to changes in those states is least likely to come from?

Answer 25

Experimental studies.

Question 26

What does optimal arousal theory states?

Answer 26

The optimal arousal theory states that optimal performance requires optimal arousal, and that arousal levels that are too high or low will impede performance.

Question 27

Chunking is?

Answer 27

An encoding process that uses selective attention, and concious effort to increase working memory capacity.

Question 28

Degree of sympathetic sroudal can be measured by?

Answer 28

Electrical conductivity of the skin, which is a physiological indication of increased physiological arousal.

Question 29

From the perspective of group dynamics, what are some characteristics of large and small groups?

Answer 29

From the perspective of basic group dynamics in sociology, larger groups are generally considered more stable, but less intimate, whereas smaller groups are considered more intimate, but less stable. In smaller groups such as physician and patient either one can break the social tie. The larger group is considered more stable because of the additional social ties.

Question 30

Conducting content analysis of online information will achieve what purpose?

Answer 30

Conducting content analysis of online information would provide data on how the social movement organization frames issues to the broader public. Content analysis is a sociological method that is used to make inferences about communication. As applied to studying a website, content analysis could help determine which beliefs an organization publically emphasizes.

Question 31

What is gentrification?

Answer 31

Gentrification is the reinvestment in lower income neighborhoods in urban areas., which results from the influx of more affluent groups. With the arrival of more affluent groups, housing demand increases and generally results in a decrease of affordable housing for lower income residents.

Question 32

Difference between role conflict and role strain?

Answer 32

Strain is experienced within one particular role such as being a student, while conflict occurs between two different roles such as being a student and an employee.

Question 33

piaget’s theory of development stages

Answer 33

Sensorimotor 0-2 years: the infant explores the world through direct sensory and motor contact. Object permanence and separation anxiety develops during this age.

Preoperational 2-7 years: the child uses symbols (words and images) to represent objects but does not reason logically. The child has also the ability to pretend. During this stage the child is egocentric.

Concrete operational 7-11 years: the child can think logically about concrete objects and can thus add and substract. The child also understand conservation.

Formal operations 11+ years: the adolescent can reason abstractly and think in hypothetical terms.

Question 34

Participants which ethnic identity was a central part of their self-concept would?

Answer 34

Would be more prone to the effects of stereotype threats regarding their ethnic identity. “Such as asians are better at math” The issue of gender stereotypes and other conditions form the experiment are independent of the former notion.

Question 35

After seeing squares light up in a computer screen, but before working memory is activated what kind of memory is activated?

Answer 35

The image will register with visual sensors forming a SENSORY memory BEFORE working memory is activated.

Question 36

If participants had a median BMI of 25 and a mean of 30 what can you say about the BMI of the participants?

Answer 36

That half of them had a BMI below 25 and the other half a above 25.

Question 37

According to Erickson’s theory of psychological development, which group of participants are most likely dealing with the challenges of generativity versus stagnation?

Answer 37

According to Erickson’s theory, the generativity versus stagnation crisis occurs in mid-adult hood.

Question 38

Memory for locations?

Answer 38

Is influenced by categorical knowledge. Nine year olds perform different from adults suggesting that spatial memory keeps undergoing after nine years of age.

Because world knowledge about categories affects judgement of distance, spatial memory is not solely based on the recalling of distances.

Question 39

According to the spreading of activation theory, what kind of error in memory can occur?

Answer 39

Spreading of activation theory suggests that when a concept is activated, the activation spreads to concepts that are semantically or associatively related to it. Thus, people often retrieve unpresented members of a category when tested on their memory for a series of presented subjects from that category.