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Kaplan MCAT Terms Flashcards > Behavioral Sciences part 1 > Flashcards

Behavioral Sciences part 1 Flashcards

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MCAT flashcards
1
Q

Absolute threshold

A

The minimum of stimulus energy needed to activate a sensory system.

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2
Q

Schemata

A

a schema (plural schemata or schemas) describes a pattern of thought or behavior that organizes categories of information and the relationships among them.

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4
Q

Acquisition

A

In classical conditioning, the process of taking advantage of reflexive responses to turn a neutral stimulus into a conditioned stimulus.

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5
Q

Adaptation

A

In perception, a decrease in stimulus perception after a long duration of exposure; in learning, the process by which new information is processed; consists of assimilation and accommodation.

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6
Q

Adaptive value

A

The extent to which a trait benefits a species by influencing the evolutionary fitness of the species.

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7
Q

Aggression

A

A behavior with the intention to cause harm or increase relative social dominance; can be physical or verbal.

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8
Q

Alertness

A

State of consciousness in which one is aware, able to think, and able to respond to the environment; nearly synonymous with arousal.

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9
Q

Aligning actions

A

An impression management strategy in which one makes questionable behavior acceptable through excuses.

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10
Q

Alter-casting

A

An impression management strategy in which one imposes an identity onto another person.

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11
Q

Altruism

A

A form of helping behavior in which the intent is to benefit someone else at a cost to oneself.

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12
Q

Amygdala

A

A portion of the limbic system that is important for memory and emotion, especially fear.

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13
Q

Anomie

A

A state of normlessness; a condition of instability resulting from a breakdown of standards and values or from a lack of purpose or ideals.

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14
Q

Anxiety disorders

A

Disorders that involve worry, unease, fear, and apprehension about future uncertainties based on real or imagined events that can impair physical and psychological health.

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15
Q

Appraisal Model

A

A similar theory to the basic model, accepting that there are biologically predetermined expressions once an emotion is experienced; accepts that there is a cognitive antecedent to emotional expression.

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16
Q

Archetype

A

In jungian psychoanalysis, a thought or image that has an emotional element and is a part of the collective unconscious.

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17
Q

Arcuate Fasciculus

A

A bundle of axons that connects Wernicke’s Area (language comprehension) with Broca’s Area (motor function of speech). Damage causes conduction aphasia, characterized by the inability to repeat words with intact spontaneous speech production and comprehension.

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18
Q

Arousal

A

A psychological and physiological state of being awake and reactive to stimuli; nearly synonymous with alertness.

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19
Q

Arousal Theory

A

A theory of motivation that states that there is a particular level of arousal required in order to perform actions optimally; summarized by the Yerkes-Dodson law.

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20
Q

Yerkes-Dodson law

A

The Yerkes–Dodson law is an empirical relationship between arousal and performance, originally developed by psychologists Robert M. Yerkes and John Dillingham Dodson in 1908. The law dictates that performance increases with physiological or mental arousal, but only up to a point.

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21
Q

Assimilation

A

In psychology, the process by which new information is interpreted in terms of existing schemata; in sociology, the process by which the behavior and culture of a group or an individual begins to merge with that of another group.

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22
Q

Associative learning

A

The process by which a connection is made between two stimuli or a stimulus and a response; examples include classical conditioning and operant conditioning.

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23
Q

Attachment

A

A very deep emotional bond to another person, particularly a parent or caregiver.

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24
Q

Attitude

A

A tendency toward expression of positive or negative feelings or evaluations of a person, place, thing, or situation.

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25
Q

Attribute substitution

A

A phenomenon observed when individuals must make judgements that are complex but instead substitute a simpler solution or perception.

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26
Q

Attribution theory

A

A theory that focuses on the tendency for individuals to infer the causes of other people’s behavior.

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27
Q

Autonomy

A

The ethical tenet that the physician has the responsibility to respect patient choices about their own healthcare.

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28
Q

Availability Heuristic

A

A shortcut in decision-making that relies on the information that is most readily available, rather than the total body of information on a subject.

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29
Q

Avoidance

A

A form of negative reinforcement in which one eschews the unpleasantness of something that has yet to happen.

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30
Q

Back stage

A

In the dramaturgical approach, the setting where players are free from their role requirements and not in front of the audience; back stage behaviors may not be deemed appropriate or acceptable and are thus kept invisible from the audience.

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31
Q

Basal Ganglia

A

A portion of the forebrain that coordinates muscle movement and routes information from the cortex to the brain and spinal cord.

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32
Q

Beneficence

A

The ethical tenet that the physician has a responsibility to act in the patient’s best interest.

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33
Q

Brain stem

A

The most primitive portion of the brain, which includes the midbrain and hindbrain; controls the autonomic nervous system and communication between the spinal cord, cranial nerves, and brain.

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34
Q

Broca’s area

A

A brain region located in the inferior frontal gyrus of the frontal lobe (usually in the left hemisphere); largely responsible for the motor function of speech. Damage causes Broca’s aphasia, a loss of the motor function of speech, resulting in intact understanding with an inability to correctly produce spoken language.

35
Q

Bystander effect

A

The observation that, when in a group, individuals are less likely to respond to a person in need.

36
Q

Cannon-bard Theory

A

A theory of emotion that states that a stimulus is first received and is then simultaneously processed physiologically and cognitively, allowing for the conscious emotion to be experienced.

37
Q

Catatonia

A

Disorganized motor behavior characterized by various unusual physical movements or stillness.

38
Q

Cerebellum

A

A portion of the hindbrain that maintains posture and balance and coordinates body movements.

39
Q

Cerebral cortex

A

The outermost later if the cerebrum, responsible for complex perceptual, behavioral, and cognitive processes.

40
Q

Cerebrum

A

A portion of the brain that contains the cerebral cortex, limbic system, and basal ganglia.

41
Q

Circadian rhythm

A

The alignment of physiological processes with the 24-hour day, including sleep-wake cycle a and some elements of the endocrine system.

42
Q

Circular reaction

A

A repetitive action that achieves a desired response; seen during Piaget’s sensorimotor stage.

43
Q

Piaget’s sensorimotor stage

A

The sensorimotor stage is the first of the four stages Piaget uses to definecognitive development. Piaget designated the first two years of an infants lifeas the sensorimotor stage. During this period, infants are busy discovering relationships betweentheir bodies and the environment.

44
Q

Classical conditioning

A

A form of associative learning in which a neutral stimulus becomes associated with an unconditional stimulus such that the neutral stimulus alone produces the same response as the unconditional stimulus; the neutral stimulus thus becomes a conditioned stimulus.

45
Q

Conflictive dissonance

A

The simultaneous presence of two opposing thoughts or opinions.

46
Q

Collective unconscious

A

In Jungian psychoanalysis, the part of the unconscious mind that is shared among all humans and is a result of our common ancestry.

47
Q

Compliance

A

A change of behavior of an individual at the request of another.

48
Q

Confirmation bias

A

A cognitive bias in which one focuses on information that supports a given solution, belief, or hypothesis, and ignores evidence against it.

49
Q

Conflict theory

A

A theoretical framework that emphasizes the role of power differentials in producing social order.

50
Q

Conformity

A

The changing of beliefs or behaviors in order to fit into a group or society.

51
Q

Consciousness

A

Awareness of oneself; can be used to describe varying levels of awareness that occur with wakefulness, sleep, dreaming, and drug-induced states.

52
Q

Conservation

A

Concept seen in quantitative analysis performed by a child; develops when a child is able to identify the difference between quantity by number and actual amount, especially when faced with identical quantities separated into varying pieces.

53
Q

Context effect

A

A retrieval cue by which memory is aided when a person is in the location where encoding took place.

54
Q

Correspondent inference theory

A

A theory that states that people pay closer attention to intentional behavior than accidental behavior when making attributions, especially if the behavior is unexpected.

55
Q

Critical period

A

A time during development during which exposure to language is essential for eventual development of effective use of language; between two years of age and puberty.

56
Q

Crystallized intelligence

A

Cognitive capacity to understand relationships or solve problems using information acquired during schooling and other experiences.

57
Q

Cultural relativism

A

The recognition that social groups and cultures must be studied on their own terms to be understood.

58
Q

Deductive reasoning

A

A form of cognition that starts with general information and narrows down that information to create a conclusion.

59
Q

Defense mechanism

A

A technique used by the ego that denies, falsified, or distorts reality in order to resolve anxiety caused by undesirable urges of the id and superego.

60
Q

Deindividuation

A

The idea that people will lose a sense of self-awareness and can act dramatically differently based in the influence of a group.

61
Q

Delusions

A

Fixed, false beliefs that are discordant with reality and not shared by one’s culture, but are maintained in spite of strong evidence to the contrary.

62
Q

Demographic transition

A

The transition from high birth and mortality rates to lower births and mortality rates, seen as a country develops from a preindustrial to an industrialized economic system.

63
Q

Demographics

A

The statistical arm of sociology, which attempts to characterize and explain populations by quantitative analysis.

64
Q

Depressive episode

A

A period of at least two weeks in which there is a prominent and persistent depressed mood or lack of interest and at least four other depressive symptoms.

65
Q

Deviance

A

The violation of norms, rules, or expectations within a society.

66
Q

Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM)

A

The guide by which most psychological disorders are characterized, described, and diagnosed; currently in its fifth edition (DSM-5, published May 2013).

67
Q

Diencephalon

A

A portion of the embryonic forebrain that becomes the thalamus, hypothalamus, posterior pituitary gland, and pineal gland.

68
Q

Disconfirmation principle

A

Idea that states that if evidence obtained during testing does not confirm a hypothesis, then the hypothesis is discarded or revised.

69
Q

Discrimination

A

In classical conditioning, the process by which two similar but distinct conditioned stimuli produce different responses; in sociology, when individuals of a particular group are treated differently from others based on their group.

70
Q

Dishabituation

A

A sudden increase in response to a stimulus or the addition of another stimulus; sometimes called resensitization.

71
Q

Displacement

A

A defense mechanism by which undesired urges are transferred from one target to another, more acceptable one.

72
Q

Dissociative disorders

A

Disorders that involve a perceived separation from identity or the environment.

73
Q

Divided attention

A

The ability to attend to multiple stimuli simultaneously and to perform multiple tasks at the same time.

74
Q

Dramaturgical approach

A

Impression management theory that represents the world as a stage and individuals as actors performing to an audience.

75
Q

Drive reduction theory

A

A theory that explains motivation as being based on the goal of eliminating uncomfortable internal states.

76
Q

Accommodation

A

Process by which existing schemata are modified to encompass new information.

77
Q

Ego

A

In Freudian psychoanalysis, the part of the unconscious mind that mediates the urges of the id and superego; operates under the reality principle.

78
Q

Egocentrism

A

Self-centered view of the world in which one is not necessarily able to understand the experience of another person; seen in Piaget’s preoperational stage.

79
Q

Elaboration likelihood model

A

A theory in which attitudes are formed and changed through different routes of informational processing based on the degree of deep thought given to persuasive information.

80
Q

Elaborate rehearsal

A

The association of information in short-term memory to information already stored in long-term memory; aids in long-term storage.

81
Q

Encoding

A

The process of receiving information and preparing it for storage; can be automatic or effortful.

Kaplan MCAT Terms Flashcards (7 decks)

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