Psych/Soc

Question 1

Social desirability

Answer 1

The tendency of survey respondents to answer questions in a manner that will be viewed favorably by others.

For example, this might happen for immigrants who, after living in the U.S. for some time, realize that reporting that they smoke, or do not exercises, are undesirable characteristics.

Question 2

Selection bias

Answer 2

The bias introduced by the selection of individuals, groups or data for analysis in such a way that proper randomization is not achieved, thereby ensuring that the sample obtained is not representative of the population intended to be analyzed.

It is sometimes referred to as the selection effect.

Question 3

Korsakoff’s syndrome

Answer 3

Characterized by profound memory disruption and is often associated with excessive use of alcohol.

Question 4

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)

Answer 4

AKA Lou Gehrig’s disease, is a fatal disease process in which nerves that control voluntary muscles degenerate.

Question 5

Multiple sclerosis

Answer 5

An autoimmune disorder in which the myelin sheath of axons in the central nervous system degenerate.

Question 6

Parkinson’s disease

Answer 6

A neurodegenerative disorder characterized by loss of voluntary movement as a function of degeneration of dopaminergic projections from the substantia nigra to the basal ganglia.

Question 7

Explain some of Freudian ego defense mechanisms

Answer 7

Repression - occurs when uncomfortable thoughts are pushed outside of conscious awareness.

Projection - involves putting one’s own anxieties onto another person.

Reaction formation - occurs when a person acts in ways that are opposite to their true desires or thoughts. In other words, it’s a kind of psychological defense mechanism in which a person perceives their true feelings or desires to be socially or, in some cases, legally unacceptable, and so they attempt to convince themselves or others that the opposite is true–often in a very exaggerated performance.

Regression - occurs when an individual reverts to childlike patterns of behavior when experiencing anxiety.

Question 8

How common are anxiety, depression, and schizophrenia in the U.S.?

Answer 8

Anxiety (~ 18%) and depression (~ 10%) are the most common mental disorders, while schizophrenia is one of the least common, at about 1%.

It is estimated that about 25% of the U.S. population has at least one diagnosable mental disorder. Don’t forget, substance abuse is included in these figures, as it is a DSM-defined condition.

Question 9

What are positive/negative symptoms?

Answer 9

A positive symptom is a symptom or behavior that is present in the person with the condition, but is normally absent in healthy individuals. A negative symptom is a symptom or behavior that is absent or diminished in the person with the condition, but is usually present in healthy individuals.

For example, most people do not have hallucinations or delusions, so this is a positive symptom of schizophrenia. By contrast, most people are motivated, express emotion, and handle social situations well. Thus, apathy, lack of emotion, and the inability to function in social situations are negative symptoms of schizophrenia.

Question 10

What are the positive and negative symptoms of schizophrenia?

Answer 10

Both disorganized patterns of thought and hallucinations are considered positive symptoms of schizophrenia. Positive symptoms of schizo are related to increased levels of dopamine activity.

Flat affect (severe reduction in emotional expressiveness) and anhedonia (the inability to fell pleasure) are both negative symptoms of schizophrenia.

Question 11

What happens if a drug inhibits the reuptake of serotonin?

Answer 11

Reuptake is the process through which unused neurotransmitters are recycled back into the vesicles of the presynaptic bulb. Reuptake also clears the synapse of any unused neurotransmitters. By the reuptake of serotonin being prevented, serotonin will spend an increased amount of time in the synapses in the brain.

Question 12

What effect does physical exercise have on stress?

Answer 12

Physical exercise can effectively reduce the physiological symptoms of stress as well as reduce the negative emotions, such as depression and anxiety, that are often felt in response to stress.

Question 13

Illness anxiety disorder

Answer 13

It is a condition closely-related to somatic symptom disorder in which a person is anxious or obsessed with the possibility of having or developing an illness, but no actual physical symptoms are present.

Question 14

Conversion disorder

Answer 14

It is a functional neurological disorder that features nervous system symptoms that can’t be explained by a neurological disease or other medical condition. However, the symptoms are real and cause problems.

A condition in which a psychological stressor is converted to physical symptoms that have no underlying medical cause. Usually, a mental illness or psychological stressor is present first, after which a person begins to feel physical pain or symptoms related in some way to the event.

Question 15

What is the difference between conversion disorder and Somatic symptom disorder?

Answer 15

Somatization is the psychological mechanism whereby psychological distress is expressed in the form of physical symptoms. The psychological distress in somatization is most commonly caused by a mood disorder that threatens mental stability.

Conversion disorder occurs when the somatic presentation involves any aspect of the central nervous system over which voluntary control is exercised. Conversion reactions represent fixed ideas about neurologic malfunction that are consciously enacted, resulting in psychogenic neurologic deficits.

Question 16

Explain the following types of study designs:

• Experimental
• Double-blind
• Naturalistic observation

Answer 16

An experimental design requires random assignment and an independent variable that the study administrators can manipulate directly.

Double-blind isn’t a research method per se, but an aspect of the study design that improves validity. In a double-blind study neither the researchers or the participants know which participants have been assigned to the control group and which participants have been assigned to the experimental group.

Naturalistic observation is a research method in which a subject is observed in its natural environment without any manipulation whatsoever by the researcher.

Question 17

Which type of memory is associated with the frontal lobe?

Answer 17

The frontal lobes are most closely associated with executive functions, which include both working memory and attention.

The hippocampus, on the other hand, is primarily involved in episodic memory formation.

Question 18

Explain why it is important to adopt Talcott Parsons’ “sick role” theory when an individual is suffering from an illness.

Answer 18

This theory suggest that the only way the social institutions of health and medicine could accurately treat individuals of health and medicine could accurately treat individuals was for these individuals to adopt the “sick role” that takes them away from their normal responsibilities of participating in society.

The “sick role” describes how society requires individuals to change their behaviors in order to fit within the treatment models and expectations set up by institutions such as hospitals.

Also, it suggests that professionals will respond more to individuals falling into the “sick role.”

Question 19

What is the difference between inductive and deductive reasoning?

Answer 19

Inductive reasoning uses a very small set of observations as the basis for forming a statement about a larger set of premises or conclusions.

Deductive reasoning is roughly the inverse; it uses a broader or more general premise to draw conclusions about narrower, more specific examples.

Question 20

Explain survey research and archival research.

Answer 20

Survey research refers to research in which a large number of people are asked to answer questions.

Archival research generally involves combing thorough existing data sets to answer questions about a given hypothesis.

Question 21

What’s the difference between automatic processing and controlled processing?

Answer 21

Automatic processing is a cognitive process that requires little or no attention and few if any cognitive resources. These are things you can do “without thinking,” and with which you can usually do other tasks simultaneously without much effort.

Controlled processing is the other end of the spectrum; these are cognitive tasks that require attention and they use up the limited cognitive resources available, such as the limited number of items that can be stored in working memory.

Question 22

What is the difference between elaborative rehearsal and maintenance rehearsal?

Answer 22

They are both types of repetition used to rehearse or memorize information.

Maintenance rehearsal involves the rote repetition of a piece of information over and over again without context.

Elaborative rehearsal is the attempt to organize the information into a pattern that is more meaningful (i.e., semantic), which increases the strength of the memory trace.

Question 23

Tactful blindness

Answer 23

It is a term used by Erving Goffman to explain how individuals purposefully ignore mistakes or blunders in the interaction process, especially those that would threaten an individual’s face.

Tactful blindness refers specifically to ignoring blunders (mistakes) made by others.

In sociology, the term “face” refers to a mask maintained by individuals that mirrors how they want to be perceived by others in a variety of social spaces. People strive to maintain the face that they have created, and are emotionally attached to its maintenance. Thus, they feel good when their faces are maintained and the loss of face causes emotional pain.

In a bathroom setting for example, ignoring sounds or odors produced by others is an example of tactful blindness that allows all players to maintain face despite engaging in what would otherwise be embarrassing or discrediting acts.

Question 24

Explain Gordon Allport’s “contact hypothesis.”

Answer 24

The contact hypothesis (AKA intergroup contact theory) is a sociological theory that holds that contact between members of different social groups will help reduce prejudice.

The premise of this theory is that if one has the opportunity to communicate with others, they are able to understand and appreciate different points of views involving their way of life. As a result of new appreciation and understanding, prejudice should diminish.

Question 25

Stigma extension

Answer 25

Refers to a tendency to impute limitations to a person’s abilities beyond those of the disability itself.

Example:
One disabled study participant reported to a researcher that, “My boss only talks to me when I am doing something wrong. I don’t know when I am doing something right.” Which construct is most useful in explaining the behavior of this “boss”?
In this scenario, it would refer to the boss’s apparent belief that the speaker needs to be told when they are not performing their job correctly, but that praise would be wasted as the speaker cannot be expected to exceed the limitations of their disability.

Question 26

Affirmative action

Answer 26

Refers to preferential hiring of racial minorities or underserved groups.

Question 27

Epistemic authority

Answer 27

Refers to situations in which only people with certain kinds of experience can claim privileged knowledge about what it is like to have that experience.

Question 28

Explain Gestalt’s principles of similarity, closure, common fate, and continuity.

Answer 28

The principle of similarity suggest that “like” objects are more likely to be grouped together.

Closure suggests that we are likely to see incomplete shapes as whole figures.

Common fate suggests that things that move together are more likely to be grouped (i.e. flock of birds in a V-shape)

Continuity suggests that we are more likely to perceive groups of objects as aligned in smooth, continuous lines or contours.

Question 29

Explain Gestalt’s principle of Figure Ground and the principle of proximity.

Answer 29

Figure Ground explains that what you perceive depends upon what you define to be the background (which is almost never a decision the viewer makes consciously). In a common example where the observer can either see a vase (white figure with black background) or two faces (black figure with white background).

Proximity suggests that objects that are near to one another are more likely to be grouped together.

Question 30

Explain the outcomes of signal detection theory.

Answer 30

As hit rates increase, miss rates decrease, whereas false alarms increase with a decrease in correct rejection rates.

Question 31

Explain Type I and II errors.

Answer 31

A Type I error is a false positive; it is the incorrect rejection of the null hypothesis, or saying that something exists when it does not.

A Type II error is a false negative; it is the incorrect acceptance of a false null hypothesis, or saying that something does not exist, when it does.

Question 32

Culture of poverty

Answer 32

Culture of poverty is a theory proposed by Oscar Lewis that suggested that social systems helped to perpetuate poverty and people in poverty are often trapped because they have no social systems to give them the training, skills, or education necessary to escape poverty.

It asserts that the values of people experiencing poverty play a significant role in perpetuating their impoverished condition, sustaining a cycle of poverty across generations.

Question 33

Social mobility

Answer 33

Social mobility is about escaping poverty by obtaining assistance from family, peers, community, or even through personal achievement (i.e., earning a college degree). Social mobility is more about the movement from point A to point B than it is about the cause of that movement.

Question 34

Cultural capital

Answer 34

Cultural capital is what your peers, family, or community can provide you to help you achieve social mobility or cultural acceptance.

Question 35

Social stratification

Answer 35

Social stratification is a kind of social differentiation whereby a society groups people into socioeconomic strata, based upon their occupation and income, wealth and social status, or derived power (social and political).