FINAL MCAT PREP Flashcards
Humanistic approach
emphasizes the study of the whole person and the uniqueness of every individual
Interoceptive awareness
Interoceptive awareness involves sensitivity to increases in activity of autonomic nervous system (e.g. heart beat, blood pressure)
Reticular activation system
is a set of connected nuclei in the brains of vertebrates that is responsible for regulating wakefulness and sleep-wake transitions
Limbic system
a set of brain structures located on both sides of the thalamus, immediately beneath the cerebrum; includes amygdala, hippocampus, hypothalamus, etc.
Autonomic vs. Somatic Nervous systems
Somatic - voluntary, Autonomic - involuntary (e.g. breathing, HR, etc)
Damage to which nervous system structure can cause problems w/ ability to perform synchronous behaviors?
Cerebellum (associated w/ execution of a coordinated motor task)
Behaviorist theory
focuses on the role of reinforcement and punishment in shaping behavior (think: BF Skinner)
How to determine validity (scientific acceptability) of variables chosen for studies?
If a self-report measure and behavioral measure are positively correlated, this would support the validity of the self-report measure
Content Analysis
a sociological method that is used to make inferences about communication; could help determine which beliefs an organization publically emphasizes and how it frames issues to the broader public
Class Systems
universal phenomenon denoting a category or group of persons having a definite status in society which permanently determines their relation to other groups
Caste Systems
describe CLOSED stratification systems that do not allow for social mobility
Economic Systems
e.g. socialism or capitalism
Front stage self
in dramaturgical approach, the setting where players are inf ront of an audience and perform roles that are in keeping w/ the image they hope to project about themselves
Back stage self
in the dramaturgical approach, the setting where players are free from their role requirements and not in front of the audience; back stage may not be appropriate behaviors or acceptable and thus kept invisible from the audience
Cultural transmission
the way a group of people or animals within a society or culture tend to learn and pass on information
What aspect of a person’s cognitive ability does aging NOT diminish?
The ability to retrieve general information
Wechsler Scales of Intelligence (WISC)
based on the standardization system used to score IQ, this scoring system is “normalized” to a mean of 100 and a standard deviation of 15; so 68% of the scores will fall between 85 and 115
Sensory memory
visual (iconic) and auditory (echoic) stimuli briefly stored in memory; fades quickly unless attention is paid to the information
Sociological paradigm of conflict theory
calls attention to competition among social groups, including generational conflict; conflict theorist would be interested in explaining how political power varies by generational status and thus affects allocation of social resources
Dependency ratio
ratio of the number of economically dependent members of a population to the number of economically productive members; economically dependent are those considered too young or too old to work, whereas economically productive are the working-age population
Social gradient in health
refers to the fact that inequalities in population health status are related to inequalities in social status
Life course perspective
refers to an approach developed in the 1960s for analyzing people’s lives within structural, social, and cultural contexts
Intersectionality of medicine
Overlapping areas of discrimination; such as patients who have multiple characteristics that are discriminated against; e.g. african american female practicing buddhist teachings (3 areas of discrimination, possibly, including sex/gender, race/culture, religious, and there’s the INTERSECTION of the 3 diff’t areas)
If a physician assumes a new patient is not well educated and thus less knowledgeable about health issues, is this discrimination?
No, the scenario describes an attitude but does not specify differential treatment
How to determine if discriminatory?
If there is an action or behavior that indicates differential treatment or behavior
social Loafing
refers to the fact that people are more productive alone than in a group; individuals are also less critical and less creative in a group
What affects groupthink?
If a group has an interpersonal connection (group of friends), they would be motivated to engage in discussion; would lead to fewer groupthink symptoms than the social identity groups
Stages of classical conditioning paradigm
First is acquisition phase of the fear conditioning paradigm; in which the stimulus that is neutral w/ respect to response is associated w/ an unconditioned stimulus multiple times until the neutral stimulus elicits the conditioned response
Beta-amyloid plaques
will not allow for increased connection between neurons in the brains of genetically modified mice
Neurofibrillary tangles
aggregates of hyperphosphorylated tau protein that are most commonly known as a primary marker of Alzheimer’s disease
Cognitive-behavioral therapy
can address smoking behaviors through systematic modification of individual behavior and self-assessments; addresses maladaptive behaviors thru behavioral therapy to systematically modify a person’s behavior; followed by sessions designed to foster cognitivie change, through self-assessments
What might a structural functionalist think of yoga to treat smoking addiction?
the utility of yoga as an effective smoking cessation therapy is an unintended, though beneficial, outcome of yoga practice; this describes a LATENT, OR UNINTENDED function
Functionalism (social paradigm)
makes a distinction between manifest, or intended, and latent, or unintended functions of social activities; almost all social actions have both manifest functions and latent functions, both of which are connected to overall social stability
Proximal stimulus
the stimulus registered by the sensory receptors (e.g. pattern of light falling on the retina)
Distal stimulus
An object which provides information for the proximal stimulus; the proximal stimulus registers the information
Law of similarity
Like-things are grouped together
Psychophysical discrimination testing
directly assess our perception of stimuli in relation to their true physical properties; the nature of the illusions discussed in the passage suggest that individuals may be prone to over- or under-state the size of items
Context effects
the context in which stimuli are presented and the processes of perceptual organization contribute to how stimuli are organized
Flashbulb memory
memory phenomenon in which people claimed to remember details of what they were doing when they received news about an emotionally arousing event
False memory
false memories can be observed both in real-world and laboratory settings, and they are generally given with high confidence
Operational definition of motivational state in operant conditioning
depriving the subject of some desirable stimulus for a period of time
Life course perspective
a holistic perspective that calls attention to developmental processes and other experiences across a person’s life
Statistical adjustment
refers to controlling for variables that could affect the relationship between the independent and dependent variables
Sensitive period
also referred to as critical period; identifies a point in early development that can have significant influence on physiological or behavioral functioning in later life
Modeling
learning which behaviors are acceptable by watching others perform them;
Incentive theory
calls attention to how factors outside of individuals, including community values and other aspects of culture, can motivate behavior
Social epidemiology
focuses on the contribution of social and cultural factors to disease patterns in populations; supplements biomedical approach because it is a subfield of epidemiology
How can one provide more culturally-competent care?
Using cultural relativism rather than ethnocentrism; must be aware of one’s own cultural standards and biases
Cultural relativism
raises awareness of the fact that cultures have different standards and biases
Intersectionality
calls attention to how identity categories intersect in systems of social stratification; e.g. an individual’s position w/in a social hierarchy is determined not only by his/her social class, but also by his/her race/ethnicity; can also refer to intersections involving other identity categories such as age, gender, or sexual orientation
What sociological paradigm is most consistent with a study of healthcare providers showing rapport, empathy, and navigating disagreements w/ their patients
symbolic interactionism; examines small scale (or micro level) social interactions, focusing attention on how shared meaning is established among individuals or small groups
Looking glass self
suggests that the self-concept is influenced by how we perceive that others are viewing us; a person who acquires a stigmatized illness is likely to internalize the stigmatization directed against him or her
MRI
test that uses a magnetic field and pulses of radio wave energy to make pictures of organs and structures inside the body
fMRI
imaging technique that measures brain activity by detecting changes in blood flow
CT
makes use of computer-processed combinations of many X-ray measurements taken from different angles to produce cross-sectional (tomographic) images (virtual “slices”) of specific areas of a scanned object, allowing the user to see inside the object without cutting
PET
nuclear medicine functional imaging to observe metabolic processes in the body; If the biologically active molecule chosen for PET is fludeoxyglucose (FDG), an analogue of glucose, the concentrations of tracer imaged will indicate tissue metabolic activity as it corresponds to the regional glucose uptake
What are the components of the reward system?
Nucleus accumbens, hypothalamus, amygdala
Universal emotions
fear, anger, surprise, happiness, disgust, and sadness
Place theory
posits that one is able to hear different pitches because diff’t sound waves trigger activity at different places along the cochlea’s basilar membrane (not a visual concept)
5 Components of Language
Phonology (actual sound of language), Pragmatics (language based on context), Syntax (forming sentences), Morphology (structure of words), Semantics (associate meaning and word)
