New Psych/Soc Vocab from AAMC Flashcards
What is depth of processing?
Depth of processing refers to the type of attention applied to words during encoding
How does the serial position effect relate to the difference between long-term and short-term memory?
Because the primacy effect includes items stored in long term memory and the recency effect includes items in short term memory
How does long term memory relate to the primacy effect?
Items that are placed at the beginning of a list are likely to be stored in long term memory to be remembered
Describe the snowball sampling method
An initial group of subjects is used and then their contacts are incorporated into the study
What is the definition of operationalization?
process by which a researcher defines how a concept is measured, observed, or manipulated within a particular study
What type of bias causes individuals to favor members of their own group over members of groups who they are not a part of?
In Group vs. Out Group bias
What theory of emotion states that physiological arousal alone causes an emotion?
James-Lange
At what stage in piaget’s cognitive development do children master the idea of conservation?
Concrete Operational
How are semi-periphery countries different from periphery countries?
Semi-periphery countries have organizational characteristics of both core countries and periphery countries and are often geographically located between core and peripheral regions as well as between two or more competing core regions
How is the I different from the Me in Mead’s theory?
“me” is the part of the self that is formed in interaction with others and with the general social environment
How is second order or higher order conditioning different from regular classical conditioning?
It uses an unconditioned stimulus that has been added to a new conditioned stimulus until it alone produces the conditioned response
What is another name for observational learning?
Social Learning
Do variable ratio delivery systems cause a fluctuation or an increase in responses?
Increase
In a shadowing task (dichotic listening task) in what ear do the subjects attend to information?
The shadowing ear
In which side of the brain are the areas that process linguistic information (both production and comprehension)?
Left hemisphere
How are the Wechsler Scales of Intelligence (WISC) related to IQ and normalization of IQ scores?
The normalize IQ scores on a mean of 100 with a stdev. of 15
What type of learning allows people to learn to respond differently to various stimuli through operant conditioning?
Discrimination Learning
What effect do stimulants have on glucose uptake in the brain?
They Increase glucose uptake
If the ability to recall information effected by aging?
No
Is the ability to acquire new declarative memory effected by aging?
Yes
What type of stimulus is one that motivates you to do something? (ex. the smell of chocolate)
Incentive Stimulus
What do psychophysical testing methods acess?
Our perception of stimuli in relation to their true physical properties
How does the practice effect change the results of experimental studies?
As the subjects repeat the task assigned to them they may improve at the task and skew results
How is a subject’s motivational state controlled in a operant conditioning experiment?
By depriving the subjects of the stimulus prior to starting the experiment
Is remembering the state that you grew up in stored in episodic or semantic memory?
Episodic (because it is more personally related)
What does social epidemiology focus on?
Social epidemiology focuses on the contribution of social and cultural factors to disease patterns in populations
What is the difference in social and cultural capital?
Social capital refers to social connections (e.g., made through employment or clubs)
Cultural capital refers to knowledge and academic credentials (institutionalized cultural capital), cultural possessions such as art (objectified cultural capital), and ways of speaking or manner, shown through posture or gestures for example (embodied cultural capital)
What is the word for a member of ones own species?
Conspecific
When do toddlers learn and perceive differences in people around them?
around 8 months toddlers develop stranger anxiety
What type of memory is needed for priming to occur?
Implicit memory
In what type of memory does new information need to be stored?
Long Term
In a subject with cognitive dissonance, is it more likely for the subject to change their behavior to match their attitude or change their attitude to match their behavior?
Change their attitude to match behavior
What is the sociological exchange theory?
looks at how people determine cost and benefits of interactions
What does the Thomas theorem state?
If people define situations as real then consequences will likely occur
How do discriminating stimuli differ from other stimuli?
They provide the subject information about the probable cause of their behaviors
What are the three motivators in the self determination theory?
Autonomy
Competence
Relatedness
What does Roger’s concept of incongruence state?
That unpleasant feelings can result from a gap between our actual self and ideal self
What is the overconfidence effect?
The tendency to overestimate the accuracy of ones beliefs
What would decreasing the amount of dopamine in a person with Parkinson’s cause?
Increased frequency of tremors and decreased mobility
Under what type of explicit memory does autobiographical memory (memory about life events) fall under?
Episodic
What occurs during overextension of vocabulary?
Applying a name for one class of objects to another that carries similarities (calling all four legged animals dogs)
What does elaborative encoding refer to?
Combining new information with previously learned information to make a stronger memory
What is eidetic memory?
How long you can remember an object after looking at it and then looking away or closing your eyes
How does emotional arousal effect our attention?
It enhances attention of important (central) items
Is social capital used to measure SES?
No
Throughout what stage in Piaget’s will a child learn and grasp on the idea of conservation?
Concrete Operational
What is another name for psychoanalytic theory?
Psychodynamic (emphasizes the unconscious mind)
What is the Choroid?
The vasculature and epithelial cells that lies between the retina and sclera
What is the difference between the actor-observer bias and the self-serving bias?
Self-Serving bias focus on only our own behavior and attributions
How do sociologists differentiate the concepts of ethnicity and race?
Sociologists consider ethnicity to be categorizations of people based on culture and ancestry. Sociologists consider race to be categorizations of people based on perceived physical characteristics
What is social stigma associated with?
social disapproval is associated with a behavior, identity, or other attribute that is considered deviant by others
What does ethnographic research involve?
This scenario refers to ethnographic research, which involves observing social interactions in real social settings
The change in brain size in response to environmental factors is called?
Neural Plasticity
What does encoding specificity refer to?
refers to enhanced memory when testing takes place under the same conditions as learning
A researcher is interested in assessing the size of a patient’s brain ventricles. Which method(s) is(are) appropriate for this purpose?
I. An EEG
II. A CAT scan
III. A PET scan
II only
- because EEG is electrical measurement
- CAT is a structural measurement
- PET is a functional measurement
What is situational poverty?
Short-term poverty arising from situational factors such as environmental disasters
How does structural functionalism distinguish different types of functions?
It distinguishes between latent and manifest functions
