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MCAT review > Psych/Soc > Flashcards

Psych/Soc Flashcards

1
Q

How to increase power of a study

A

Increase the alpha level, decrease random error, conduct a one-tailed test, expand the sample size or increase the effect size

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2
Q

Confounding variable

A

Additional variable that is often not taken into account during analysis. Confounding variables can result from a failure to properly control and can adversely affect the studies in which they arise.

variable that correlates and explains both the independent variable and dependent variable.

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3
Q

Moderating Variable

A

Variable that specifies conditions under which a given predictor is related to an outcome. explains “when” a dependent and independent variable are related.

variable that affects the strength of the relationship between two variables.

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4
Q

Mediating Variable

A

Original predictor (independent) variable works indirectly through a more immediate cause (the mediator variable), to yield a final effect (outcome or dependent variable).

explains why two things are related.

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5
Q

Homophily

A

Tendency of individuals to associate and bond with others similar to themselves

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6
Q

Self Efficacy

A

Believe in one’s capabilities to organize and execute the courses of action required to manage prospective situations.

How you feel about your ability to function in different situations

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7
Q

Self Esteem

A

Realistic respect for your ability to achieve and thrive in life

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8
Q

Hormones from Posterior Pituitary

A

Vasopressin (involved in fluid reuptake in the kidney)

Oxytocin: Hormone associated with emotional bonding

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9
Q

Drive Reduction Theory

A

Theory of learning in which the goal of motivating behavior is a reduction of a drive state.

Drives are motivation that arises due to a psychological or physiological need.

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10
Q

Attrition Bias

A

Occurs when participants drop out of a long-term experiment or study.

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11
Q

Reconstructive bias

A

type of bias related to memory. Most research on memories suggests that our memories of the past are not as accurate as we think, especially when we are remembering times of high stress.

example: The physicians may not have accurately remembered what they witnessed during medical school.

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12
Q

Positive reinforcement

A

Adding a stimulus to increase a behavior

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13
Q

Negative reinforcement

A

Removing a stimulus to increase a behavior

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14
Q

Positive Punishment

A

Adding a stimulus and punishment refers to a consequence that decreases a behavior.

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15
Q

Negative punishment

A

Removing a stimulus to decrease a behavior

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16
Q

Schachter-Singer Theory

A

physiological arousal occurs first, and then the individual must identify the reason for this arousal to experience and label it as an emotion.

“Exactor; double-check your emotion by labeling the arousal just to be sure”

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17
Q

James Lange Theory

A

Witnessing an external stimulus leads to a physiological response.

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18
Q

Cannon Bard Theory

A

stimulating events trigger feelings and physical reactions that occur at the same time

“Two birds with one stone”

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19
Q

Fixed ratio

A

A fixed-ratio schedule is when the behavior is reinforced after a specific number of responses.

Example: a rat gets a treat every third push of a lever.

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20
Q

Variable-ratio

A

occur when behavior is reinforced after an average, but unpredictable, number of responses.

Example: a rat treat dispenser could be set to dispense a treat after an average of 1 out of every 10 presses, but the exact number of presses between rewards will vary

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21
Q

Fixed-interval

A

when behavior is reinforced after a specific amount of time has passed

Example: semi-monthly paydays.

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22
Q

Variable-interval

A

behavior is reinforced after an average, but unpredictable, amount of time has passed.

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23
Q

Discrimination

A

Demonstrating a change in behavior based on race or gender. Involves some sort of action.

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24
Q

Prejudice

A

This is more cognitive. Forming a negative opinion about people based on things I’ve heard about a group they belong to.

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25
Q

Folkway

A

Describes relatively unimportant norms governing social interactions, like how to use silverware.

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26
Q

Mores

A

Informal normes that carry major importance for society and if broken can result in severe social sanctions

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27
Q

Asch’s line experiment

A

Solomon Asch conducted an experiment investigating the extent to which social pressure from a majority group could influence a person to conform. Asch used confederates who were instructed to give clearly incorrect answers regarding the lengths of various lines. He then measured the number of times each unknowing participant conformed to the majority view. In Asch’s study, the confederates never provided an explanation for their choices to the group.

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28
Q

Piaget’s stages of development

A
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29
Q

Kinship of affinity

A

One in which individuals are related by choice, such as through marriage, rather than through blood

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30
Q

Consanguineal Kinship

A

Kinship based on blood relation

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31
Q

Anomie

A

Breakdown of social bonds, such as social norms, between individuals and communities.

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32
Q

Internal validity

A

The degree to which causal conclusions can be drawn from a study, which can include accounting for potential confounding variables.

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33
Q

External validity

A

Describes the degree to which the findings of a study are generalizable to the population as a whole. Typically involves issues regarding the size and representativeness of the sample.

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34
Q

Face validity

A

The degree to which it “seems right” to participants and researchers.

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35
Q

Content Validity

A

Whether a study comprehensively accounts for all the relevant facets o the phenomenon it is intended to investigate.

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36
Q

Functional MRI

A

neuroimaging technique which allows researchers to assess the operation of brain regions, not just their structure.

Functional MRI, or fMRI, trades spatial resolution for temporal resolution and allows scientists to map active parts of the brain. It does so by analyzing the differences in oxyhemoglobin and deoxyhemoglobin concentration in parts of the brain.

37
Q

PET scans

A

PET scans work on the principle that more active areas of the brain will show increased metabolism, and thus increase their uptake of glucose. Such uptake can then be converted into a false-color “heat map” of the brain to show areas of increased or decreased activity. PET scans are also frequently used for imaging designed to detect cancer in any part of the body, due to the increased glucose flux through tumor cells.

38
Q

EEG

A

EEG measures electrical impulses in the brain by covering the scalp with small sensors. Researchers can then present the subject with various stimuli and record which areas of the brain demonstrate increased electrical activity. Instead of measuring electrical activity, scientists can watch the level of blood flow in parts of the brain. By injecting a tracer molecule, scientists are able to image which parts of the brain are more active in response to certain stimuli. More active brain areas will see an increase in blood flow, and thus an increase in the tracer molecule.

39
Q

Erikson’s Stages of development

A

My Sexy Girl In Red Is Sucking Dick

40
Q

Primary aging

A

Describes the aging of biological factors and the physical body

41
Q

House money effect

A

Thaler and Johnson have found that individual risk-taking behavior is affected by prior gains and losses. They found that after a prior gain, people become more open to assuming risk since the new money is not treated as one’s own. This is known as the house money effect.

42
Q

Gambler’s fallacy

A

if something happens more frequently than normal during some period, it will happen less frequently in the future, or vice versa.

43
Q

Prisoner’s dilemma

A

standard example from psychological game theory that shows why two completely “rational” individuals might not cooperate, even if it appears that it is in their best interests to do so

44
Q

Ratio level of measurement

A

one in which there are a range of quantitative responses, ordered at equally-spaced intervals, and with it being possible to score 0 (complete absence of the quantity).

45
Q

Freud’s structure

A

Freud’s work centered around his ideas of the id (one’s largely unconscious set of primal urges), superego (one’s sense of moral purpose), and ego (the logic-based, more conscious balance between the two). Freud put his theories into practice in psychoanalytic therapy, a process in which a psychologist or other therapist converses with a patient one-on-one to address certain mental or emotional issues.

46
Q

Frontal lobe functions

A

frontal lobe is associated with making judgments and regulating behavior as a part of executive functioning.

47
Q

Occipital lobe functions

A

occipital lobe is most closely related to visual processing, as data from the optic nerves are sent directly there.

48
Q

Parietal lobe

A

parietal lobe is associated with integrating various sensory input,

49
Q

Amygdala

A

amygdala, which processes memory, emotions, and decision-making

50
Q

Hippocampus function

A

hippocampus, which consolidates short-term memory into long-term memory

51
Q

Hypothalamus function

A

hypothalamus, which is the major link between the nervous and endocrine systems via the pituitary gland

52
Q

Pineal gland function

A

pineal gland, which modulates sleep through melatonin productions

53
Q

Thalamus function

A

thalamus, which relays sense and motor signals and regulates sleep and awareness.

54
Q

Limbic system

A

hypothalamus, hippocampus, amygdala, and several other structures, and plays a major role in emotions, memory, and motivation

55
Q

Mesolimbic pathway

A

mesolimbic pathway (or reward pathway), which is located in the midbrain and plays a role in addiction.

56
Q

Dependency Ratio

A

ratio of the number of economically dependent members of the population to the number of economically productive members.

The economically dependent are those considered too young or too old to work, whereas the economically productive are the working-age population

57
Q

The life course perspective

A

Basically it says that your environment, behaviors, and stressors from an early age in life can influence life outcomes (and health) later in life.

58
Q

linguistic relativity hypothesis

A

human cognition is affected by language

59
Q

source monitoring errors

A

When people recall information, they often forget the information’s source

60
Q

Retrograde Amnesia

A

form of amnesia where someone is unable to recall events that occurred before the development of the amnesia, even though they may be able to encode and memorize new things that occur after the onset

61
Q

Conversion Disorder

A

Conversion disorder is a disorder in which a person experiences blindness, paralysis, or other symptoms affecting the nervous system that cannot be explained solely by a physical illness or injury. Symptoms usually begin suddenly after a period of emotional or physical distress or psychological conflict.

62
Q

Dissociative Disorder

A

patient is selectively forgetting distracting elements of his/her life, which indicates a dissociative disorder

63
Q

Relative Poverty

A

being poor compared to most people around you.

64
Q

Absolute Poverty

A

being poor such that your basic needs are not met (food, shelter, clothing, water).

65
Q

Marginal Poverty

A

when an individual can’t find/keep a job

66
Q

Structural Poverty

A

idea that people are poor because of how society is structured rather than individual reasons (systems fault vs. individuals fault).

67
Q

Components of Attitude

A

an affective component (feelings), a behavioral component (the effect of the attitude on behavior), and a cognitive component (belief and knowledge).

68
Q

Socialization

A

Socialization can be thought of as the lifelong process through which a person becomes an active participant in their culture, defined by language, customs, and values.

69
Q

Freud’s stages of development

A

Old Ass People Love Guns

70
Q

Avoidance conditioning

A

learn so that they can keep something bad from happening in the futur

71
Q

Escaping conditioning

A

something someone would be trying to do if something bad were happening right now.

72
Q

Functionalism

A

sees society as a structure with interrelated parts designed to meet the biological and social needs of the individuals in that society.

From the functionalist perspective, almost all social actions have both manifest functions and latent functions, both of which are connected to overall social stability.

73
Q

Horizontal Mobility

A

Horizontal mobility describes a situation in which an individual changes some aspect of social identity (from employed to unemployed, for example) but maintains the same relative status (income remains the same)

74
Q

Exchange mobility

A

society consisting of various classes and those classes are in “equilibrium”; if an x amount of people move up from lower class to higher class, then an x amount of people will also fall from the higher class to the lower class.

75
Q

Myers-Briggs Inventory

A

self-report inventory designed to identify a person’s personality type, strengths, and preferences

Basically a personality test

76
Q

Biopsychosocial model

A

Broad view that attributes disease causation/outcome to the variable interaction of biological factors (genetic, biochemical, etc), psychological factors (mood, personality, behavior, etc), and social factors (cultural, familial, socioeconomic, medical, etc).

77
Q

GABA neurotransmitter

A

inhibitory neurotransmitter. blocks, or inhibits, certain brain signals and decreases activity in your nervous system. it produces a calming effect

Think Gabapentin medication. Acts to decrease nerve activity and decrease pain sensation.

78
Q

Motion Parallax

A

things closer to you move faster than those farther away (on a road trip the road moves much much faster than the clouds)

79
Q

Vestibular sense

A

sensory system that contributes to balance and the sense of spatial orientation.

awareness of your body and balance

80
Q

Discriminating Stimuli

A

This discriminating stimulus signals the availability of the reinforcement/punishment, and increases the probability of a response.

81
Q

Extrinsic Motivation

A

Any motivation that results from incentives to perform a behavior that are not inherent to the behavior itself.

82
Q

Base Rate fallacy

A

Error people make when they ignore the base rates (prior probabilities) when evaluating the probabilities (or frequencies) of events.

83
Q

Labeling Theory

A

Labeling theory suggests that people are often placed into social categories. One category could be a stigmatizing category

84
Q

Maladaptiveness

A

Criterion takes into account whether the behavior negatively impacts the person’s life or poses a threat to others.

85
Q

Overextension

A

Applying a term for one class of objects to other objects that bear only a superficial resemblance (using the word “doggie” for a cow)

86
Q

Bootstrapping

A

During early grammar development in kids, they learn syntax and grammar by building upon (bootstrapping from) the knowledge they’ve already acquired. Part of the nativist theory of language development since kids innately possess the ability to bootstrap and learn grammar.

87
Q

Naming Explosion

A

This refers to the fact that toddlers add a ton of words to their vocabulary between the ages of one and two.

88
Q

Monocular depth cue

A

Retinal height, occlusion, texture gradient.

89
Q

Disinhibition

A

removal of inhibitions/restraints regarding social interactions (like when you drink alcohol and are more likely to speak whats on your mind = increased impulsivity). These might go against established social norms.

MCAT review (3 decks)

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