Behavioral Science Flashcards
Franz Gall
Phrenology
Associated development of trait with growth of its relevant part of the brain
Pierre Flourens
Extirpation/ablation
Concluded that different brain regions have specific functions
William James
“Father of American Psychology”
Pushed for importance of studying adaptations of the individual to his or her environment
John Dewey
Credited with the landmark article on functionalism
Argues for studying the entire organism as a whole
Paul Broca
Correlated pathology with specific brain regions, such as speech production from Broca’s area
Hermann von Helmoltz
Measured speed of a nerve impulse
Sir Charles Sherrington
Inferred the existence of synapses
Hindbrain functions
Balance, motor coordination, breathing, digestion, general arousal processes (sleeping and waking); “vital functioning”
Midbrain functions
Receives sensory and motor information from the rest of the body; reflexes to auditory and visual stimuli
Forebrain functions
Complex perceptual, cognitive and behavioral processes; emotion and memory
Methods used for mapping the brain
Brain lesions, extirpation, stimulation or recording with electrodes (cortical mapping, single-cell electrode recordings, electroencephalogram [EEG]) and regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF)
Basal ganglia
Smoothen movements and help maintain postural stability
Cerebellum
Coordinated movement
Cerebral cortex
Complex perceptual, cognitive and behavioral processes
Hypothalamus
Maintains homeostasis
Hunger and thirst; emotion
Controls the release of pituitary hormones through the hypophyseal portal system that connects it to the anterior pituitary
Releases neurotransmitters that affect mood and arousal
Inferior and superior colliculi
Sensorimotor reflexes
Limbic system
Emotion and memory
The primary nervous system component involved in experiencing emotion
Medulla oblongata
Vital function (breathing, digestion)
Reticular formation
Arousal and alertness
Thalamus
Sensory information relay station
Frontal lobe
Executive function, impulse control, long-term planning (prefrontal cortex), motor function (primary motor cortex), speech production (Broca’s area)
Parietal lobe
Sensation of touch, pressure, temperature and pain (somatosensory cortex); spatial processing, orientation and manipulation
Occipital lobe
Visual processing
Temporal lobe
Sound processing (auditory cortex), speech perception (Wernicke’s area), memory and emotion (limbic system)
Acetylcholine
Voluntary muscle control
Dopamine
Smooth movements and steady posture
Endorphins/enkephalins
Natural pain killer
Epinephrine/norepinephrine
Wakefulness and alertness, fight-or-flight response
Associated with sympathetic nervous system
Gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA)/glycine
Brain “stabilizer”
Glutamate
Brain excitation
Serotonin
Mood, sleep, eating, dreaming
Pituitary (the master gland)
Triggers hormone secretion in many other endocrine glands
Adrenal medulla
Produces adrenaline (epinephrine) and noradrenaline (norepinephrine)
Adrenal cortex
Produces cortisol, testosterone and estrogen
Cortisol
Stress hormone
Testes
Produce testosterone
Who is the sample group in a family study?
Family of genetically related individuals
Who is the control group in a family study?
Unrelated individuals (general population)
Who is the sample group in a twin study?
Monozygotic (MZ, identical) twins
Who is the control group in a twin study?
Dizygotic (DZ, fraternal) twins
Who is the sample group in an adoption study?
Adoptive family (relative to adopted child)
Who is the control group in an adoption study?
Biological family (relative to adopted child)
Neurulation
How the nervous system develops
Notochord: stimulates overlying ectoderm to fold over –> Neural tube topped with neural crest cells form
Occurs when a furrow is produced from ectoderm overlying the notochord. That furrow consists of the neural groove and two neural folds. As the neural folds grow, the cells at their leading edge are called neural crest cells. When the neural folds fuse, the neural tube is created which will then form the CNS.
Primitive reflex: rooting
Turns head towards direction of any object touching the cheek
Primitive reflex: moro
In response to sudden head movement, arms extend and slowly retract; baby usually cries
Primitive reflex: babinski
Extension of big tow and fanning of other toes in response to brushing the sole of the foot
Primitive reflex: grasping
Holding onto any object placed in the hand
What are the two main themes that dictate the stages of motor development in early childhood?
Gross motor development proceeds from head to toe and from the core to the periphery
Reflex arcs
Use the ability of interneurons in the spinal cord to relay information to the source of stimuli while simultaneously routing it to the brain
Peripheral nervous system (PNS) devisions
Divided into somatic and autonomic nervous systems
Autonomic nervous system
Divided into parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous systems
Hindbrain parts
Cerebellum, medulla oblongata and reticular formation
Midbrain parts
Inferior and superior colliculi
Forebrain parts
Thalamus, hypothalamus, basal ganglia, limbic system and cerebral cortex
Limbic system parts
Septal nuclei, amygdala, thalamus, hypothalamus, prefrontal cortex and hippocampus
Septal nuclei
Involved with feelings of pleasure, pleasure-seeking behavior and addiction
Amygdala
Controls fear and aggression
Involved with attention and emotions
Helps interpret facial expressions
Part of the intrinsic memory system for emotional memory
Hippocampus
Consolidates memories and communicates with other parts of the limbic system through an extension called the fornix
Creates long-term explicit memories (episodic memories)
Which hemisphere is dominant for language?
Left hemisphere
What does the somatic nervous system use the neurotransmitter acetylcholine for?
To move muscles
What do the PNS and CNS use the neurotransmitter acetylcholine for?
Alertness
Is epinephrine a neurotransmitter or a hormone?
Hormone
Is norepinephrine a neurotransmitter or a hormone?
Neurotransmitter
Ovaries
Release estrogen
Family studies
Look at the relative frequency of a trait within a family compared to the general population
Twin studies
Compare concordance rates between monozygotic (identical) and dizygotic (fraternal) twins
Adoption studies
Compare similarities between adopted children and their adoptive parents, relative to similarities with their biological parents
What does the neural tube become?
CNS
What do the neural crest cells become?
Spread out throughout the body, differentiating into many different tissues
Primitive reflexes
Exist in infants and should disappear with age
Rooting, moro, babinski and grasping
How do social skills develop in children?
Shift from parent-oriented to self-oriented to other-oriented
Right hemisphere functions
Sense of direction
Left hemisphere functions
Learning a new language, reading
Catecholamines
Epinephrine, norepinephrine and dopamine
Pineal gland
Produces melatonin
Melatonin
Controls the body’s circadian rhythm
Schizophrenia
Associated with high levels of dopamine, or high sensitivity to dopamine (i.e. high levels of dopaminergic transmission)
Parkinson’s disease
Associated with destruction of the dopaminergic neurons in the basal ganglia
How does the hippocampus communicate with the limbic system?
Through the fornix
What is the pathway for a stimulus to reach conscious perception?
Sensory receptor –> afferent neurons –> sensory ganglion –> spinal cord –> brain (projection areas)
Hair cell
Sense motion of fluid in the inner ear
Nociceptor
Sense painful or bothersome physical stimuli
Olfactory receptor
Sense volatile chemicals
Osmoreceptor
Sense changes in blood concentration
Photoreceptor
Sense electromagnetic radiation in the visible range
Taste receptor
Sense dissolved chemicals
Thermoreceptor
Sense changes in temperature
Absolute threshold
The minimum stimulus that can evoke an action potential in a sensory receptor
Threshold of conscious perception
The minimum stimulus that can evoke enough action potentials for a long enough time that the brain perceives the stimulus and it comes into awareness
Difference threshold (just-noticeable difference) (jnd)
The minimum difference between two stimuli that can be detected by the brain
Weber’s law
Just-Noticeable differences are best expressed as a ratio, which is constant over most of the range of sensory stimuli
Signal detection theory
The threshold to sense a stimulus, given obscuring internal and external stimuli
Refers to the effects of non sensory factors, such as experiences, motives and expectations, on perception of stimuli
How does sensory adaptation affect a difference threshold?
Adaptation generally raises the difference threshold for a sensory response; as one becomes used to small fluctuations in the stimulus, the difference in stimulus required to evoke a response must be larger
Cornea
Gathers and focuses the incoming light
Pupil
Allows passage of light from the anterior to posterior chamber
Iris
Controls the size of the pupil
Ciliary body
Produces aqueous humor; accommodation of the lens
Canal of Schlemm
Drains aqueous humor
Lens
Refracts the incoming light to focus it on the retina
Retina
Detects images
Sclera
Provides structural support
Visual pathway
Cornea –> pupil –> lens –> vitreous –> retina (rods and cones –> bipolar cells –> ganglion cells) –> optic nerve –> optic chiasm –> optic tract –> lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) of the thalamus –> visual radiations through the parietal and temporal lobes –> visual cortex (occipital lobe)
Parallel processing
The ability to simultaneously analyze color, shape and motion of an object and to integrate this information to create a cohesive image of the world
Calls on memory systems to compare a visual stimulus to past experiences to help determine the object’s identity
In feature detection, what type of cell is responsible for color?
Cones
In feature detection, what type of cell is responsible for shape?
Parvocellular cells
In feature detection, what type of cell is responsible for motion?
Magnocellular cells
What structures are used to detect linear acceleration?
Utricle and saccule
What structures are used to detect rotational acceleration?
Semicircular canals
Auditory pathway
Pinna –> external auditory canal –> tympanic membrane –> malleus –> incus –> stapes –> oval window –> perilymph in cochlea –> basilar membrane –> hair cells –> vestibulocochlear nerve –> brainstem –> medial geniculate nucleus (MGN) of thalamus –> auditory cortex (temporal lobe)
How does the organization of the cochlea indicate the pitch of an incoming sound?
The basilar membrane is tonotopically organized: high-pitched sounds cause vibrates at the base of the cochlea, whereas low-pitched sounds cause vibrations at the apex of the cochlea
Olfactory pathway
Nostril –> nasal cavity –> olfactory chemoreceptors (olfactory nerves) on olfactory epithelium –> olfactory bulb –> olfactory tract –> higher-order brain regions, including the limbic system
What is the difference between the sense of taste and the sense of smell?
Smell is sensitive to volatile or aerosolized compounds
Taste is sensitive to dissolved compounds
The four main modalities of somatosensation
Pressure, vibration, pain and temperature
Bottom-up (data-driven) processing
Requires each component of an object to be interpreted through parallel processing and feature detection and then integrated into one cohesive whole
Top-down (conceptually driven) processing
Starts with the whole object and, through memory, creates expectations for the components of the object, with little attention to detail
Components of Gestalt principle
Proximity, similarity, good continuation, subjective contours, closure and prägnanz
Law of proximity in Gestalt principle
Components close to one another tend to be perceived as a unit
Law of similarity in Gestalt principle
Components that are similar (in color, shape, size) tend to be grouped together
Law of good continuation in Gestalt principle
Components that appear to follow in the same pathway tend to be grouped together; abrupt changes in form are less likely than continuation of the same pattern
Subjective contours in Gestalt principle
Edges or shapes that are not actually present can be implied by the surrounding objects (especially if good continuation is present)
Law of closure in Gestalt principle
A space enclosed by a contour tends to be perceived as a complete figure; such figures tend to be perceived as more complete (or closed) than they really are
Prägnanz in Gestalt principle
Perceptual organization will always be as regular, simple and symmetric as possible
Sensation
The conversion, or transduction, of physical, electromagnetic, auditory and other information from the internal and external environment into electrical signals in the nervous system
Perception
The processing of sensory information to make sense of its significance
Sensory receptors
Nerves that respond to stimuli and trigger electrical signals
What are sensory neurons associated with?
Sensory ganglia
Sensory ganglia
Collections of cell bodies outside the CNS
Projection areas
Receive sensory stimuli and further analyze the sensory input
Types of sensory receptors
Photoreceptors, hair cells, nociceptors, thermoreceptors, osmoreceptors, olfactory receptors and taste receptors
What do signal detection experiments do?
They allow us to look at response bias
How is a signal detection experiment carried out?
A stimulus may or may not be given, and the subject is asked to state whether or not the stimulus was given
What are the four possible outcomes of a signal detection experiment?
Hits, misses, false alarms or correct negatives
What are the two muscles in the iris?
Dilator pupillae and constrictor pupillae
How is the lens held in place?
Suspensory ligaments connected to ciliary muscle
Rods
Detect light and dark
The three forms of cones
Short wavelength, medium wavelength and long wavelength
Cones
Detect colors
Macula
Area of the retina that mostly contains cones
Fovea
The center of the macula and contains only cones
Where do rods and cones synapse?
On bipolar cells
Where do bipolar cells synapse?
On ganglion cells
Which cells integrate signals from ganglion cells and perform edge-sharpening?
Horizontal and amacrine cells
What supports the bulk of the eye?
Vitreous, sclera and choroid
Optic chiasm
Contains fibers crossing from the nasal side of the retina (temporal visual fields) of both eyes
Parvocellular cells
Detect shape
Have high spatial resolution and low temporal resolution
Magnocellular cells
Detect motion
Have low spatial resolution and high temporal resolution
Outer ear parts
Pinna (auricle), external auditory canal and tympanic membrane
Middle ear parts
Ossicles
Ossicles
Malleus (hammer), incus (anvil) and stapes (stirrup)
How is the middle ear connected to the nasal cavity?
Eustachian tube
Inner ear parts
Bony labyrinth and membranous labyrinth
What is the bony labyrinth filled with?
Perilymph
What is the membranous labyrinth filled with?
Endolymph
Membranous labyrinth parts
Cochlea, utricle, saccule and semicircular canals
Cochlea
Detects sound
Utricle
Detects linear acceleration
Saccule
Detects linear acceleration
Semicircular canals
Detect rotational acceleration
Where does sound information project?
Superior olive and inferior colliculus
Superior olive
Localizes sound
Inferior colliculus
Involved in the startle reflex
Pheromones
Chemicals given off by animals that have an effect on social, foraging and sexual behavior in other members of that species
Taste
The detection of dissolved compounds by tastebuds in papillae
Five modalities of taste
Sweet, sour, salty, bitter and umami (savory)
Two-point threshold
The minimum distance necessary between two points of stimulation on the skin such that the points will be felt as two distinct stimuli
Physiological zero
The normal temperature of the skin to which objects are compared to determine if they feel “warm” or “cold”
Gate theory of pain
Pain sensation is reduced when other somatosensory signals are present
Kinesthetic sense (proprioception)
The ability to tell where one’s body is in three-dimensional space
Is bottom-up (data-driven) processing fast or slow?
Slow
Is bottom-up (data-driven) processing more or less prone to mistakes?
Less
Is top-down (conceptually driven) processing fast or slow?
Fast
Is top-down (conceptually driven) processing more or less prone to mistakes?
More
Perceptual organization
Refers to our synthesis of stimuli to make sense of the world, including integration of depth, form, motion and constancy
Gestalt principles
Ways that brain can infer missing parts of a picture within a picture is incomplete
Negative reinforcement
Taking away a bad thing to encourage behavior
Positive punishment
Adding a bad thing to stop behavior
Why does a person eat less food if he or she is finishing each course separately rather than interrupting the main course several times by eating side dishes?
Eating each course of a meal before moving on to the next causes habituation; each bite causes less pleasurable stimulation, so people feel less desire to keep eating.
Mixing up the courses of a meal causes dishabituation for taste, which would cause people to eat more overall.
The three modes of information coding
Semantic, acoustic and visual
The strongest form of information coding
Semantic coding
The weakest form of information coding
Visual coding
Maintenance rehearsal
The repetition of information to keep it within short-term memory for near-immediate use
Elaborative rehearsal
The association of information to other stored knowledge
In terms of recall, why might it be a bad idea to study for a test while listening to music?
Because one will be taking the test in a quiet room, studying under similar circumstances will aid recall due to context effects.
Music may also compete for attention, reducing one’s ability to focus on the study materials.
What are some factors that might cause eyewitness courtroom testimony to be unreliable?
The manner in which questions are asked
The nature of information shared with the witness by police, lawyers and other witnesses following the event
The misinformation effect
Source-monitoring error
Amount of time elapsed between the event and the trial
Watching crime drama, the news or witnessing similar events can cause source-monitoring error
Which is a more effective way to move information from short-term to long-term memory: maintenance rehearsal or elaborative rehearsal?
Elaborative rehearsal
Neuroplasticity
The ability of the brain to form new connections rapidly
How does neuroplasticity change during life?
The brain is most plastic in young children and plasticity quickly drops off after childhood
Removing weak neural connections
Pruning
Strengthening memory connections through increased neurotransmitter release and receptor density
Long-term potentiation
Habituation
The process of becoming used to a stimulus
Dishabituation
Can occur when a second stimulus intervenes, causing a desensitization to the original stimulus
Associative learning
A way pairing together stimuli and responses, or behaviors and consequences
Classical conditioning
An unconditioned stimulus that produces an instinctive, unconditioned response is paired with a neutral stimulus. With repetition, the neutral stimulus becomes a conditioned stimulus that produces a conditioned response
Operant conditioning
Behavior is changed through the use of consequences
Reinforcement
Increases the likelihood of a behavior
Punishment
Decreases the likelihood of a behavior
Schedule of reinforcement
Affects the rate at which the behavior is performed
The four schedules of reinforcement
Fixed ration, fixed interval, variable ratio and variable interval
Behavior learned through which schedule of reinforcement is hardest to break?
Variable ratio
Observational learning (modeling)
The acquisition of behavior by watching others
Encoding
The process of putting new information into memory
Types of encoding
Automatic and effortful
Which kinds of memory are transient and based on neurotransmitter activity?
Sensory memory and short-term memory
Which kind of memory requires short-term memory, attention and executive function to manipulate information?
Working memory
Which kind of memory requires elaborative rehearsal and is the result of increased neuronal connectivity?
Long-term memory
Types of long-term memory
Explicit (declarative) memory and implicit (non-declarative) memory
Explicit (declarative) memory
Stores facts and stories
Implicit (non-declarative) memory
Stores skills and conditioning effects
How are facts stored?
Via semantic networks
Is recognition of information stronger or weaker than recall?
Stronger
What is retrieval of information based on?
Priming
Priming
Interconnected nodes of the semantic network
Disorders that cause memory loss
Alzheimer’s disease, Korsakoff’s syndrome, agnosia, decay, and interference
Are memories subject to influence by outside information and mood during the time of encoding or recall?
Both
What do learning and memory rely on?
Changes in brain chemistry and physiology, the extent of which depends on neuroplasticity, which decreases as we age
Long-term potentiation
Responsible for the conversion of short-term to long-term memory
It is the strengthening of neuronal connections resulting from increased neurotransmitter release and adding of receptor sites
Generalization
The process by which similar stimuli can produce the same conditioned response
Avoidance learning
A type of negative reinforcement in which a behavior is increased to prevent an unpleasant future consequence
Extinction
A decreased response to a conditioned stimulus when it is no longer paired with an unconditioned stimulus
Punishment
Leads to decreased behaviors in operant conditioning
Fixed-interval schedules
The desired behavior is rewarded the first time it is exhibited after the fixed interval has elapsed
Behavior pattern in fixed-ratio and fixed-interval schedules
No immediate response after the reward is given
Behavior increases as the subject gets close to receiving the reward
How are complicated, multistage behaviors taught?
Through shaping
Controlled processing
Requires active attention to the information being encoded
Association of words on a list to a pre-constructed set of ideas
Method-of-loci and peg-word mnemonics
Method-of-loci
Associate items with locations
Peg-word
Use images associated with numbers
Partial-report procedures
The individual is asked to recall a specific portion of the stimulus
Very accurate
Only lasts for a short period of time
Studies sensory (specifically iconic) memory
Characteristics of short-term memory
Serial position effect
7 +/- 2 rule
What do elderly individuals have the most trouble remembering?
Time-based prospective memory
Time-based prospective memory
Remembering to do an activity at a particular time
Steps of information processing
Encoding, storage and retrieval
An elderly man is taken to his doctor by his daughter. His daughter says that during the past two days, he has been speaking to his wife who has been deceased for four years. Prior to that, he was completely normal. The elderly man most likely has:
Delirium
Piaget’s four stags of cognitive development
Sensotimotor, preoperational, concrete operational and formal operational
Sensorimotor stage of Piaget’s stages of cognitive development
Focuses on manipulating environment for physical needs; circular reactions; ends with object permanence
Preoperational stage of Piaget’s stages of cognitive development
Symbolic thinking, egocentrism and centration
Concrete operational stage of Piaget’s stages of cognitive development
Understands conservation and the feelings of others; can manipulate concrete objects logically
Formal operational stage of Piaget’s stages of cognitive development
Can think abstractly and problem-solve
A child plays with a tool set, noting that a nail can only be hit with a hammer. When a friend suggests that the handle of a screwdriver can be used to hit a nail, the child passionately objects. This is an example of:
Functional fixedness
A doctor uses a flow chart to treat a patient with sepsis. Given its use in problem-solving, a flowchart is an example of a(n):
Algorithm
A patient in a mental health facility believes that the sky is pink. Despite several trips outside, the patient still declares the sky is pink. Which psychological principle does this represent?
Brief perseverance
Availability heuristic
Used for making decisions based on how easily similar instances can be imagined
Representativeness heuristic
Used for making decisions based on how much a particular item or situation fits a given prototype or stereotype
Involves categorization and classification based on how well an individual example fits its category
EEG waves while awake
Beta and alpha
EEG waves during stage 1 of sleep
Theta
EEG waves during stage 2 of sleep
Theta
EEG waves during stage 3 of sleep
Delta
EEG waves during stage 4 of sleep
Delta
EEG waves during REM sleep
Mostly beta
Features of being awake
Able to perceive, process, access information and express that information verbally
Stage 1 of sleep
Light sleep and dozing
Stage 2 of sleep
Sleep spindles and K complexes
Stage 3 of sleep
Slow-wave sleep; dreams; declarative memory consolidation; sleep disorders occur in this stage
Stage 4 of sleep
Slow-wave sleep; dreams declarative memory consolidation; sleep disorders occur in this stage
Rapid eye movement (REM) sleep (i.e. paradoxical sleep)
The mind appears awake physiologically dreams; procedural memory consolidation; body is paralyzed
Which two hormones are most associated with maintaining circadian rhythms?
Melatonin and cortisol
Dyssomnia
The duration or timing of sleep is disturbed
Parasomnia
Abnormal behaviors during sleep
What are sleep spindles and K complexes features of?
Stage 2 of sleep
When do dreams occur?
Stages 3, 4 and REM of sleep
When is the body paralyzed during sleep?
REM sleep
Examples of dyssomnia
Insomnia, narcolepsy and sleep apnea
Examples of parasomnia
Night terrors and sleep walking (somnambulism)
Somnambulism
Sleep walking
Drugs that increase GABA activity in the brain
Alcohol, barbiturates, benzodiazepines and marijuana
Drugs that increase dopamine activity in the brain
Amphetamines, cocaine ecstasy (MDMA)
Drugs that increase norepinephrine activity in the brain
Amphetamines, cocaine ecstasy (MDMA)
Drugs that increase serotonin activity in the brain
Amphetamines, cocaine ecstasy (MDMA)
Structures in the mesolimbic reward pathway
Nucleus accumbens, medial forebrain bundle and ventral tegmental area
What is the neurotransmitter used in the mesolimbic reward pathway?
Dopamine
Ecstacy (MDMA)
Designer amphetamine that has hallucinogenic properties
Controlled (effortful) processing
Used when maintaining undivided attention on a task
Used for new or complex actions
Automatic processing
Used for less critical stimuli in divided attention
Used for familiar or repetitive actions
What is the function of the “filter” in selective attention?
It permits us to focus on one set of stimuli while scanning other stimuli in the background for important information (such as our name, or significant change in the environment)
Milestones of language development at the age 9 to 12 months
Babbling
Milestones of language development at the age 12 to 18 months
Increase of about one word per month
Milestones of language development at the age 18 to 20 months
“Explosion of language” and combining words (two-word sentences)
Milestones of language development at the age 2 to 3 years
Longer sentences of three or more words
Milestones of language development at the age 5 years
Language rules largely mastered
What is the primary motivation of tigger for language development according to the nativist (biological) perspective
An innate ability to pick up language via the language acquisition device
What is the primary motivation of tigger for language development according to the learning (behaviorist) perspective
Operant conditioning with reinforcement by parents and caregivers
What is the primary motivation of tigger for language development according to the social interactionist perspective
A desire to communicate and act socially
Broca’s aphasia
Difficulty producing language, with hesitance and great difficulty coming up with words
Wernicke’s aphasia
Fluent, but includes nonsensical sounds and words devoid of meaning: language comprehension is lost
Conduction aphasia
Difficulty repeating speech, with intact speed production and comprehension
Stanford-Binet intelligence quotient (IQ)
= (mental age / chronological age) 100
Informational processing model
States that the brain encodes, stores and retrieves information must like a computer
What is early cognitive development limited by?
Brain maturation
Factors that influence cognitive development
Culture, genes, environment and brain maturation
Biological factors that affect cognition
Organic brain disorders, genetic and chromosomal conditions, metabolic derangements and drug use
Problem-solving
Requires identification and understanding of the problem, generation of potential solutions, testing of potential solutions and evaluation of results
Mental set
A pattered of approach for a given problem
Functional fixedness
The tendency to use objects only in the way they are normally utilized, which may create barriers to problem-solving
Types of problem-solving
Trial-and-error, algorithms, deductive reasoning and inductive reasoning
Deductive reasoning
Deriving conclusions from general rules
Drawing conclusions by integrating different pieces of evidence
Inductive reasoning
Deriving generalizations from evidence
Heuristics
Shortcuts or rules of thumb used to make decisions
Biases
Exist when an experimenter or decision-maker is unable to objectively evaluate information
Indution
A “gut feeling” regarding a particular decision
Can often be attributed to experience with similar situations
Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences
Proposes seven areas of intelligence including: linguistic, logical-mathematical, musical, visual-spatial, bodily-kinesthetic, interpersonal and intrapersonal
What are variations in intellectual ability attributed to?
Environmental factors, education and genetics
States of consciousness
Alterness, sleep, dreaming and altered states of consciousness
Sleep cycle
Approximately 90 minutes for adults
Stage 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 3 - 2 - REM
Stage 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - REM
REM becomes more frequent towards the morning
Hypnosis
A state of consciousness in which individuals appear to be in control of their normal faculties but are in a highly suggestible state
Used for pain control, psychological therapy, memory enhancement, weight loss and smoking cessation
Meditation
Involves quoting of the mind and is often used for relief of anxiety
Depressants
Alcohol, barbiturates and benzodiazepines
What is the effect of depressants on the brain?
They promote or mimic GABA activity
Stimulants
Amphetamines, cocaine and ecstasy
What is the effect of stimulants on the brain?
Increase dopamine, norepinephrine and serotonin concentration at the synaptic cleft
Opiates and opioids
Heroin, morphine, opium and prescription pain medications such as oxycodone and hydrocodone
What is the effect of opiates and opioids?
Can cause respiratory distress
Hallucinogens
Lysergic acid diethyl amide (LSD), peyote, mescaline, ketamine and psilocybin-containing mushrooms
Marijuana
Has depressant, stimulant and hallucinogenic effects
What is the active ingredient in marijuana?
Tetrahydrocannabinol
What is drug addiction mediated by?
Mesolimbic pathway
Selective attention
Allows one to pay attention to a particular stimulus while determining if additional stimuli in the background require attention
Divided attention
Uses automatic processing to pay attention to multiple activities at one time
Components of language
Phonology, morphology, semantics, syntax and pragmatics
Phonology
The actual sound of speech
Morphology
The building blocks of words, such as rules for pluralization, past tense, etc.
Semantics
The meaning of words
Syntax
The rules dictating word order
Pragmatics
The changes in language delivery depending on context
Whorfian (linguistic relativity) hypothesis
The lens through which we vow and interpret the world is created by language
Broca’s area
Controls the motor function of speech
Wernicke’s area
Controls language comprehension
Arcuate fasciculus
Connects Wernicke’s area and Broca’s area
What does damage in acute fasciculus result in?
Conduction aphasia
How is new information processed?
By adaptation
Which gland releases cortisol?
Adrenal gland
Kinds of adaptation
Assimilation and accommodation
Assimilation
Incorporating new information into existing schemata
Accomodation
Modifying existing schemata to account for new information
Which of Piaget’s stages occur prior to adolescence?
Sensorimotor, pre-operational and concrete operational
Base rate fallacy
Occurs when prototypical or stereotypical factors are used for analysis rather than actual data
Confirmation bias
Occurs when a person only seeks information that reinforces his or her opinions
Fluid intelligence
Consists of problem-solving skills
EEG waves while meditating
Slow alpha and theta waves
Cognitive process dream theory
Cognitive theorists proposed that wakeful and dreaming states use the same mental systems within the brain, particularly stream-of-consciousness
The activation-synthesis theory
Dreams are caused by widespread, random activation of neural circuitry
The problem-solving dream model
Indicates that dreams are used to solve problems while sleeping due to untethering of dreams from obstacles perceived while awake
The neurocognitive theory
Seeks to unify the cognitive and biological perspectives by correlating the subjective dream experience with the physiciological experience of dreaming
What are the clinical features of marijuana use?
Hunger, redness of the eyes, dry mouth, euphoria, increased heart rate, short-term memory loss, paranoia and hallucinations
Cataplexy
A sudden loss of muscle tone and intrusion of REM sleep during waking hours, usually in response to a startling or emotional trigger
Sleep paralysis
An inability to move despite being awake, usually when waking up in the morning
Symptoms of narcolepsy
Cataplexy and sleep paralysis
Factors for motivation according to instinct theory
Instincts: innate, fixed patterns of behavior in response to stimuli
Factors for motivation according to arousal theory
Maintaining a constant level of arousal, the psychological and physiological state of being awake and reactive to stimuli
Factors for motivation according to drive reduction theory
Drives: internal states of tension or discomfort that can be relieved with a particular action
Factors for motivation according to need-based theory
Needs: factors necessary for physiological function or emotional fulfillment
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs
- Physiological needs (highest priority)
- Safety and security
- Love and belonging
- Self-esteem
- Self-actualization (lowest priority)
Based on opponent-process theory, what clinical features would be expected with withdrawal from cocaine use?
Cocaine is a stimulant, causing euphoria, restlessness, increased heart rate, increased temperature and anxiety. According to opponent-process theory, cocaine withdrawal should be the opposite: depressed mood, fatigue, decreased heart rate, decreased temperature and apathy.
What are the three elements of emotion?
Physiological response, behavioral response and cognitive response
What are the seven universal emotions?
Happiness, sadness, contempt, surprise, fear, disgust and anger
James-Lang theory of emotion
Stimulus leads to physiological arousal
Arousal leads to cognitive labeling of emotion
“I must be angry because my skin is hot and my blood pressure is high”
Requires connection between sympathetic nervous system and brain
Cannon-Bard theory of emotion
Stimulus leads to physiological arousal and feeling of emotion
Thalamus processes sensory information, sends it to cortex and sympathetic nervous system
Action is secondary response to stimulus
“I am afraid because I see a snake and my heart is racing … Let me out of here!”
Does not explain vagus nerve
Schachter-Singer theory of emotion
Both arousal and labeling based on environment required to feel an emotion
“I am excited because my heart is racing and everyone else is happy”
Ventromedial prefrontal cortex
Involved in decision-making and controlling emotional responses from the amygdala
Physiological part of the emotional response
Autonomic nervous system changes: heart rate, breathing rate, skin temperature and blood pressure
Behavioral part of the emotional response
Facial expressions and body language
Cognitive part of the emotional response
Subjective interpretation, memories of part experiences, and perception of cause of emotion
What are the key features of primary cognitive appraisal of stress?
Categorizing the stressor as irrelevant, benign-positive or stressful
What are the key features of secondary cognitive appraisal of stress?
The evaluation of the ability of the organism to cope with that stress
What are the three stages of the general adaptation syndrome?
Alarm, resistance and exhaustion
Common stressors
Environmental or physical discomfort, daily events, workplace or academic setting, social expectations, chemical and biological stressors, and anything else that can lead to a stress response
Effective techniques for managing stress
Exercise, relaxation techniques (meditation, diaphragmatic breathing, progressive muscle relaxation), spiritual practice, etc.
Alarm stage of general adaptation syndrome
Activation of sympathetic nervous system, release of ACTH and cortisol, and stimulation of adrenal medulla to secrete epinephrine and norepinephrine
Resistance stage of general adaptation syndrome
Continuous release of hormones activates sympathy nervous system
Exhaustion stage of general adaptation syndrome
Can no longer maintain elevated sympathetic nervous system activity, more susceptible to illness and medical conditions, organ systems deteriorate and death
Motivation
The purpose, or driving force, behind our actions
Extrinsic motivation
Based on external circumstances
Intrinsic motivation
Based on interval drive or perception
Primary influences of emotion
Instincts, arousal, drives, and needs
Instincts
Innate, fixed patterns of behavior in response to stimuli
Arousal
The state of being awake and reactive to stimuli
Yerkes-Dodson law
Performance is optimal at a medium level of arousal
Drives
Internal states of tension that beget particular behaviors focused on goals
Primary drives
Related to bodily processes
Secondary drives
Stem from learning and include accomplishments and emotions
Self-determination theory
Emphasizes the role of three universal needs: autonomy, competence and relatedness
Incentive theory
Explains motivation as the desire to pursue rewards and avoid punishments
Expectancy-value theory
States that the amount of motivation for a task is based on the individual’s expectation of success and the amount that success is valued
Opponent-process theory
Explains motivation for drug use: as drug use increases, the body counteracts its effects, leading to tolerance and uncomfortable withdrawal symptoms
Sexual motivation
Related to hormones as well as cultural and social factors
Emotion
A state of mind, or feeling, that is subjectively experienced based on circumstances, mood and relationships
Prefrontal cortex
Involved with planning, expressing personality and making decisions
Parts of the prefrontal cortex
Ventral prefrontal cortex and ventromedial prefrontal cortex
Ventral prefrontal cortex
Critical for experiencing emotion
Stress
The physiological and cognitive response to challenges or life changes
Outcomes of stress
Distress or eustress
Which theory of motivation is most significantly informed by Darwin’s theory of evolution?
Instinct theory
Which brain lobe is associated with positive feelings, like joy and happiness?
Left frontal lobe
Which brain lobe is associated with negative feelings, like sadness and disgust?
Right frontal lobe
What does a positive stressor create?
Eustress
Types of distress
Hassle and frustration
What does a negative stress create?
Distress
Approach-approach conflict
One in which both results are good outcomes
Self-concept
Describes the sum of all of the phrases that come to mind when we think of who we are, who we used to be and who we may become in the future
Identity
Describes a set of behaviors and labels we take on when in a specific group
Factors that contribute to a person’s ethnic identity
(Is determined by birth) common ancestry, cultural heritage, language, etc
Factors that contribute to a person’s national identity
(Is determined by political borders of where one lives and cultural identity of that nation) flag, pledge of allegiance, national anthem
Internal locus of control
Looking for factors within oneself that would result or have resulted in a certain outcome
External locus of control
Looking for external factors that would result or have resulted in a certain outcome
Freud’s explanation for failing to advance in developmental stages
The individual has become fixated in that stage and will display the personality traits of that fixation for the rest of his or her life
Erikson’s explanation for failing to advance in developmental stages
The individual will still move through subsequent phases, but will be lacking the skills and virtues granted by successful resolution of that stage
Kohlberg’s explanation for failing to advance in developmental stages
The individual was incapable of reasoning at the le el of failure, and that the individual would use the reasoning described in previous stages to resolve moral dilemmas
Phases of Kohlberg’s theory of moral development
Preconventional, conventional and postconventional
Preconventional stage of Kohlberg’s theory of moral development
Reasoning is based on individual rewards and punishments
Conventional stage of Kohlberg’s theory of moral development
Reasoning is based on the relationship of the individual to society
Postconventional stage of Kohlberg’s theory of moral development
Reasoning is based on abstract principles
Psychoanalytic perspective of personality
Personality is the result of unconscious urges and desires
Humanistic perspective of personality
Personality comes from conscious feelings about oneself resulting from healthy striving for self-realization
Type perspective of personality
Personalities are sets of distinct qualities and dispositions into which people can be grouped
Trait perspective of personality
Personalities are assembled from having different degrees of certain qualities and dispositions
Behaviorist perspective of personality
Personality is the result of behavioral responses to stimuli based on prior rewards and punishments through operant conditioning
Social cognitive perspective of personality
Personality comes from the interactions between an individual and his or her environment in a cycle called reciprocal determinism
Biological perspective of personality
Personality is based on genetic influences and brain anatomy
Id
The sum of our basic urges to reproduce and survive
Ego
Mediates the anxieties caused by the actions of the id and superego by using defense mechanisms
Superego
Our sense of perfectionism and idealism
Eysencks’ PEN theory
P: psychoticism
E: extraversion
N: neuroticism
Big Five personality traits
Openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness and neuroticism
Psychoticism in Eysencks’ PEN theory
Nonconformity or social deviance
Extraversion in Eysencks’ PEN theory
Tolerance for social interaction and stimulation
Neuroticism in Eysencks’ PEN theory
Emotional arousal in stressful situations
Self-esteem
Our evaluation of ourselves
How to increase our self-esteem?
When our actual self is close to our ideal self and ought self
Ideal self
Who we want to be
Ought self
Who others want us to be
Self-efficacy
The degree to which we see ourselves as being capable at a given skill or in a given situation
Learned hopelessness
Occurs when one is placed in consistently hopeless scenarios, diminishing his or her self-efficacy
Locus of control
A self-evaluation that refers to the way we characterize the influences in our lives
Freud’s psychosexual stages of personality development
Based on the tensions caused by the libido
Failure at any given stage leads to fixation that causes personality disorders
- Oral
- Anal
- Phallic [Oedipal]
- Latent
- Genital
Based on the erogenous zones that are the focus of each phase of development
Erikson’s stages of psychological development
Stem from conflicts that occur throughout like
- Trust v. mistrust
- Autonomy v. shame and doubt
- Initiative v. guilt
- Industry v. inferiority
- Identity v. role confusion
- Intimacy v. isolation
- Generativity v. stagnation
- Integrity v. despair
These conflicts are the result of decisions we are forced to make about ourselves and the environment around us at each phase of our lives
Kohlberg’s stages of moral development
Describe the approaches of individuals to resolving moral dilemmas
Believed that we progress through six stages divided into three main phases
- Preconventional
- Conventional
- Postconventional
Vygotsky’s zone of proximal development
Development of language, culture and skills in a child requires a more knowledgable other to be accomplished
How do children learn from others?
Imitation and role-taking
Children first reproduce the behaviors of role models and later learn to see the perspectives of others and practice taking on new roles
Reference group
Determines our self-concept
The group to which we compare ourselves
Examples of psychoanalytic perspectives on personality
Freud: id, ego and superego
Jung: collective unconscious and archetypes
Adler: the unconscious is influenced by social urges
Horney: the unconscious is influenced by social urges
Collective unconscious (according to Jung)
Links all humans together
According to Jung, how is personality influenced?
By archetypes
Examples of humanistic perspectives on personality
Maslow: Hierarchy of needs
Rogers: Unconditional positive regard in therapy
Examples of type perspectives on personality
Greeks: humors
Sheldon: somatotypes (Types A and B)
Myers-Briggs Type Inventory
Examples of trait perspectives on personality
Eysencks: PEN
Big Five
Allport: cardinal, central and secondary
McClelland: the need for achievement (N-Ach)
Cardinal traits (according to Allport)
The traits around which a person organizes his or her life (not everyone has one)
Central traits (according to Allport)
Represent major characteristics of the personality
Secondary traits (according to Allport)
More personal characteristics and are limited in occurrence
Reciprocal determinism (according to social cognitive perspective)
People mold their environments according to their personalities, and those environments in turn shape our thoughts, feelings and behaviors
Androgyny
Scoring highly on scales of both femininity and masculinity
Undifferentiated
Scoring low on scales of both femininity and masculinity
Anal retentiveness
Both excessive organization and excessive sloppiness are indicative of fixation in the anal stage of psychosexual development
Goal of intimacy v. isolation
Forming significant relationships with others
Conclusion of the Bobo doll experiment
Young children do not necessarily model behavior performed by their parents
Are teens influenced by peers or celebrities?
Peers
Is female child going to model behavior of a female adult or a male adult?
Female adult
Animus
A woman’s inner man
Anima
A man’s inner woman
Conscientiousness
Being hardworking and organized
Which defense mechanism does Stockholm syndrome use?
Reaction formation
Reaction formation
Converts unwanted feelings into their exact opposite
Fictional finalism
Internal, idealistic beliefs about the future
Functional autonomy
When a behavior continues after the drive behind the behavior has ceased
Unconditional positive regard
Used in humanistic therapy
The therapist believes in the internal good of the client and does not judge the client negatively for any words or actions
Biomedical model of psychological disorders
Considers only the physical, pathological mechanisms that underlie mental illness
Biopsychosocial model of psychological disorders
Considers the contributions of biological factors along with psychology (thoughts, emotions or behaviors) and social situation (environment, social class, discrimination or stigmatization)
Psychological disorders with greater than 2% one0year prevalence in the United States (affecting more than 1 in 50 people per year)
Specific phobia Social anxiety disorder Major depressive disorder Alcohol use disorder Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) Generalized anxiety disorder Panic disorder Bipolar disorder
Positive symptoms of schizophrenia
Delusions Hallucinations (usually auditory) Disorganized thought Disorganized speech Disorganized behavior
Negative symptoms of schizophrenia
Disturbance of affect and avolition
Major depressive episode
Two-week duration of at least five of the following symptoms: Depressed mood, loss of interest (anhedonia), sleep disturbance, feelings of guilt, lack of energy, difficulty concentrating, changes in appetite, psychomotor symptoms and sducidal thoughts
At least one of the symptoms but be depressed mood or anhedonia
Manic episode
One-week duration of at least three of the following symptoms: Elevated or expansive mood, distractibility, decreased need for sleep, grandiosity, flight of ideas or racing thoughts, agitation, pressured speech and engagement in risky behavior
Major depressive disorder
Contains at least one major depressive episode with no manic episodes
Bipolar I disorder
Has at least one manic episode with or without depressive episodes
Bipolar II disorder
Has at least one hypomanic episode with at least one major depressive episode
Cyclothymic disorder
Has hypomanic episodes and dysthymia that is not severe enough to be a major depressive episode
Obsessions
Persistent, intrusive thoughts and impulsions that produce tension
Compulsions
Repetitive tasks that relieve tension but cause significant impairment in a person’s life
Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)
Obsessions raise tension while compulsions relieve that tension
Personality cluster A
Odd, eccentric, weird
Personality disorders related to personality cluster A
Paranoid, schizotypal, schizoid
Personality cluster B
Dramatic, emotional, erratic, wild
Personality disorders related to personality cluster B
Antisocial, borderline, histrionic, narcissistic
Personality cluster C
Anxious, fearful, worried
Personality disorders related to personality cluster C
Avoidant, dependent, obsessive-compulsive
Anhedonia
Loss of interest
Which hormones and/or neurotransmitters are elevated in depression?
Cortisol
Which hormones and/or neurotransmitters are reduced in depression?
Norepinephrine, serotonin and dopamine
What is an example of a genetic factor that appears to increase risk of Alzheimer’s disease?
Mutations in the presenilin genes (chromosomes I and 14) and beta-amyloid precursor gene (chromosome 21)
Dopamine levels in schizophrenia
High
Dopamine levels in Parkinson’s disease
Low
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5)
Used to diagnose psychological disorders
Categorizes mental disorders based on symptom patterns
Positive symptoms
Add something to behavior, cognition, or affect
Negative symptoms
Loss of something from behavior, cognition, or affect
Depressive disorders
Major depressive disorder
Persistent depressive disorder
Seasonal affective disorder
Persistent depressive disorder
Dysthymia for at least two years that does not meet criteria for major depressive disorder
Seasonal affective disorder (SAD)
Major depressive disorder with seasonal onset, with depression occurring during winter months
Bipolar and related disorders
Have manic and hypomanic episodes
Bipolar I disorder
Bipolar II disorder
Cyclothymic disorder
Anxiety disorders
Generalized anxiety disorder Specific phobias Social anxiety disorder Agoraphobia Panic disorder
Generalized anxiety disorder
Disproportional and persisted worry about many different things for at least six months
Specific phobias
Irrational fears of specific objects or situations
Social anxiety disorder
Anxiety due to social or performance situations
Agoraphobia
A fear of places or situations where it is hard for an individual to escape
Panic disorder
Marked by recurrent panic attacks
May lead to agoraphobia
Panic attack
Intense, overwhelming fear and sympathetic nervous system activity with no clear stimulus
Body dysmorphic disorder
Unrealistic negative evaluation of one’s appearance or a specific body part
The individual often takes extreme measures to correct the perceived imperfection
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
Intrusion symptoms (reliving the event, flashbacks, nightmares) Avoidance symptoms (avoidance of people, places, objects associated with trauma) Negative cognitive symptoms (amnesia, negative mood and emotions) Arousal symptoms (increased startle response, irritability, anxiety)
Dissociative disorders
Dissociative amnesia
Dissociative identity disorder
Depersonalization/derealization disorder
Dissociative amnesia
An inability to recall past experience without an underlying neurological disorder
May involve dissociative fugue
Dissociative fugue
A sudden change in location that may involve the assumption of a new identity
Dissociative identity disorder
The occurrence of two or more personalities that take control of a person’s behavior
Depersonalization/derealization disorder
Involves feelings or detachment from the mind and body, or from the environment
Somatic symptom and related disorders
Involve significant bodily symptoms
Somatic symptom disorder
Illness anxiety disorder
Conversion disorder
Personality disorder
Somatic symptom disorder
Involves at least one somatic symptom, which may or may not be linked to an underlying medical condition, that causes disproportionate concern
Illness anxiety disorder
Preoccupation with thought about having, or coming down with, a serious medical condition
Conversion disorder
Involves unexplained symptoms affecting motor or sensory function and is associated with prior trauma
Personality disorders (PD)
Patterns of inflexible, maladaptive behavior that causes distress or impaired functioning in at least two of the following: cognition, emotions, interpersonal function or impulse control
Personality cluster A
Personality cluster B
Personality cluster C
Paranoid personality disorder
Pervasive distrust and suspicion of others
Schizotypal personality disorder
Ideas of reference, magical thinking and eccentricity
Schizoid personality disorder
Detachment from social relationships and limited emotion
Antisocial personality disorder
Disregard for the rights of others
Borderline personality disorder
Instability in relationships, mood and self-image
Splitting is characteristic, as are recurrent suicide attempts
Histrionic personality disorder
Constant attention-seeking behavior
Narcissistic personality disorder
A grandiose sense of self-importance and need for admiration
Avoidant personality disorder
Extreme shyness and fear of rejection
Dependent personality disorder
A continuous need for reassurance
Obsessive-compulsive personality disorder
Perfectionism, inflexibility and preoccupation with rules
Schizophrenia risk factors
Genetic facts, birth trauma, adolescent marijuana use and family history
Biological factors of schizophrenia
High levels of dopaminergic transmission
Biological factors of depression
High levels of glucocorticoids
Low levels of norepinephrine, serotonin and dopamine
Biological factors of bipolar disorders
High levels of norepinephrine and serotonin
Bipolar disorder risk factors
Family history
Alzheimer’s disease risk factors
Genetic factors and brain atrophy
Biological factors of Alzheimer’s disease
Low levels of acetylcholine
High levels of senile plaques of beta-amyloid
Neurofibrillary tangles of hyperphosphorylated tau protein
Parkinson’s disease
Bradykinesia, resting tremors, pill-rolling tremor, mask like facies, cogwheel rigidity and shuffling gait
Biological factors of Parkinson’s disease
Low levels of dopamine
What produces dopamine?
Substantia nigra
Echolalia
Involuntary repetition of others’ words and utterances
Seen in schizophrenia
Echopraxia
Imitation of others’ actions
Loosening of associations
A type of disordered though in which the patient moves between remotely related ideas
Neologisms
Newly invented words
La belle indifférence
Lack of concern over the deficit
A 42-year-old woman has always been extremely neat and tidy. She works as a secretary and stays long after normal working hours to check the punctuation and spelling of letters she prepared during the day. Her boss referred her for counseling after she repeatedly got into fights with her coworkers. “They don’t take the job to heart,” she says. “They just joke around all day.” The most likely preliminary diagnosis for this patient is:
Obsessive-compulsive personality disorder
A 36-year-old who works from home is referred for evaluation. He is reluctant to venture out to meet with other people and rarely has people in to visit. When selected for a company-wide award, he refused to have his picture taken for the company newsletter. During an assessment, he averts his face and asks the examiner to “stop look at me.” Although he is average in appearance, he is convinced that his face is ugly and misshapen. The most likely diagnosis for this man would be:
Body dysmorphic disorder
A young woman of unknown age is brought by the Philadelphia police to the local emergency department for evaluation after they found her wandering in a park. She carries no purse or identification. She is unable to state her name or any details about her life, except that the name Phoenix seems familiar. The police in Arizona are contacted and find a missing persons report matching the patient’s description. Based on this information, the most likely diagnosis for this patient is:
Dissociative amnesia with dissociative fugue
Agora phobia is most often seen in association with which other psychiatric diagnosis?
Panic disorder
A 28-year-old male comes to a clinic concerned that he has pancreatic cancer. Review of his medical records show that this is the fourth time in the past year that the patient has appeared for medical attention. No identifiable medical problem is found. When confronted with this history, he confesses that he feels relieved after being told that all of the tests are negative, but soon becomes worried again that he has cancer. Based on the information, the most likely diagnosis for this patient would be:
Illness anxiety disorder
A physician is attempting to diagnose a patient’s mental disorder based on a set of symptoms. The confirmed symptoms currently include appetite disturbance, substantial weight change, decreased energy, a feeling of worthlessness and excessive guilt. What two disorders could these symptoms indicate?
Major depressive and bipolar disorders
A physician is attempting to diagnose a patient’s mental disorder based on a set of symptoms. The confirmed symptoms currently include appetite disturbance, substantial weight change, decreased energy, a feeling of worthlessness and excessive guilt. These symptoms are indicative of either major depressive and bipolar disorders. What should the physician ask about to distinguish between the two possible disorders affecting the patient?
Whether the patient has also had manic episodes
A mother notices that her teenage son seems to have a phobia for snakes. In the past week, on several occasions, the teenager has had more severe fear symptoms than usual, without seeing or even thinking about a snake. Which mental disorder could cause this reaction?
Panic disorder
Splitting is a defense mechanism commonly seen with with personality disorder?
Borderline personality disorder
A woman comes to the doctor with a two-week history of complete paralysis of her left arm, She has had no injury to the extremity, and full neurological workup fails to demonstrate any underlying cause. She seems surprisingly unconcerned about the paralysis, and seems more worried about an argument she had one month ago in which she hit her daughter. Based on this information, the woman’s most likely diagnosis is:
Conversion disorder
A woman notices that her father has started to move his fingers in such a way that it looks like he is rolling something, despite nothing actually being there. She also notes slowed movement and a shuffling gait. Which neurotransmitter is likely to be present in decreased levels in her father’s brain?
Dopamine
Social facilitation
The tendency of people to perform at a different level based on the fact that others are around
Deindividuation
The idea that people will lose a sense of self-awareness and can act dramatically different because of the influence of a group
Bystander effect
The observation that individuals are less likely to respond to a person in need when in a group
Social loafing
A decrease in effort seen when individuals are in a group
Peer pressure
The social influence placed on individuals by others they consider their equals
Group polarization
A social process that occurs when groups make decisions
The tendency towards extreme decisions in a group
Groupthink
A social process that occurs when groups make decisions
The tendency for groups to make decisions based on ideas and solutions that arise within the group without considering outside ideas, given the pressure to conform and rain loyal to the group
Assimilation in culture
The process by which multiple culture begin to merge into one, typical with an unequal blending of ideas and beliefs
Multiculturalism
The idea that multiple cultures should be encouraged and respected without one culture becoming dominant overall
Primary socialization
The initial learning of acceptable behaviors and societal norms during childhood, which is facilitated mostly by parents and other trusted adults
Secondary socialization
Learning the norms of specific environments and subgroups or situations during adolescence and adulthood
Conformity
Changing beliefs or behaviors in order to fit into a group or society
Compliance
Occurs when individuals change their behavior based on the request of others who do not wield authority over the individual
Obedience
A change in behavior because of a request from an authority figure
Foot-in-the-door
Asking for favors that increase in size
Door-in-the-face
Making a large request and then, if refused, making a smaller request
Lowball
Gaining compliance without revealing the full cost (money, effort, or time) of the favor
That’s-not-all
Increasing the reward for a request before an individual has the chance to make a decision
Components of attitude
Affective, behavioral and cognitive
Functional areas of the functional attitudes theory
Knowledge, ego, expression, adaptation and ego defense
Routes of processing used to explain the elaboration likelihood model
Central route processing and peripheral route processing
Which route of processing is associated with high elaboration?
Central route processing
Interactive factors of Bandura’s triadic reciprocal causation
Behavior, personal factors and environment
Culture
The beliefs, ideas, behaviors, actions and characteristics of a group or society of people
Encompasses the lifestyle of a group of people and includes both material and symbolic elements
Subculture
A group of people within a culture that distinguish themselves from the primary culture to which they belong
Socialization
The process of developing and spreading norms, customs and beliefs
Norms
What determine the boundaries of acceptable behavior within a society
Agents of socialization
Family, peers, school , religious affiliation and other groups that promote socialization
Stigma
The extreme disapproval or dislike of a person or group based on on perceived differences from the rest of society
Deviance
Any violation of norms, rules or expectations within a society
Methods of gaining compliance
Foot-in-the-door technique, door-in-the-face technique, lowball technique and that’s-not-all technique
Attitudes
Tendencies towards expression of positive or negative feelings or evaluations of something
Functional attitudes theory
There are four functional areas of attitudes that serve individuals in life: knowledge, ego expression, adaptability and ego defense
Learning theory
Attitudes are developed through forms of learning: direct contact, direct interaction, direct instruction and conditioning
Elaboration likelihood model
The attitudes are formed and changed through different routes of information processing based on the degree of elaboration (central route processing or peripheral route processing)
Social cognitive theory
Attitudes are formed though observation of behavior, personal factors and environment
The behavior of the individuals in the Stanford prison experiment is explained by:
Deinidividuation and internalization
A jury member who initially feels that a strict penalty should be placed on the defendant votes for an even stricter penalty after deliberation with the other jury members. This behavior is best described by which social phenomenon?
Group polarization
During group think, members of the group partake in:
Stereotyping members outside of the group
Withholding opposing views
Ignoring warnings against the ideas of the group
Adult prison systems may attempt to change the behavior of inmates through:
Secondary socialization, anticipatory socialization and resocialization
Resocialization
The process by which one changes behaviors by discarding old routines and patterns and transitions to new behaviors necessary for a life change
Anticipatory socialization
Preparation for life due to future changes in environment
Your neighbor asks you to check her mail while she is out of town and you agree. Later that day, she asks you to water her plants as well. What technique for compliance is she using in this scenario?
Foot-in-the-door technique
Affective component of attitude
Feelings and emotions towards something
Conclusion of the Milgram shock experiment
Individuals would obey orders from authority figures even if they were not comfortable with the task at hand
In the Milgram shock experiment, many subjects were willing to give the maximal voltage shock because they were influenced by which psychological principal?
Obedience
Each individual in a group of teenagers is asked to estimate the height of a tree. One individual estimates the height to be 25 feet, but after discussing with the group is convinced that the height is likely closer to 40 feet. Which type of conformity is seen here?
Internalization
Internalization
The type of conformity in which an individual changes his or her outward opinion to match the group and also personally agrees with those ideas
The swimming times for all members of a swim team are tracked over a six-month period in team-only practices and at public meets. For 14 of the 16 members, top times were clocked at the meets. What social phenomenon does this evidence support?
Social facilitation
An 18-year-old male is completing his final months of high school and beings to wake up early each day to run five miles in preparation for joining the Army. What type of socialization is this young man experiencing?
Anticipatory socialization
Social action
The effects of a group on an individual’s behavior
Includes: social facilitation, deindividualtion, the bystander effect, social loafing and peer pressure
Social interaction
The effects that multiple individuals all have on each other
Includes: group polarization and groupthink
In the group setting, the mentality of “If you aren’t with us, you’re against us” is most representative of which factor of groupthink?
Pressure for conformity
Pressure for conformity
Placing spoken or unspoken expectations on individuals to agree with the ideas of the group
Types of statuses
Ascribed, achieved and master
Ascribed status
Any status given involuntarily, due to factors such as race, ethnicity, gender and family background
Achieved status
Any status that is gained as a result of one’s efforts or choices
Master status
Any status by which a person would be most readily identified and that pervades all aspects of an individual’s life
Status
Position in society used to classify individuals
Role
Behaviors and expectations associated with a status in a particular context
A set of believes, values and norms that define the expectations of a certain status in a social situation
Group
A collection of at least two individuals with similar characteristics that share a sense of unity
Network
A formal illustration of the relationships between individuals, usually through graphic representation
An observable pattern of social relationships between individuals or groups
Organization
A body with a specific set of goals, a structure, and a culture
Made up of members and may exist before and after an individual member’s association with the organization
Bodies of people with a structure and culture designed to achieve specific goals
Exist outside of each individual’s membership within the organization
Is American Sign Language verbal or nonverbal communication?
Verbal
Is turning your body away from another person verbal or nonverbal communication?
Nonverbal
Are text messages verbal or nonverbal communication?
Verbal
Is giving a high-five verbal or nonverbal communication?
Nonverbal
Is frowning verbal or nonverbal communication?
Nonverbal
Front stage self
When we are on stage and performing
Requires us to live up to the roles and expectations assumed by our status
The individual is seen by the audience and strives to preserve his desired image
Back stage self
When we are away from others and may include behaviors that would not be appropriate or consistent with the front stage self
Where the individual is not in front of an audience and is free to act outside of his desired image
What is an example of body language?
Crossing one’s arms
Dog’s tail in between its legs
What is an example of facial expressions?
Smiling
Baring teeth in animals
What is an example of visual displays?
Colorful feathers
What is an example of scents?
Pheromones
What is an example of vocalizations?
Mating calls
Birdcalls
Role performance
Carrying out the behaviors of a given role
Role partner
Another individual who helps define a specific role within the relationship
Role set
All the difference roles associated with a status
Role conflict
Occurs when one has difficulty in satisfying the requirements of multiple roles simultaneously
Role strain
Occurs when one has difficulty satisfying multiple requirements of the same role simultaneously
Peer group
A self-selected group formed around similar interests, ages and statuses
Family group
The group into which an individual is born, adopted or married
In-group
One with which an individual identifies
Out-group
One that an individual competes with or opposes
Reference group
A group to which an individual compares him or herself
Primary groups
Contain strong, emotional bonds
Secondary groups
Often temporary
Contain few emotional bonds and weak bonds overall
Gemeinschaft (community)
A group is unified by feelings of togetherness due to shared beliefs, ancestry or geography
e.g. shared beliefs, ancestry and geography
Gesellschaft (society)
A group unified by mutual self-interests in achieving a goal
e.g. companies and countries
Groupthink
Occurs when members begin to conform to one another’s views and ignore outside perspectives
Basic model of emotional expression in social situations
There are universal emotions, along with corresponding expressions that can be understood across cultures
Social construction model of emotional expression in social situations
Emotions are solely based on the situational context of social interactions
Display rules
Unspoken rules that govern the expression of emotion
Cultural syndrom
A shared set of beliefs, norma, values and behaviors organized around a central theme, as is found among people sharing the same language and geography
Impression management
The maintenance of public image, which is accomplished though carious strategies
Self-disclosure
Sharing factual information
Managing appearances
Using props, appearance, emotional expression or association to create a positive image
Ingratiation
Using flattery or conformity to win over someone else
Aligning actions
The use of excuses to account for questionable behavior
Alter-casting
Imposing an identity onto another person
Dramaturgical approach
Individuals create images of themselves in the same way that actors perform a role in front of an audience
Verbal communication
The conveyance of information through spoken, written or signed words
Nonverbal communication
The conveyance of information by means other than the use of words, such as body language, prosody, facial expressions and gestures
Animal communication
Takes place not only between nonhuman animals, but between humans and other animals as well
Becoming a college graduate requires hard work and diligence in academics. As such, what kind os status is being a college graduate?
Achieved status
What kind of group is a bureaucracy?
An organization, specifically one with the goal of performing complex tasks as efficiently as possible
What are the characteristics of a bureaucracy?
Rigidly defined work procedures
Requirement for officials to hold an advanced degree
Regular salary increases
Fixed salary
Nonelected officials who are provided rights and privileges as a result of making their career out of holding office
Seniority rights
Promotions upon passing exams or milestones
While on the phone, a friend says: “A good friend would let me borrow the bike.” This friend is using which impression management strategy?
Alter-casting
In some cultures, it is considered taboo for one to show too much sadness at a funeral. In other cultures, wailing and crying loudly is expected. These cultures differ in their:
Display rules
Dimensions of the system for multiple level observation of groups (SYMLOG)?
It’s a method for analyzing group dynamics and considers groups along three dimensions:
Dominant v. submissive
Friendliness v. unfriendliness
Instrumentally controlled v. emotionally expressive
Political campaign ads often focus on “exposing” an opposing candidate’s negative characteristics. In the dramaturgical approach, one would describe this as:
Bringing the back stage self to the front stage
Ought self
Who others think we should be
Tactical self
The self we present to others when we adhere to their expectations
Presented self
A combination of the authentic, ideal and tactical selves
What is the ought self most similar to?
Tactical self
The evolutionary role of emotions has been used as support for which model(s) of emotional expression?
The basic model of emotional expression
Intraspecific communication
Communication between members of the same species
Interspecific communication
Communication between members of different species
Autocommunication
The sender of the signal and the recipient are the same organism
e.g. echolocation
Interpersonal attraction
What makes people like each other
Factors that influence interpersonal attraction
Physical attractiveness
Similarity (attitudes, intelligence, education , height, age, religion, appearance and socioeconomic status)
Self-disclosure
Reciprocity
Proximity (being physically close to someone)
Aggression
A behavior with the intention to cause harm or increase relative social dominance
It can be physical, verbal or nonverbal
Types of attachment
Secure
Avoidant
Ambivalent
Disorganized
Secure attachment
Upset at departure of caregiver, comforted by return
Trusts caregiver, who is viewed as a secure base
Requires a consistent caregiver so the child is able to go out and explore, knowing he or she has a secure base to return to
The child will show strong preference for the caregiver
Avoidant attachment
The child shows no preference for a stranger or caregiver
Shows little distress at departure and little relief by return of caregiver
Occurs when a caregiver has little or no reposes to a distressed, crying child
Ambivalent attachment
The child is distressed by departure of caregiver and has mixed reactions at caregiver’s return
Occurs when a caregiver has an inconsistent response to a child’s distress, sometimes responding appropriately, sometimes neglectful
Disorganized attachment
There is no clear pattered of the child’s behavior in response to the caregiver’s presence or absence
The child may exhibit repetitive behaviors or seems dazed, frozen or confused
Occurs when a caregiver is erratic or abusive
Social support
The perception or reality that one is cared for by a social network
Types of social support
Emotional support Esteem support Material support Informational support Network support
Altruism
A form of helping behavior in which the persons intent is to benefit someone else at some cost to him or herself
Primacy effect
The power of first impressions over later impressions of an individual
Recency effect
Weighing the most recent information of a person as the most important
Halo effect
Occurs when one applies general feelings about a person (usually, “good” or “bad”) to specific characteristics of that person
Just-world hypothesis
The belief that good things happen to good people and bad things happen to bad people
Self-serving bias
The tendency to attribute our successes to internal factors and our failures to external factors
Attribution theory
The tendency of individuals to infer the causes of other people’s behavior
Types of attribution
Dispositional (internal) causes: which relate to the features of the target
Situational (external) causes: which relate to features of the surroundings or context
Fundamental attribution error
The general bias towards making dispositional attributions rather than situational attributions about the behavior of others, especially in negative contexts
Attribute substitution
Occurs when individuals must make judgments that are complex but instead substitute a simpler solution or heuristic
Stereotype
Occur when attitudes and impressions are made based on limited and superficial information about a person or a group of individuals and are cognitive
Prejudice
Irrational negative, or positive, attitude towards a person, group or thing, which is formed prior to an actual experience and is affective
Discrimination
When prejudicial attitudes cause individuals of a particular group to be treated differently than others and is behavioral
Types of social inequality that can influence prejudice
Power
Prestige
Class
Ethnocentrism
The practice of making judgments about other cultures based on the values and beliefs of one’s own culture
An individual perceives another group to which he or she does not belong
Cultural relativism
The recognition that social groups and cultures must be studied on their own terms
An individual perceives another group to which he or she does not belong
How is physical attractiveness increased?
When symmetry and proportions are close to the golden ratio
Self-disclosure
Includes sharing fears, thoughts and goals with another person and being met with empathy and nonjudgmental
Reciprocity
We like people who we think like us
Attachment
An emotional bond to another person, and usually refers to the bond between a child and a caregiver
Emotional support
Listening to, affirming, and empathizing with someone’s feelings
Esteem support
Affirms the qualities and skills of the person
Material support
Providing physical or monetary resources to aid a person
Informational support
Providing useful information to a person
Network support
Providing a sense of belonging to a person
Foraging
Searching for and exploring food resources
Mating system
Describes the way in which a group is organized in terms of sexual behavior
Monogamy
Consists of exclusive mating relationships
Polygamy
Consists of one member of a sex having multiple exclusive relationships with members of the opposite sex
Types of polygamy
Polygyny
Polyandry
Polygyny
One male with multiple female sexual partners
Polyandry
One female with multiple male sexual partners
Promiscuity
A member of one sex mates with any member of the opposite sex without exclusivity
Mate choice (intersexual selection)
The selection of a mate based on attraction and traits
Altruism
A form of helping behavior in which the person’s intent is to benefit someone else at some cost to himself or herself
Game theory
Attempts to explain decision-making between individuals as if they are participating in a game
Inclusive fitness
A measure of an organism’s success in the population
Based on the number of offspring, success in supporting offspring and the ability of the offspring to then support others
Social perception (social cognition)
The way by which we generate impressions about people in our social environment
Actors in social perception (social cognition)
Perceiver
Target
Situation
Implicit personality theory
People make assumptions about how different types of people, their traits and behavior are related
Types of cognitive biases
Primacy effect Recency effect Reliance on central traits Halo effect Just-world hypothesis Self-serving bias
Correspondent inference theory
Describes attributions made by observing the intentional (especially unexpected) behaviors performed by another person
What influences attributions?
The culture in which one resides
What can stereotypes lead to?
Self-fulfilling prophecy
Self-fulfilling prophecy
Stereotypes can lead to expectations of certain groups, which can create conditions that lead to confirmation of the stereotype
Stereotype threat
Concern or anxiety about confirming a negative stereotype about one’s social group
In-group
A social group with which a person experiences a sense of belonging
Out-group
Refers to a social group with which an individual does not identify
Discrimination
When prejudicial attitudes cause individuals of a particular group to be treated differently from other
Individual discrimination
Refers to one person discriminating against a particular person or group
Institutional discrimination
Refers to the discrimination against a particular person or group by an entire institution
The tendency to become close friends with neighbors rather than people in other neighborhood is most strongly related to:
Proximity (interpersonal attraction)
What does increased activity of the amygdala result in?
Increased levels of aggression
What does decreased activity of the amygdala result in?
Decreased levels of aggression
What does increased activity of the prefrontal cortex result in?
Decreased levels of aggression
What does decreased activity of the prefrontal cortex result in?
Increased levels of aggression
A child who cries when his mother departs and smiles and runs to his mother when she returns is displaying which type of attachment pattern?
Secure attachment
Elephant seal males mate with multiple females each mating season, while females only have one mate each. What type of mating system is this?
Polygyny
A person with a ventromedial hypothalamus injury will likely show which behavior?
Increased food intake
Female great reed warblers are attracted to males with larger song repertoires because they tend to produce offspring with higher viability. This is an example of:
Indirect phenotypic benefits
Phenotypic benefits
Refer to observed traits in an individual that make them more attractive to the opposite sex
Direct phenotypic benefits
Benefits associated with increased fitness though direct material advantages
Indirect phenotypic benefits
Benefits that involve increased genetic fitness for offspring
In several species of shrimp, the larger adults will sacrifice themselves to produce the younger, smaller shrimp. This is an example of:
Inclusive fitness
When you first meet Dustin, he is very rude to you. You run into him twice more and he is very friendly, but you still dislike him because of your first meeting. What impression bias does this describe?
Primacy effect
Glen brings cookies to work. Although you have no yet tasted them, you say to another coworker, “Glen is such a great guy; I’m sure these cookies are fantastic!” What type of bias is this?
Halo effect
A friend wins a tennis game and says, “I trained so hard–that was a great win!” When she loses a subsequent match, she says, “My baby brother kept me up all night crying; I was tired for the match.” These statements reflect:
Self-serving bias
Carl is always happy and smiling. Today, you notice he seems down and think something must have happened to upset him. What types of attributions are you making?
External and situational attributions
A group of men and women are going to be rated on their driving abilities. The role of gender is emphasized in the experiment and the women perform worse than the men. In another experiment, the role of gender is not mentioned and the rating are comparable between the two groups. Which principle do these results support?
Stereotype threat
Manifest functions
Actions that are intended to help some part of a system
Latent functions
Unintended, unstated or unrecognized positive consequences of actions on society
What is the primary thesis of functionalism?
Each part of society serves a function; when these functions work together correctly, society overall can function normally
What is the primary thesis of conflict theory?
Power differentials are created when groups compete for economic, social and political resources; these differentials contribute to the maintenance of social order
What is the primary thesis of symbolic interactionism?
Humans communicate through words, gestures and other symbols to which we attach meaning
What is the primary thesis of social constructionism?
Individuals and groups make decisions to agree upon a given social reality
What is the primary thesis of rational choice theory?
Individuals will make decisions that maximize potential benefit and minimize potential harm
What is the primary thesis of feminist theory?
Explores the ways in which one gender can be subordinates, minimized, or devalued compared to the other
What are the key tenets of American medical ethics?
Beneficence
Normaleficence
Respect for autonomy
Justice
Beneficence
Act in the patient’s best interest
Normaleficence
DO no harm; avoid interventions where the potential for harm outweighs the potential for benefit
Respect for autonomy
Respect patients’ decisions and choices about their own healthcare
Justice
Treat similar patients with similar care; distribute healthcare resources fairly
Material culture
Focuses on the artifacts associated with a group: the physical objects, such as artwork, emblems, clothing, jewelry, food, buildings and tools
Symbolic culture
Focuses on the ideas and principles that belong to a particular group
Value
What a person deems to be important
Belief
What a person deems to be true
Race
Based on phenotypic differences between groups os people
Ethnicity
Based on common language, religion, nationality or other cultural factors
Symbolic ethnicity
Recognition of an ethnic identity of special occasions or in specific circumstances, but not during everyday life
Fertility rate
The average number of children a woman has during her lifetime in a population
Birth rate
The number of births in a population per unit time, usually measured as births per 1000 people per year
Mortality rate
The number of deaths in a population per unit time, usually measured as deaths per 1000 people per year
During demographic transition, what happens to the mortality rate?
It decreases
During demographic transition, what happens to the birth rate?
It decreases
Types of social movement
Proactive and reactive social movements
Proactive social movement
In favor of a specific social change
Reactive social movement
Runs against a specific social change
Expectancy theory
Applies rationale choice theory within social groups
Social institutions
Well-established social structures that dictate certain patterns of behavior or relationships and are accepted as a fundamental part of culture
e.g. family, education, religion, government, economy, health and medicine
Cultural log
The idea that material culture changes more quickly than symbolic culture
Cultural barrier
A social difference that impedes interaction
Language
Spoken or written symbols combined into a system and covered by rules
Ritual
Formalized ceremonial behavior in which members of a group or community regularly engage
It is governed by specific rules, including appropriate behavior and a predetermined order of events
Norms
Societal rules that define the boundaries of acceptable behavior
Demographics
The statistics of populations and are the mathematical applications of sociology
Ageism
Prejudice or discrimination on the basis of a person’s age
Gender
The set of behavioral, cultural or psychological traits typically associated with a biological sex
Gender inequality
The intentional or unintentional empowerment of one gender to the detriment of the other
Sexual orientation
Can be defined by one’s sexual interest towards members of the same, opposite or both sexes
Immigration
The movement into a new geographic area
Emigration
The movement away from a geographic area
Migration
Refers to the movement of people from one geographic location to another
Demographic transition
A model used to represent drops in birth and death rates as a result of industrialization
Globalization
The process of integrating a global economy with free trade and tapping of foreign labor markets
Urbanization
The process of dense areas of population creating a pull for migration; in other words, creating cities
Because there are more than 500 Native American tribes, there are several different healing practices among them. Some tribes may have ceremonies that include chanting, singing, body-painting, dancing and even use of mind-altering substances to persuade the spirits to heal the sick person. The ceremonies are example of:
Rituals
Over the last few decades, the United States population has become:
Bigger, older and more diverse
During which stage of demographic transition are both birth rates and mortality rates low?
Stage 4
Score of 6 on the Kinsey scale
Exclusively homosexual
Score of 3 on the Kinsey scale
Bisexuality
How is socioeconomic status (SES) determined?
It can be ascribed according to physical or external characteristics, such as age, gender or skin color
It can be acquired through direct efforts such as hard work or merit
What is the relationship between social capital and social cohesion?
The less social capital a person has (reduced network equality and equality of opportunity), the most social inequality. This, in turn, decreases social cohesion.
What are some groups that suffer disproportionate social inequality?
Racial and ethnic minorities, female-headed facilities, the elderly and the poor
Is social mobility dependent on merit?
It can be dependent on intellectual talent and achievement (meritocratic competition), but it can also be obstructed by concentrated power and discrimination
With regard to health, which groups are most often affected by environmental hazards?
Low-income areas with a high population of racial and ethnic minorities, resulting in increased illness and disease among these groups of people
Waitzkin’s second sickness
Health outcomes are exacerbated by social inequalities and social injustice; as a result, higher-income groups have longer life expectancies that lower-income groups
What is the relationship between class, ethnicity and health?
Low-income racial and ethnic minorities have higher morbidity rates and overall worse health compared to the middle and upper classes Lower class has higher infant morality rates, homicide rates and suicide rates in comparison to wealthier classes
Why are women more likely to have better health profiles than men?
Women are less likely to have life-threatening conditions, although they do have higher morbidity rates
Women are more likely to seek care and to utilize healthcare services than men
What is the relationship between class and healthcare disparities?
Low-income groups have worse access to healthcare services and worse healthcare quality
Poor Americans are less likely to be insured and consequently are less likely to seek medical attention until conditions have become extremely serious, thereby limiting available interventions
As a result: morbidity and mortality rates are highest among low-income groups
What is social stratification based on?
Socioeconomic status (SES)
Social class
A category of people with shared socioeconomic characteristics, lifestyles, job opportunities, attitudes and behaviors
Prestige
The respect and importance tied to specific occupations or associations
Power
The capacity to influence people through real or perceived rewards and punishments
What does power depend on?
The unequal distribution of valued resources
Anomie
A state of normlessness
Erodes social solidarity by means of excessive individualism, social inequality and isolation
Social capital
The investment people make in their society in return for economic or collective rewards
Mertiocracy
A society in which advancement up the social ladder is based on intellectual talent and achievement
Social mobility
Allows one to acquire higher-level employment opportunities by achieving required credentials and experience
Can occur in the positive upward direction or the negative downward direction
Poverty
A socioeconomic condition determined by the government’s calculation of the minimum income requirements for families to acquire the minimum necessities of life
Social reproduction
The passing on of social inequality, especially poverty, from one generation to the next
Absolute poverty
When people do not have enough resources to acquire basic life necessities
Relative poverty
When one is poor in comparison to a larger population
Social exclusion
A sense of powerlessness when individuals feel alienated from society
Social inequality
A form of social stratification across territories and their populations, and can occur along residential, environmental and global lines
e.g. Urban areas tend to have more diverse economic opportunities and more ability for social mobility than rural areas
Urban areas tend to have more low-income racial and ethnic minority neighborhoods than rural areas
Formation of higher-income suburbs is a common occurrence and is due in part to the limited mobility of lower-income groups in urban centers
Environmental injustice
An uneven distribution of environmental hazards in communities
Lower-income neighborhoods may lack the social and political power to prevent the placement of environmental hazards in their neighborhoods
Globalization
Led to further inequalities in space, food, water, energy, housing, and education as the production of goods shifts to cheaper and cheaper labor markets. This has led to significant economic hardship in industrializing nations
Incidence
The number of new cases of a disease per population at risk in a given period of time
Prevalence
The number of cases of a disease per population in a given period of time
Morbidity
The burden or degree of illness associated with a given disease
Mortality
The deaths caused by a given disease
Health in poor communities
Worse health outcomes, decreased life expectancy, higher rates of life-shortening disease, higher rates of suicide and homicide, and higher infant morality rates
Racial health profiles (worst to best)
- African-Americans
- White = Native Americans = Hispanic
- Asians = Pacific Islanders
Healthcare access and quality across populations
- Low-income groups and racial and ethnic minorities receive worse care than white people
- Fat people receive lower-quality treatment
- Women receive more healthcare resources than men
- LGBT receive lower-quality treatment due to prejudice, discrimination and homophobia
