Psych/Soc Flashcards
What is positive punishment?
Positive punishment = behavior is exhibited -> negative consequence
If the children in a follow-up study included both 4-year-olds and 8-year-olds, researchers would likely observe:
More examples of parallel play among the 4-year-olds
The music children listen to conveys certain typical social situations and the expected emotional reaction to those situations in a simple, repetitive way that allows children and adolescents to more easily internalize. This process of internalizing the expected reactions to life situations is:
A normal part of the socialization process
What is a statement that accurately describes a major assumption of the functionalist theory of social stratification?
Social stratification is necessary and results from the need for those with special intelligence, knowledge, and skills to be a part of the most important professions and occupations
What is conflict theory?
The struggle for limited resources results in conflicts between groups, which shapes societal structures (example: relationship between housing complex owner and tenant = some harmony, some struggle)
What are mores?
Norms that are deemed highly necessary to the welfare of a society and have consequences if violated (cheating on a test, wearing inappropriate dress to church)
What is social desirability bias?
A bias where participants would want to answer in the most socially acceptable way
What is test-retest bias?
Participants take the same exam over and over again, which affects their responses
What is researcher bias?
The scientists conducting the study change the results
What is attrition bias?
When participants drop out of a study over time, which affects the results
What were some findings by Harry Harlow in his experiments with rhesus monkeys and “Wire Mother” vs. “Cloth Mother”?
Monkeys paired with Wire Mothers and Cloth Mothers drank similar amounts of milk and grew at comparable rates, monkeys paired with a Wire Mother sought soothing at less rates than Cloth Mothers, monkeys spent more time with Cloth Mothers
What is anomie?
Society feeling fragmented and lacking cohesiveness (characteristics include rapid changes in society, low levels of income, and high heterogeneity) - Durkheim (the lack of rules and clarity resulted in psychological status of worthlessness, frustration, lack of purpose, and despair)
What is neural plasticity?
The ability of neurons of the brain to “rewire” and strengthen connections over time
What does the prefrontal cortex do?
Executive decision-making, such as considering risk and making choices
What are some cultural factors that impact adolescent risky behavior?
Culturally-based expectations, cultural response to onset of puberty, and cultural taboos regarding alcohol use
What is face validity?
The extent to which a study appears to assess what it is intended to assess
What is content validity?
Whether a study comprehensively accounts for all of the relevant facets of the phenomenon it is intended to investigate
What does functional MRI do?
Manages brain activity by using blood flow (different from MRI: MRI = structure, fMRI = function)
What is a moderating variable?
One that decreases or increases the strength of an association
What is a mediating variable?
One that provides a causal link between two variables that show a statistical relationship
What is a confounding variable?
One that affects two variables that show a relationship
What is role strain?
A problem fitting into an existing role
What is role conflict?
Two roles coming into contact
How does altruistic behavior improve inclusive fitness?
An animal behaving in ways that ensure the propagation of its genes (ex. an animal making noise to alert its brood that there is a predator)
What are the stages in the Kubler-Ross model?
Denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance (Death Always Brings Definite Acceptance)
What is primary aging?
Aging related to biological factors and the physical body, like molecular changes
How could a study be changed to assess operant conditioning?
Present a reward after participants rate the stimuli and then have them rate the stimuli again
What is the house money effect?
The tendency of investors and traders to take on greater risk when reinvesting profit earned via stocks, bonds, futures or options than they would when investing their savings or a portion of their wages.
What is gambler’s fallacy?
The mistaken belief that, if something happens more frequently than normal during some period, it will happen less frequently in the future
What is prisoner’s dilemma?
An example from a 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
What would be a possible ratio level measure of religiosity?
The number of times a person has been to church in the month (range of quantitative responses, ordered at equally-spaced intervals including 0)
What would be a possible binary nominal level measure of religiosity?
Whether or not a person believes in God (Yes or No)
What would be a possible nominal level measure of religiosity?
The type of religion with which a person identifies
What would be a possible ordinal/interval level measure of religiosity?
The degree of one’s belief in afterlife (without the possiblity of 0)
What is general strain theory?
Individuals who have experienced negative events feel negative emotions, which lead to negative behaviors
What is anomie theory?
Individuals who experience weakened social values are less likely to behave in ways that are helpful to that society
What is deprivation theory?
Individuals who perceive themselves as having less resources than others will often act in ways to obtain these resources
What is the ego?
Your ego is your conscious mind, the part of your identity that you consider your “self.”
What is the superego?
Forms the organized part of the personality structure, is mostly unconscious (represses the id and gets the ego to be more moralistic)
What is the id?
Includes basic human instinctual drives, unconscious
What is reciprocal determinism?
A person’s behavior both influences and is influenced by personal factors and the environment
What is deindividuation?
People feeling less responsibility/identity when in groups (ex. cults, gangs)
What is social cognitive theory?
People learn by watching others, and if they see someone is rewarded for a behavior, they are more likely to behave that way too
What is an ideal bureaucracy?
A system characterized by division of labour, a clearly defined hierarchy, detailed rules and regulations, and impersonal relationships
What is a manifest function?
Actions that are intended to help some part of the system
What is a latent function?
Unintended, unstated, or unrecognized positive consequences of these actions on society
What is functionalism?
Each part of society serves a function, when these functions work together correctly, society overall can function normally
What is conflict theory?
Power differentials are created when groups compete for economic, social, and political resources; these differentials contribute to the maintenance of social order
What is symbolic interactionalism?
Humans communicate through words, gestures, and other symbols to which we attach meaning
What is social constructionism?
Individuals and groups make decisions to agree upon a given social reality
What is rational choice theory?
Individuals will make decisions that maximize potential benefit and minimize potential harm
What is feminist theory?
Explores the way in which one gender can be subordinated, minimized, or devalued compared to the other
What are the four key tenets of American medical ethics?
Beneficence, Nonmaleficence, Respect for Autonomy, and Justice
What is symbolic culture?
The ideas and principles that belong to a particular group
What is the difference between race and ethnicity?
Race = based on phenotypic differences between groups of people; Ethnicity = based on common language, religion, nationality, or other cultural factors
What is symbolic ethnicity?
Recognition of an ethnic identity on special occasions or in specific circumstances, but not during everyday life
What is fertility rate?
The average number of children a woman has during her lifetime
What are the two types of social movements?
Proactive social movements (in favor of a specific social change) and reactive social movements (run against a specific social change)
A patient who resides in the United States says, “I love you,” and hugs his doctor after every routine visit. This behavior violates:
Social norms
A young adult male claims to have had sexual relationships mostly with other men, although he has been attracted to women at times. What would be his most likely score on the Kinsey scale?
5
What is the looking glass self?
A social psychological concept stating that a person’s self grows out of society’s interpersonal interactions and the perceptions of others
What is egocentric bias?
The tendency to overstress changes between the past and present in order to make oneself appear more worthy or competent than one actually is
What is attributional bias?
Bias that refers to the systematic errors made when people evaluate or try to find reasons for their own or others’ behaviors
What is framing?
A set of concepts and theoretical perspectives on how individuals, groups, and societies organize, perceive, and communicate about reality
What is automation bias?
The tendency to excessively depend on automated systems, which can lead to erroneous automated information overriding correct decisions
What is self-serving bias?
The tendency to attribute good outcomes with internal factors and ascribe bad outcomes to external factors
Those who assume abuses in institutions are done by those with dispositional propensities to violence have committed an error of what type?
Fundamental attribution
What is ecological validity?
How findings from an experimental setting can be generalized to the environmental considerations in the real world
A projective personality assessment requires that:
The participant responds, and then the response was assessed for meaning
What is an example of something that contradicts Weber’s law?
A non-linear relationship between the intensity of a stimulus and an individual’s ability to detect it
What is differential association theory?
When individuals engage in criminal choices because they are exposed to it, while individuals who don’t commit crimes have not been exposed to this type of behavior
To decrease someone’s self efficacy:
You can use the external locus of control, which would increase self-esteem and decrease self-efficacy
The r squared value is used to express:
The strength of a correlation
An individual with Wernicke’s aphasia would likely have difficult with what part of communication?
Expressing meaning
What is referent power?
Someone who exerts control by appealing to others’ desire to belong to a group
What is recall?
Retrieval of information from memory without recognition cues
What is a function of testosterone?
Causes the Sertoli cells in the seminiferous tubules to produce sperm, is produced by cells of Leydig
What is a function of estrogen?
Inhibits bone resorption
What are implicit/explicit attitudes?
Implicit = unconscious, explicit = conscious
What is status quo bias?
The tendency to avoid situations or actions that may produce change, instead preferring to choose action that will keep normalcy/the status quo
What is exchange-rational theory?
Patterns of behavior in societies reflect the choices made by individuals as they try to maximize their benefits and minimize their costs
What objections would not be raised by an ethics committee?
Potentially harmful medication should not be given to otherwise healthy subjects, necessary medication should not be denied to patients for the sake of research, and patients suffering from schizophrenia were unable to provide informed consent for this experimental protocol
If an Arab IMG received an unflattering nickname from coworkers due to his tendency to forget English medical terms, this would be an example of:
Positive punishment (punishment/reinforcement = what is the result? it is encouraging or discouraging a certain result?), positive or negative = whether a behavior was added or removed
What is surround suppression?
Perceiving tactile information while ignoring stimuli immediately surrounding it
Behaviorists would assert that self-defeating behaviors are maintained by immediate reinforcement in the form of:
Relief from anxiety (people that have low self-esteem often times are susceptible to having anxiety/emotional distress)
What is general paresis?
General paralysis of the insane or paralytic dementia, a neuropsychiatric disorder affecting the brain, caused by late-stage syphilis
What is delirium tremens?
An acute episode of delirium that is usually caused by withdrawal from alcohol
What is schizotypal personality disorder?
A personality disorder characterized by a need for social isolation, anxiety in social situations, odd behavior and thinking, and often unconvential beliefs
What is a paired samples t-test?
A test conducted when researchers wish to compare mean values of the same participants
What is an independent samples t-test?
A test conducted when researchers wish to compare mean values of two groups
A person with intact mirror neurons would be expected to perform similar to a person with mirror neuron dysfunction on:
An assessment of tactile perception (does not require observation and understanding of others)
Which of the following theories would provide the best support to the idea that mirror neurons are involved in language acquisition?
Vygotsky’s social learning theory (stresses the role of people and interactions in language acquisition)
It was discovered that in those whose stress levels are significantly elevated by traumatic events, the incidence of bedwetting was increased. During which stage of sleep is bedwetting most likely to occur?
4
Emotion represents what kind of variable relating warmth and competence group and behavior?
A mediating variable
A research subject is shown the following list of the following words: wing, engine, tail, and window. When later presented with and asked to recall whether the presented word was on the original list, the participant identifies “runway” as having been on the list. This is an example of:
A false alarm
What are some reasons for the development of intersectionality from feminism?
Feminism did not address how combinations of cultural identities influence individuals, and intersectionality articulates a number of specific types of identities
What is least likely to influence epigenetics?
Inhibited DNA transcription
George Mead’s social theory presents the part of the self which is called the “me” as the:
Collection of attitudes taken from society
What is one part of the brain closely tied to the “limbic system”?
Hypothalamus
In which portions of the mind would Sigmund Freud argue that the ego functions in these individuals?
Conscious, unconscios, and preconscious mind
Some people believe that school success should be based on hard work, but in actuality ther are a number of extraneous factors that contribute to student success. These are examples of:
Prescriptive meritocracy and descriptive meritocracy, respectively
What is a core nation?
Well-developed, wealthy capitalist nations that control many resources, have powerful militaries, and strong state institutions
What experiment demonstrated that learning takes place in the cerebellum?
HM being asked to learn to draw a star
What is groupthink?
A phenomenon when group members are pressured to make decisions
What collective group behavior or phenomenon do anti-vaccination groups hope to promote when they share false sensational information that links vaccines to cancer?
Mass hysteria (a collective delusional belief that something is threatening)
What is anomie?
A breakdown of social norms and involves discarding usual ethical and moral standards
A sociologist is evaluating the interactions between clients and personal injury attorneys. She examines relations between rich, successful, white attorneys and clients who are poor and from immigrant families. The sociologist seeks to focus her analysis on the difficulties that arise as a result of the differing levels of wealth and status possessed by the attorneys and clients. This analysis could best be described by which sociological framework?
Conflict theory
What are characteristiccs of groupthink and NOT characteristics of confirmation bias?
An individual distorts his opinion to match the group’s opinion, and individual opinions and group opinions become more similar
What is a crossover design?
When participants participate in each group in a study
A researcher from the study works together with others on a daily basis. The individuals he interacts with at this job most likely form what kind of social group with him?
Secondary group
Walking down a city sidewalk, a woman carrying several large shopping bags slips on some ice and drops her things. In which of the following situations is the woman most likely to receive help?
The sidewalk is otherwise deserted, with only a single person walking towards the woman when she slipped
What is observed in this scenario: a college campus on which students are required to make such extensive use of technology that the level of normal face-to-face interaction drops precipitously below the norm at other college campuses.
Anomie
An undergrad premedical honor society is choosing its new members for the fall semester. Though one potential member, Anna, has a poor grade in organic chemistry, the application committee concludes that this is not her fault because everyone fails that course. To make this attribution, the committee is using:
Consensus cue
The concept of using consensus, distinctiveness, and consistency cues to make attributions was originally outlined in:
Kelley’s covariation model
What is the defensive attribution hypothesis?
The human fear that terrible consequences might happen to us simply due to chance
What is optimism bias?
A person’s belief that bad things are less likely to happen to him than to others
What is the just-world hypothesis?
The idea that people “get what they deserve”, whether good or bad
What is an example of Fisherian selection?
Male peacocks have developed ornamentation that is both elaborate and a physical hindrance, due to females’ mating preferences
Female cats are more attracted to, and reproduce more often with, male cats that have shiny and clean coats. This tendency exemplifies:
An indicator trait
Which properly matches the type of formal organization with an example of that type?
A normative organization - volunteers who build homes for underprivileged residents
What would effectively increase the power of the study?
Increasing the sample size of the study
How do the cognitive and emotional aspects of prejudice differ?
The cognitive aspect relates to an unjustified belief about an individual or group, while the emotional aspect relates to the affective response to that belief
As shown in the cases of SARS and avian flu, there is always a risk that a new epidemic might develop and begin killing people around the world. The response to such a disease would likely be slowest, however, if which of the following lifestyle factors contributed to its transmission?
Promiscuous sexual activity
What are some examples of institutional discrimination?
Drawing school district boundaries to concentrate minority students in one district, and black men receiving longer sentences for the same crimes as white men
Knowledge of the effects of stress on human cognitive function would most likely lead researchers to implement what additional component to a program aimed at improving stress management?
Frequent review of material to aid in recall of learned skills
Strong religiosity is associated with:
More acceptance and greater use of emotion-focused strategies to manage reactions to events
What is Maslow’s hierarchy of needs from bottom to top?
Physiological needs, safety needs, belongingness and love needs, esteem needs, self-actualization
What is a reference group?
A group one is likely to mentally compare oneself to
What is gender schema?
A cognitive theory of how individuals acquire and understand elements of gender and sex-linked characteristics from their surrounding culture and how those characteristics are transmitted intergenerationally
What is a gender role?
The set of normative behaviors viewed as acceptable (or desirable), for members of a given sex within a culture
What does a continuous reinforcement schedule mean?
There is one reward per task
What is stimulus discrimination?
A process in conditioning in which the response comes to be paired with more specific stimuli
What is overgeneralization?
When a specific stimulus comes to be paired with similar stimuli
What is a potential limitation of this study?
Doctors who discuss smoking cessation, but make no formal prescriptions, may view such a conversation in a more casual light that does not merit inclusion in medical records
What is social proof?
Also known as informational social influence, a psychological phenomenon where people assume the actions of others in attempt to reflect correct behavior for a given situation
What occurred during John B. Watson’s Little Albert experiment?
It examined fear conditioning (a previously unafraid baby was conditioned to be afraid of a rat)
What occurred during Philip Zimbardo’s prison study?
It examined how people conform to different roles, especially when placed in positions of authority
What occurred during Soloman Asch’s conformity experiment?
It looked at how and why people adopt majority group decisions
What occurred during Stanley Milgram’s electric shock study?
It examined factors related to obedience to authority and identification with obedient roles
What are Erikson’s 7 stages of psychosocial development?
trust vs. mistrust, autonomy vs. shame/doubt, initiative vs. guilt, industry vs. inferiority, identity vs. role confusion, intimacy vs. isolation, generativity vs. stagnation, and integrity vs. despair.
What is impression management?
The process by which individuals attempt to influence the perceptions of observers by controlling what information they present to others during social interaction
What is reaction formation?
A defensive process in which anxiety-inducing impulses are minimized by displaying outwardly the exact opposite thought, feeling, or tendency
What is the difference between peripheral vs. central route in the elaboration likelihood model?
Central = persuason will result from a person’s careful consideration of the merits of persuasive information ; peripheral = persuasion results from a person’s association with positive or negative cues such as the attractiveness of the message source and its related presentation
What is illusion of invulnerability?
Group members believe they are invulnerable to any obstacle
What is a rationalization?
When somebody comes up with a reason for why they did something
Stereotypes deal with:
Expectations rather than reality
Stage 4 of the demographic transition corresponds to:
A slowly-growing or shrinking population associated with low mortality and fertility rates
Evolutionary psychologists have postulated that depression developed through endowing individuals with certain benefits that outweigh the social and biological repercussions of the condition. This most closely resembles the ideas of:
Charles Darwin
The Cannon-Bard theory of emotion discusses how:
We have a stimuli -> subcortical brain activity -> emotion (autonomic arousal)
Is cilia part of the auditory system?
YES
How is the law of effect different from classical conditioning?
Classical conditioning involves involuntary responses, while the law of effect involves voluntary actions
What is social control?
The ways in which society can prevent and sanction behavior that violates social norms
What stage of sleep is alpha waves in?
Awake, fatigued and less than alert
What stage of sleep is beta waves in?
Awake and fully alert
What stages of sleep is theta waves in?
Stages 1 and 2
What stages of sleep is theta waves in?
Stages 3 and 4
What is deviant?
Behaving in a way that violates social norms
What are the stages of the demographic transition model?
Stage 1 - high fertility and mortality; stage 2 - fertility remains high, mortality drops; stage 3 - mortality is low, fertility drops; stage 4 - fertility and mortality are low
What is a confounding variable?
A variable that affects or correlates with both the independent and dependent variables
What is a moderating variable?
One that affects the intensity between an independent and dependent variable
What is a mediating variable?
Provides an explanatory link between the independent and dependent variable
In a caste system:
Social status is determined hereditarily
What are symptoms of PTSD?
Recurrent, involuntary, and intrusive memories; dissociative reactions, and increased startle and physiological response
What is achieved status?
A social role that is obtained through voluntary action or achievement
What is ascribed status?
A status that can’t be voluntarily changed (or that one is both with), like sex or age
How should a parent positively reinforce a behavior that a child is already intrinsically motivated to do?
Do not provide any reinforcement to the behavior
The dopamine circulating throughout the mesolimbic pathway is largely produced in which brain location?
Ventral tegmental area
What is serotonin signaling within the hypothalamus involved in?
It is the key pathway which appetite and satiation signaling is conducted
What is acetylcholine involved with?
The neuromuscular junction
What is oxytocin involved in?
Mood, bonding and intimacy interactions
What is glutamate involved in?
It is the main excitatory neurotransmitter and is not involved in appetite satiation
What is culture shock?
A sense of disorientation as a person experiences an unfamiliar culture
How long must a patient experience symptoms of depression before he or she can be diagnosed with major depressive disorder?
2 weeks
Which of the following best exhibits how diffusion of education could help low-socioeconomic-status (SES) status?
High-SES school systems could expose them to new ways of learning
What is the most likely reason supplemental tryptophan can be used to treat MDD, while artificial serotonin cannot?
Tryptophan, unlike serotonin, is transported across the blood-brain barrier
A conflict theorist would say that medicine is:
A part of the superstructure, brought about for reasons of economics, power, or status for one or more groups of people
The philosopher Peter Singer has called for the killing of people with disabilities because they cost too much for the state to support. This statement is most likely based on:
Rational choice theory
Which psychologist would most likely subscribe to the theory that believing in the supernatural is a non-cardinal personality trait?
Gordon Allport
What is the pathway for a stimulus to reach conscious perception?
Sensory receptor -> afferent neuron -> sensory ganglion -> spinal cord -> brain (projection areas)
What is absolute threshold?
The minimum stimulus that can evoke an action potential in a sensory receptor
What is threshold of conscious perception?
The minimum stimulus that can evoke enough action potentials for a long enough time that the brain perceives the stimulus
What is difference threshold?
The minimum difference between 2 stimuli that can be detected by the brain
What is the cornea?
Gathers and focuses the incoming light
What is the pupil?
Allows passage of light from the anterior to posterior chamber
What is the iris?
Controls the size of the pupil
What is the ciliary body?
Produces aqueous humor; accomodates the lens
What is the Canal of Schlemm?
Drains aqueous humor
What is the lens?
Refracts the incoming light to focus it on the retina
What is the retina?
Detects images
What is the sclera?
Provides structural support, white outer layer of the eyeball
List the structures in the visual pathway.
Cornea -> pupil -> lens -> vitreous -> retina (rods and cones -> bipolar cells -> ganglion cells) -> optic nerve -> optic chiasm -> optic tract -> LGN of thalamus -> radiations through parietal and temporal lobes -> visual cortex (occipital lobe)
What is parallel processing?
The ability to simultaneously analyze color, shape, and motion of an object and to integrate this information to create a cohesive image of the world, also calls on memory systems to compare a visual stimulus to past experiences to help determine the object’s identity
What structures are used to detect linear acceleration and rotational acceleration?
Linear acceleration = utricle and saccule; rotational acceleration = semicircular canals
List the structures in the auditory pathway.
Pinna -> external auditory canal -> tympanic membrane -> malleus -> incus -> stapes -> oval window -> perilymph in cochlea -> basilar membrane -> hair cells -> vestibulocochlear nerve -> brainstem -> MGN of thalamus -> auditory cortex (temporal lobe)
How does the organization of the cochlea indicate the pitch of an incoming sound?
Basilar membrane is tonotropically organized (high-pitch sounds = vibrations at base of cochlea; low-pitch sounds = vibrations at apex of cochlea)
List the structures in the olfactory pathway, from where odor molecules enter the nose to where olfactory signals project in the brain.
Nostril -> nasal cavity -> olfactory chemoreceptors -> olfactory epithelium -> olfactory bulb -> olfactory tract -> higher-order brain regions
Both smell and taste are sensitive to chemicals. What is different about the types of chemicals each one can sense?
Smell is sensitive to volatile or aerosolized compounds, taste is sensitive to dissolved compounds
What are the four main modalities of somatosensation?
Pressure, vibration, pain, and temperature
What is the difference between bottom-up and top-down processing?
Bottom-up processing = each component of an object to be interpreted through parallel processing the integrated into one cohesive whole; top-down processing = starts with the whole object, then creates expectations for the components of the object
What is the Gestalt principle of good continuation?
Components that appear to folllow in the same pathway tend to be grouped together; abrupt changes in form are less likely than continuation of the same pattern (strings continue, not viewed as 2 separate strings)
What is the Gestalt principle of subjective contours?
Edges or shapes that are not actually present can be implied by the surrounding objects (especially if good continuation is present)
What is the difference between endolymph and perilymph?
Endolymph is found in the membranous labyrinth, while perilymph is found in the bony labyrinth
A patient comes in with a tumor of the pituitary gland which has grown upward into the optic chiasm and caused a visual field defect. The most likely defect from compression of the optic chiasm is:
Loss of the temporal visual fields in both eyes
List the three modes in which information can be encoded, from strongest to weakest.
Semantic > acoustic > visual
In what ways is maintenance rehearsal different from elaborative rehearsal?
Maintenance rehearsal = repetition of information to keep it within short-term memory for near immediate use; elaborative rehearsal = association of information to other stored knowledge, and is a more effective way to move information from short-term memory to long-term memory
What are some factors that might cause eyewitnesss courtroom testimony to be unreliable?
Manner in which the questions are asked, the nature of information shared with the witness by police, misinformation effect, source-monitoring error, amount of time elapsed between event and trial
What is pruning?
Removing weak neural connections
Which process would increase the likelihood of a behavior?
Avoidance learning
What is true of teaching an animal a complicated, multistage behavior?
The individual parts of the behavior should not run counter to the animal’s natural instincts
A researcher uses a partial-report procedure after presenting participants with an array of nine numbers for a fraction of a second. Which of the following is the most likely result of this procedure?
The participants will be able to recall any of the rows or columns in great detail but only immediately after presentation
The three steps in the information processing model are:
Encoding, storage, and retrieval
An elderly man is taken to his doctor by his daughter. His daughter says that during the past two days, he has been speaking to his wife who has been deceased for four years. Prior to that, he was completely normal. The elderly man most likely has:
Delirium
List Piaget’s four stages of cognitive development, and the key features of each.
Sensorimotor = manipulating environment for phyiscal needs, circular reactions, ends with object permanence; preoperational = symbolic thinking, egocentrism, centration; concrete operational = conservation, feelings of others, can manipulate concrete objects logically; formal operational = abstract thinking, problem solving
A child plays with a tool set, noting that a nail can only be hit with a hammer. When a friend suggests that the handle of a screwdriver can be used to hit a nail, the child passionately objects. This is an example of:
Functional fixedness
A doctor uses a flow chart to treat a patient with sepsis. Given its use in problem solving, a flowchart is an example of an:
Algorithm
A patient in a mental facility believes that the sky is pink. Despite several trips outside, the patient still declares the sky is pink. Which psychological principle does this represent?
Belief perserverance
What is the difference between availability and representativeness heuristic?
Availability heuristic = used for making decisions based on how easily similar instances can be imagined; representativeness heuristic = used for making decisions based on how much a particular item or situation fits a given prototype/stereotype
For each sleep stage, list its EEG waveforms and main features
Awake = beta and alpha waves; stage 1 = theta waves; stage 2 = theta waves, sleep spindles and K complexes; stages 3 and 4= delta waves, slow-wave sleep, dreams, sleep disorders occur here; REM = mostly beta, body is paralyzed
Which two hormones are most associated with maintaning circadian rhythms?
Melatonin and cortisol
What is the difference between a dyssomnia and a parasomnia? Provide an example of each.
Dyssomnia = duration of timing of sleep is disturbed (insomnia, narcolepsy, sleep apnea); parasomnia = abnormal behaviors occur (night terrors and sleepwalking AKA somnambulism)
Which four drugs (or drug classes) are known to increase GABA activity in the brain?
Alcohol, barbiturates, benzodiazepines, marijuana
Which three drugs (or drug classes) are known to increase dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin activity in the brain?
Amphetamines, cocaine, ecstasy (MDMA)
What are the three main structures in the mesolimbic pathway? What is this pathway’s primary neurotransmitter?
Nucleus accumbens, medial forebrain bundle, ventral tegmental area; primary neurotransmitter = dopamine
Compare and contrast controlled (effortful) processing and automatic processing.
Controlled (effortful) processing = maintaining undivided attention; automatic processing = used for less critical stimuli in divided attention
Briefly describe the function of the “filter” used in selective attention.
Permits us to focus on one set of stimuli while scanning other stimuli in the background for important information (such as our name or a significant change in the environment)
What are the milestones for a child that is 9-12 months?
Babbling
What are the milestones for a child that is 12-18 months?
Increase of about one word per month
What are the milestones for a child that is 18-20 months?
“Explosion of language” and combining words (two-word sentences)
What are the milestones for a child that is 2-3 years?
Longer sentences of three or more words
What are the milestones for a child that is 5 years?
Language rules largely mastered
What is the nativist (biological) theory of language acquisition?
Innate ability to pick up language via the language acquisition device
What is the learning (behavioral) theory of language acquisition?
Operant conditioning with reinforcement by parents and caregivers in order to pick up language
What is the social interactionist theory of language acquisition?
A desire to communicate and act socially in order to pick up language
What is conduction aphasia?
Where the patient is unable to repeat something that has been said because the connection between these two regions has been lost
A student is volunteering in a hospital with a stroke center. When asked what he believes is the prevalence of stroke among those greater than 65 years old, the student states that is probably about 40% even though data analysis indicates that it is significantly greater. What accounts for this error?
Base rate fallacy
Which language theory states that language development occurs due to preferential reinforcement of certain phonemes by parents and caregivers?
Learning theory
During which of the following stages does dreaming occur?
Stage 3, Stage 4, and REM
Assuming that the children studied are 6-7 years old and are in the normal stage of Piaget’s stages of cognitive development, which of the following would most likely be observed among these subjects?
A high degree of symbolic play
What are some examples of mores?
Seeking help for an acute medical illness
What are some examples of folkways?
Holding a door open
What are some examples of taboos?
Cannibalism, incest
What is an example of kinship of affinity?
A husband and wife merging their children from a previous marriage
What is biological factor that could contribute to risky behavior in adolescence?
Undeveloped prefrontal cortex
What is the difference between fMRI and MRI?
fMRI = structure and function of brain area; MRI = structure of brain area
What is the cognitive appraisal theory?
Individuals make different interpretations about stimuli, such as interpreting stigma negatively or non-negatively
A public health advocacy group has developed a program to encourage adherence to a Truvada medication regimen using operant conditioning principles. An example of the group using thinning in the program is:
Reducing the frequency of rewards for medication compliance
What are strategies people use in impression management?
Complimenting coworkers on their clothing, bragging about one’s financial success while on a date, and matching the behavior of a boss (attempt to influence the perceptions of other people)
What are examples of conflict theory in society?
A trade union forming to promote workers’ rights at the cost of company owners, and a company maximizing profits for shareholders at the expense of its middle- and lowest-tier employees
If a psychologist were to claim that the ideomotor effect is unconscious, Freudian psychologists could argue this effect resides in which components of the psychic apparatus?
Id, ego, and superego
What makes social cognitive theory different from operant conditioning theory?
In social cognitive theory, it is about how people learn by watching others, and they will behave like that person if they see that they are rewarded (operant = about rewards and punishments, not necessarily about other people)
Which of the following steps could an organization take to make itself into a more ideal bureaucracy?
Evaluating how decisions impact stock price to promote value for stockholders in accordance with the company’s mission
What is protectionism?
A country rejecting trade and being isolative, which is inversely proportional to globalization
Median vs. mode.
“O” in mode = most “O”ften number, median = number in the middle when you list the numbers out
During the study discussed in the passage, different-sized circles were displayed before a shock was delivered to the participants. The shock and the resulting fear are examples of which aspects of classical conditioning, respectively?
Unconditioned stimuli and unconditioned response
Devic’s syndrome is a condition involving the demyelination of the optic nerve and the spinal cord. What are some direct results of Devic’s syndrome?
Decreased protection of the neuron, decreased velocity of impulse propagation, and decreased electrical insulation
What is expectation bias?
When expectations influence attitudes or behavior
What are some examples of strategies to induce compliance?
A dress code at an organization, referring to military recruits by their miltary number, and hazing rituals at a club involving humiliation (groups that view themselves as similar)
What is one of the symptoms of Korsakoff’s syndrome?
Confabulation (creating vivid but fabricated memories)
The finding that Korsakoff’s syndrome impairs declarative memory is most consistent with the fact that:
It is usually associated with lesions that can affect the functioning of the hippocampus
Which of the following changes to the experimental design would increase the statistical power of the study?
Increasing the number of subjects
What is paraphilia?
The experience of intense sexual arousal to atypical objects, situations, or individuals
What is sexual dysfunction?
Difficulty experienced by an individual or a couple during any stage of sexual activity, including physical pleasure, desire, preference, arousal or orgasm
What is an example of availability heuristic bias?
Hearing about a particularly violent crime in the newspaper and concluding that there is greater crime overall
What is rater bias?
A tendency for raters to rate in the middle of a scale
What part of the brain produces melatonin?
Pineal gland
What is the somatic nervous system?
Part of the peripheral nervous system associated with the voluntary control of body movements via skeletal muscles
What is the limbic system?
Supports a variety of functions, including adrenaline flow, emotion, behavior, motivation, long-term memory, and smell
What does the pancreas do?
Is a dual-function gland, having features of endocrine and exogrine glands
What are the 3 W’s of personality disorders?
Weird, Wild, and Worried
What are the personatliy disorders in Cluster 1 (Weird)?
Paranoid, Schizoid, Schizotypal
What are the personatliy disorders in Cluster 2 (Wild)?
Antisocial, Borderline, Histrionic, Narcissistic
What are the personatliy disorders in Cluster 3 (Worried)?
Avoidant, Dependent, Obsessive-Compulsive
What is an example of negative punishment?
A child losing time from an enjoyable activity for not eating his vegetables
What is affect heuristic?
The process of making a judgment based on emotions that are evoked
What is anchoring?
The act of relying too much on the first information encountered
What is the humanistic perspective?
Centered on the use of free will and how to best apply it
What is the behaviorist perspective?
Related to external stimuli experienced by the person
What is the biological perspective?
Based on biological inheritance
Zoologists discover a new species of lizard with a low degree of sexual dimorphism. Which of the following behaviors would the researchers most expect to find exhibited by members of this species?
Repetitive mating between monogamous pairs of lizards
What is a stimulus motive?
A motive that appears to be unlearned but causes an increase in stimulation, such as curiosity
What is informative pressure?
It occurs when an individual conforms his or her behavior to match that of the rest of a group out of the belief that the group is better informed and knows more than the individual
What is normative pressure?
A subtype of conformity pressure in which the individual knows that the others are incorrect, but still feels pressure to not dissent from the rest of the group
Some studies of depressed and non-depressed individuals show that both populations can have similar physiological reactions to an emotion-provoking stimulus, but that depressed patients are more likely to contexualize the stimulus in a harmful way. This suggests that depressed patients experience an emotional imbalance based on which theory of emotion?
Schachter-Singer
What are aspects of groupthink that contributes to mob violence?
Feeling that all members will act similarly, feelings of invincibility in the mob, and feeling that the mob is right
What is self-monitoring?
A long-term strategy that usually involves self-reflection and taking regular notes on your behavior, thoughts, and attitudes over time
What is psychoeducation?
Providing knowledge about a topic
What is relapse prevention?
Is often used when the target barrier carries with it high risk for relapse or a maladaptive coping mechanism
What is a mimetic organization?
An organization that just attempts to copy another organization
What is a coercive organization?
An organization in which members are forced to join
What is sublimation?
Occurs when a person channels unacceptable urges, like a craving to smoke, into something more acceptable
What is intellectualization?
The use of cognitive processes to separate oneself from the real problem and avoid emotions and impulses that may arise
An object viewed in full sunlight can be seen to have several shades, running from light blue on the left side of the object through teal to light green on the right side of the object. Viewed in moonlight, the same object appears a uniform grey. This is due to:
The decreased light sensitivity of cones relative to rods
What is Hans Eysenck noted for?
PEN model of personality (psychoticism, extraversion, neuroticism)
Both narcissistic personality disorder (NPD) and BPD are classified as Cluster B personality disorders in the DSM-5. Carl Rogers would argue from the humanistic perspective that NPD results from incongruence between:
Self-concept and reality
What is projection?
Involves a person taking their feelings about themselves and projecting them onto an external source
What is an Oedipal complex?
Relates to how a boy perceives his relationship with his mother
What is repression?
An ego-defense mechanism in which a person simply chooses not to think about a painful topic
What is transference?
The inappropriate transferring of feelings about one relationship to another
What is the main reward neurotransmitter?
Dopamine
What is anchoring/adjustment heuristic?
Tying impressions to earlier perceptions of people
Prevalence vs. morbidity
Morbidity = number of ill people, prevalence = number of ill people in a certain area
What does not increase groupthink?
A lone dissenter
What is a cross-sectional design?
Involves the measurement of a group of people at a particular time
What are the descriptions of Kohlberg’s 3 stages?
Preconventional = concern for rewards and punishments, conventional = conformity and authority, postconventional = social contract, universal principles
What is associated with the frontal lobe?
Executive function, motivation, and attention
What is kin selection?
Acting in a way that promotes the health and well-being of family members
What is altruism?
A choice made to benefit the greater good, or the community as a whole
What is a phenomenological study?
It focuses on subjective elements of an experience by trying to understand individuals’ perceptions, perspectives and understanding of a particular situation or event
What is a meta analysis?
The aggregation of smaller studies pertaining to a certain research question in order to draw a conclusion that is statistically stronger than those of the individual studies
What is an observational study?
Draws inferences from a sample regarding the effects of an independent variable on a population, but where the independent variable is not specifically manipulated by the researcher
What is gender conditioning?
How gender roles are established, stems from societal reinforcements and punishments of gender-related behaviors
What is the difference between alogia and avolition?
Alogia = inability to speak, avolition = a lack of interest in goal-directed behavior
What are the stages of the transtheoretical model of change/stage of change model?
Precontemplation -> contemplation -> preparation -> action -> (relapse) -> maintenance
What does the anterior cingulate gyrus do?
Regulating autonomic processes in the body
What is dualism?
The idea that the mind and body are two separate entities
What is cognitive distortion?
A phenomenon in which our mind convinces us that something is true when it isn’t
What is conformity?
A change in a person’s attitudes or behavior in response to pressure from others in a group
In which neuronal location will selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI’s) have the greatest effect?
The synaptic cleft
What is social facilitation?
The tendency to perform better when others are around
What is Thorndike’s law of effect?
Responses that produce a satisfying effect in a particular situation become more likely to occur again in that situation, and responses that produce a discomforting effect become less likely to occur again in that situation (ex. get a job and get rewarded by a salary = more likely to stay at job)
What is the law of diminshing returns?
Lessened results gained from some action over time
Which of the following constructs can be defined and evaluated within the constructs of culture?
Health, illness, and the patient sick role
What is a case study?
Focuses on a small, narrow group of people, with a great deal of description of context and individual detail of subjects
What is outcome bias?
The tendency to judge a decision based on its outcome rather than the original reasoning used to make the decision
What is primary socialization?
Takes place before the age of 5, generally refers exclusively to the influences of family members
What is Alzheimer’s disease caused by?
Reduced acetylcholine production and beta-amyloid plaques in the brain
A cognitive theory of MDD would most likely attribute its cause to:
Unstable or faulty thought processes
Who was Raymond Cattell?
A trait theorist
Who was Carl Jung?
Consciousness, personal unconscious, collective unconscious, believed collective unconscious created archetypes (persona, anima, shadow)
What are used to measure SES?
Occupation or employment, household income, and educational attainment
What is social escapism?
The avoidane of unpleasant, boring, difficult or anxiety-inducing aspects of daily life
What are spindle neurons?
Brain cells that facilitate rapid communication
What are bipolar neurons?
Brain cells involved in sensory responses
What is acquiescence bias?
Selecting certain responses to please the researcher
What is central tendency bias?
Avoiding extreme responses and gravitating towards the mean
What is criterion validity?
The extent to which a test reflects a specific quality (like empathy) or set of abilities. To measure criterion validity, researchers typically compare their test to another test that is used most often in the field.
What is the stress-diathesis model?
connection between genetic vulnerability (diathesis) and environment stressor (stress)
What is the developmental model?
How experiences at an early age can impact a person throughout his life
What is the psychodynamic model?
How relationship experiences can affect subsequent relationships
What is the ecological model?
Description of the factors that impact children’s outcomes as being at ontological, microsystem, and macrosystem (levels of external influence)
What is authoritarian vs. authoritative?
Authoritarian = harsh parenting with little explanation of expectations, authoritative = optimal outcomes (limits, but not being overly punitive)
What is a cochrane review?
Systematic reviews of primary research in human health care and health policy, investigate effects of interventions for prevention, treatment and rehabilitation
What is a repertory grid?
A test designed to reveal the respondent’s way of construing the world according to the personal construct theory
What is a Weber test?
Has a patient report a sound that ideally should be heard equally on both sides
What is a power analysis?
A statistical calculation performed before a study to determine the minimum sample size needed for the study to have enough power
The findings regarding business leaders in the final paragraph most strongly supports the idea that as you go to the top of corporate hierarchies, you expect large increases in the incidence of:
Antisocial personality disorder (narcisissm = usually about attitudes about oneself)
What does a PET scan do?
Injects patient with a radioactive analogue of glucose, and then measuring the radioactive emissions from the body (metabolic function of organs and tissues)
What does CT provide?
High-resolution images of many different angles using computer processing
What is primary kin?
Immediate family (husband-wife, father-daughter, sister-brother)
What is secondary kin?
Immediate kin of someone with whom you have a primary kin relationship (ex. husband and mother-in-law)
What is tertiary kin?
The secondary kin of someone with whom you have a primary kin relationship with
What is primary deviance?
Deviance from a norm that is considered “acceptable” by society and does not result in any aggressive reactions that could cause ostracism
What is secondary deviance?
Is not considered acceptable and often results in the individual being excluded from a group
Which of the following symptoms would make it more difficult for a physician to differentiate between bipolar disorder and schizophrenia in a new patient?
Delusions and anhedonia
What is an example of parallel processing?
Identifying a country’s flag by its colors
What occurred in Sherif’s Robber’s Cave Experiment?
Children were grouped into different camps and, through manipulation, were encouraged to have negative attitudes towards each other, but after given a task in which they had to collaborate, they began to view each other more favorably
What are expectancy effects?
Occur when participants behave in a way that they believe is expected in a study, based on the observation of others
What are Hawthorne effects?
Describe the idea that individuals are affected by being observed
What is actor-observer bias?
The attribution of others’ actions to internal factors and one’s own actions to external factors
What is false consciousness?
A belief by individuals that doesn’t reflect the reality of the system
What are possible characteristicss of a caste system?
Horizontal mobility and a closed system
A mother complains to her pediatrician that her daughter obsessively cleans her room, often doing laundry after every outfit so that the hamper is always empty. Freud would argue that the daughter has become fixated with which stage of psychosexual development?
Anal phase (anal retentive) -> phallic = Oedipus/Electra complex, latent = unfulfilled with sexual experiences, genital = other sexual dysfunctions (OAPLG)
A psychologist may argue that a psychic claiming to be hearing voices could be suffering from auditory hallucinations caused by malfunctioning of which region of the brain?
Frontotemporal structures
What is integration?
When immigrants merge new and old customs
What is the diathesis-stress model?
Some people are born with genetic or biological traits that predispose them to depression. When they are in certain environments, these traits are activated and depression emerges
What is the learned helplessness model?
A sense of powerlessness that can emerge after traumatic events
According to the Seligman’s Learned Optimism Theory:
Optimistic individuals tend to interpret negative events as external, temporary, and non-global
What is the pathway for a stimulus to reach conscious perception?
Sensory receptor -> afferent neuron -> sensory ganglion -> spinal cord -> brain (projection areas)
What is absolute threshold?
The minimum stimulus that can evoke an action potential in a sensory receptor
What is threshold of conscious perception?
The minimum stimulus that can evoke enough action potentials for a long enough time that the brain perceives the stimulus
What is difference threshold?
The minimum difference between 2 stimuli that can be detected by the brain
What is the cornea?
Gathers and focuses the incoming light
What is the pupil?
Allows passage of light from the anterior to posterior chamber
What is the iris?
Controls the size of the pupil
What is the ciliary body?
Produces aqueous humor; accomodates the lens
What is the Canal of Schlemm?
Drains aqueous humor
What is the lens?
Refracts the incoming light to focus it on the retina
What is the retina?
Detects images
What is the sclera?
Provides structural support
List the structures in the visual pathway.
Cornea -> pupil -> lens -> vitreous -> retina (rods and cones -> bipolar cells -> ganglion cells) -> optic nerve -> optic chiasm -> optic tract -> LGN of thalamus -> radiations through parietal and temporal lobes -> visual cortex (occipital lobe)
What is parallel processing?
The ability to simultaneously analyze color, shape, and motion of an object and to integrate this information to create a cohesive image of the world, also calls on memory systems to compare a visual stimulus to past experiences to help determine the object’s identity
What structures are used to detect linear acceleration and rotational acceleration?
Linear acceleration = utricle and saccule (otolith organs); rotational acceleration = semicircular canals
List the structures in the auditory pathway.
Pinna -> external auditory canal -> tympanic membrane -> malleus -> incus -> stapes -> oval window -> perilymph in cochlea -> basilar membrane -> hair cells -> vestibulocochlear nerve -> brainstem -> MGN of thalamus -> auditory cortex (temporal lobe)
How does the organization of the cochlea indicate the pitch of an incoming sound?
Basilar membrane is tonotropically organized (high-pitch sounds = vibrations at base of cochlea; low-pitch sounds = vibrations at apex of cochlea)
List the structures in the olfactory pathway, from where odor molecules enter the nose to where olfactory signals project in the brain.
Nostril -> nasal cavity -> olfactory chemoreceptors -> olfactory epithelium -> olfactory bulb -> olfactory tract -> higher-order brain regions
Both smell and taste are sensitive to chemicals. What is different about the types of chemicals each one can sense?
Smell is sensitive to volatile or aerosolized compounds, taste is sensitive to dissolved compounds
What are the four main modalities of somatosensation?
Pressure, vibration, pain, and temperature
What is the difference between bottom-up and top-down processing?
Bottom-up processing = each component of an object to be interpreted through parallel processing the integrated into one cohesive whole; top-down processing = starts with the whole object, then creates expectations for the components of the object
What is the Gestalt principle of good continuation?
Figures with edges that are smooth are more likely seen as continuous than edges that have abrupt or sharp angles
What is the Gestalt principle of subjective contours?
Edges or shapes that are not actually present can be implied by the surrounding objects (especially if good continuation is present) - also called illusion contours
What is the difference between endolymph and perilymph?
Endolymph is found in the membranous labyrinth, while perilymph is found in the bony labyrinth
A patient comes in with a tumor of the pituitary gland which has grown upward into the optic chiasm and caused a visual field defect. The most likely defect from compression of the optic chiasm is:
Loss of the temporal visual fields in both eyes
List the three modes in which information can be encoded, from strongest to weakest.
Semantic > acoustic > visual
In what ways is maintenance rehearsal different from elaborative rehearsal?
Maintenance rehearsal = repetition of information to keep it within short-term memory for near immediate use; elaborative rehearsal = association of information to other stored knowledge, and is a more effective way to move information from short-term memory to long-term memory
What are some factors that might cause eyewitnesss courtroom testimony to be unreliable?
Manner in which the questions are asked, the nature of information shared with the witness by police, misinformation effect, source-monitoring error, amount of time elapsed between event and trial
What is pruning?
Removing weak neural connections
Which process would increase the likelihood of a behavior?
Avoidance learning
What is true of teaching an animal a complicated, multistage behavior?
The individual parts of the behavior should not run counter to the animal’s natural instincts
A researcher uses a partial-report procedure after presenting participants with an array of nine numbers for a fraction of a second. Which of the following is the most likely result of this procedure?
The participants will be able to recall any of the rows or columns in great detail but only immediately after presentation
The three steps in the information processing model are:
Encoding, storage, and retrieval
An elderly man is taken to his doctor by his daughter. His daughter says that during the past two days, he has been speaking to his wife who has been deceased for four years. Prior to that, he was completely normal. The elderly man most likely has:
Delirium
List Piaget’s four stages of cognitive development, and the key features of each.
Sensorimotor = manipulating environment for phyiscal needs, circular reactions, ends with object permanence; preoperational = symbolic thinking, egocentrism, centration; concrete operational = conservation, feelings of others, can manipulate concrete objects logically; formal operational = abstract thinking, problem solving
A child plays with a tool set, noting that a nail can only be hit with a hammer. When a friend suggests that the handle of a screwdriver can be used to hit a nail, the child passionately objects. This is an example of:
Functional fixedness
A doctor uses a flow chart to treat a patient with sepsis. Given its use in problem solving, a flowchart is an example of an:
Algorithm
A patient in a mental facility believes that the sky is pink. Despite several trips outside, the patient still declares the sky is pink. Which psychological principle does this represent?
Belief perserverance
What is the difference between availability and representativeness heuristic?
Availability heuristic = used for making decisions based on how easily similar instances can be imagined; representativeness heuristic = used for making decisions based on how much a particular item or situation fits a given prototype/stereotype
For each sleep stage, list its EEG waveforms and main features
Awake = beta and alpha waves; stage 1 = theta waves; stage 2 = theta waves, sleep spindles and K complexes; stages 3 and 4= delta waves, slow-wave sleep, dreams, sleep disorders occur here; REM = mostly beta, body is paralyzed
Which two hormones are most associated with maintaning circadian rhythms?
Melatonin and cortisol
What is the difference between a dyssomnia and a parasomnia? Provide an example of each.
Dyssomnia = duration of timing of sleep is disturbed (insomnia, narcolepsy, sleep apnea); parasomnia = abnormal behaviors occur (night terrors and sleepwalking AKA somnambulism)
Which four drugs (or drug classes) are known to increase GABA activity in the brain?
Alcohol, barbiturates, benzodiazepines, marijuana
Which three drugs (or drug classes) are known to increase dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin activity in the brain?
Amphetamines, cocaine, ecstasy (MDMA)
What are the three main structures in the mesolimbic pathway? What is this pathway’s primary neurotransmitter?
Nucleus accumbens, medial forebrain bundle, ventral tegmental area; main neurotransmitter = dopamine
Compare and contrast controlled (effortful) processing and automatic processing.
Controlled (effortful) processing = maintaining undivided attention; automatic processing = used for less critical stimuli in divided attention
Briefly describe the function of the “filter” used in selective attention.
Permits us to focus on one set of stimuli while scanning other stimuli in the background for important information (such as our name or a significant change in the environment)
What are the milestones for a child that is 9-12 months?
Babbling
What are the milestones for a child that is 12-18 months?
Increase of about one word per month
What are the milestones for a child that is 18-20 months?
“Explosion of language” and combining words (two-word sentences)
What are the milestones for a child that is 2-3 years?
Longer sentences of three or more words
What are the milestones for a child that is 5 years?
Language rules largely mastered
What is the nativist (biological) theory of language acquisition?
Innate ability to pick up language via the language acquisition device
What is the learning (behavioral) theory of language acquisition?
Operant conditioning with reinforcement by parents and caregivers in order to pick up language
What is the social interactionist theory of language acquisition?
A desire to communicate and act socially in order to pick up language
What is conduction aphasia?
Where the patient is unable to repeat something that has been said because the connection between these two regions has been lost
A student is volunteering in a hospital with a stroke center. When asked what he believes is the prevalence of stroke among those greater than 65 years old, the student states that is probably about 40% even though data analysis indicates that it is significantly greater. What accounts for this error?
Base rate fallacy
Which language theory states that language development occurs due to preferential reinforcement of certain phonemes by parents and caregivers?
Learning theory
During which of the following stages does dreaming occur?
Stage 3, Stage 4, and REM
Assuming that the children studied are 6-7 years old and are in the normal stage of Piaget’s stages of cognitive development, which of the following would most likely be observed among these subjects?
A high degree of symbolic play
What are some examples of mores?
Seeking help for an acute medical illness
What are some examples of folkways?
Holding a door open
What are some examples of taboos?
Cannibalism, incest
What is an example of kinship of affinity?
A husband and wife merging their children from a previous marriage
What is biological factor that could contribute to risky behavior in adolescence?
Undeveloped prefrontal cortex
What is the difference between fMRI and MRI?
fMRI = structure and function of brain area; MRI = structure of brain area
What is the cognitive appraisal theory?
Individuals make different interpretations about stimuli, such as interpreting stigma negatively or non-negatively
A public health advocacy group has developed a program to encourage adherence to a Truvada medication regimen using operant conditioning principles. An example of the group using thinning in the program is:
Reducing the frequency of rewards for medication compliance
What are strategies people use in impression management?
Complimenting coworkers on their clothing, bragging about one’s financial success while on a date, and matching the behavior of a boss
What are examples of conflict theory in society?
A trade union forming to promote workers’ rights at the cost of company owners, and a company maximizing profits for shareholders at the expense of its middle- and lowest-tier employees (STATE OF CONFLICT BC OF COMPETITION FOR LIMITED RESOURCES)
If a psychologist were to claim that the ideomotor effect is unconscious, Freudian psychologists could argue this effect resides in which components of the psychic apparatus?
Id, ego, and superego
What makes social cognitive theory different from operant conditioning theory?
In social cognitive theory, it is about how people learn by watching others, and they will behave like that person if they see that they are rewarded (operant = about rewards and punishments, not necessarily about other people)
Which of the following steps could an organization take to make itself into a more ideal bureaucracy?
Evaluating how decisions impact stock price to promote value for stockholders in accordance with the company’s mission (a system characterized by division of labour, a clearly defined hierarchy, detailed rules and regulations, and impersonal relationships)
What is protectionism?
A country rejecting trade and being isolative, which is inversely proportional to globalization
Median vs. mode.
“O” in mode = most “O”ften number, median = number in the middle when you list the numbers out
During the study discussed in the passage, different-sized circles were displayed before a shock was delivered to the participants. The shock and the resulting fear are examples of which aspects of classical conditioning, respectively?
Unconditioned stimuli and unconditioned response
Devic’s syndrome is a condition involving the demyelination of the optic nerve and the spinal cord. What are some direct results of Devic’s syndrome?
Decreased protection of the neuron, decreased velocity of impulse propagation, and decreased electrical insulation
What is expectation bias?
When expectations influence attitudes or behavior
What are some examples of strategies to induce compliance?
A dress code at an organization, referring to military recruits by their miltary number, and hazing rituals at a club involving humiliation (groups that view themselves as similar)
What is one of the symptoms of Korsakoff’s syndrome?
Confabulation
The finding that Korsakoff’s syndrome impairs declarative memory is most consistent with the fact that:
It is usually associated with lesions that can affect the functioning of the hippocampus
Which of the following changes to the experimental design would increase the statistical power of the study?
Increasing the number of subjects
What is paraphilia?
The experience of intense sexual arousal to atypical objects, situations, or individuals
What is sexual dysfunction?
Difficulty experienced by an individual or a couple during any stage of sexual activity, including physical pleasure, desire, preference, arousal or orgasm
What is an example of availability heuristic bias?
Hearing about a particularly violent crime in the newspaper and concluding that there is greater crime overall
What is rater bias?
A tendency for raters to rate in the middle of a scale
What part of the brain produces melatonin?
Pineal gland
What is the somatic nervous system?
Part of the peripheral nervous system associated with the voluntary control of body movements via skeletal muscles
What is the limbic system?
Supports a variety of functions, including adrenaline flow, emotion, behavior, motivation, long-term memory, and smell
What does the pancreas do?
Is a dual-function gland, having features of endocrine (regulating blood sugar) and exogrine glands (digestion)
What are the 3 W’s of personality disorders?
Weird, Wild, and Worried
What are the personatliy disorders in Cluster 1 (Weird)?
Paranoid, Schizoid, Schizotypal
What are the personatliy disorders in Cluster 2 (Wild)?
Antisocial, Borderline, Histrionic, Narcissistic
What are the personatliy disorders in Cluster 3 (Worried)?
Avoidant, Dependent, Obsessive-Compulsive
What is an example of negative punishment?
A child losing time from an enjoyable activity for not eating his vegetables
What is affect heuristic?
The process of making a judgment based on emotions that are evoked
What is anchoring?
The act of relying too much on the first information encountered
What is the humanistic perspective?
Centered on the use of free will and how to best apply it (in therapy: self actualization, self image)
What is the behaviorist perspective?
Related to external stimuli experienced by the person (classical and operant conditioning)
What is the biological perspective?
Based on biological inheritance
Zoologists discover a new species of lizard with a low degree of sexual dimorphism. Which of the following behaviors would the researchers most expect to find exhibited by members of this species?
Repetitive mating between monogamous pairs of lizards
What is a stimulus motive?
A motive that appears to be unlearned but causes an increase in stimulation, such as curiosity
What is informative pressure?
It occurs when an individual conforms his or her behavior to match that of the rest of a group out of the belief that the group is better informed and knows more than the individual
What is normative pressure?
A subtype of conformity pressure in which the individual knows that the others are incorrect, but still feels pressure to not dissent from the rest of the group
Some studies of depressed and non-depressed individuals show that both populations can have similar physiological reactions to an emotion-provoking stimulus, but that depressed patients are more likely to contexualize the stimulus in a harmful way. This suggests that depressed patients experience an emotional imbalance based on which theory of emotion?
Schachter-Singer
What are aspects of groupthink that contributes to mob violence?
Feeling that all members will act similarly, feelings of invincibility in the mob, and feeling that the mob is right
What is self-monitoring?
A long-term strategy that usually involves self-reflection and taking regular notes on your behavior, thoughts, and attitudes over time
What is psychoeducation?
Providing knowledge about a topic
What is relapse prevention?
Is often used when the target barrier carries with it high risk for relapse or a maladaptive coping mechanism
What is a mimetic organization?
An organization that just attempts to copy another organization
What is a coercive organization?
An organization in which members are forced to join
What is sublimation?
Occurs when a person channels unacceptable urges, like a craving to smoke, into something more acceptable
What is intellectualization?
The use of cognitive processes to separate oneself from the real problem and avoid emotions and impulses that may arise
An object viewed in full sunlight can be seen to have several shades, running from light blue on the left side of the object through teal to light green on the right side of the object. Viewed in moonlight, the same object appears a uniform grey. This is due to:
The decreased light sensitivity of cones relative to rods
What is Hans Eysenck noted for?
The first empirical study on genetics of personality (biological perspective) - PEN (psychoticism, extroversion, neuroticism)
Both narcissistic personality disorder (NPD) and BPD are classified as Cluster B personality disorders in the DSM-5. Carl Rogers would argue from the humanistic perspective that NPD results from incongruence between:
Self-concept and reality
What is projection?
Involves a person taking their feelings about themselves and projecting them onto an external source
What is an Oedipal complex?
Relates to how a boy perceives his relationship with his mother
What is repression?
An ego-defense mechanism in which a person simply chooses not to think about a painful topic, refers back to earlier versions of self developmentally
What is transference?
The inappropriate transferring of feelings about one relationship to another
What is the main reward neurotransmitter?
Dopamine
What is anchoring/adjustment heuristic?
Tying impressions to earlier perceptions of people
Prevalence vs. morbidity
Morbidity = number of ill people, prevalence = number of ill people in a certain area
What does not increase groupthink?
A lone dissenter
What is a cross-sectional design?
Involves the measurement of a group of people at a particular time
What are the descriptions of Kohlberg’s 3 stages?
Preconventional = concern for rewards and punishments, conventional = conformity and authority, postconventional = social contract, universal principles
What is associated with the frontal lobe?
Executive function, motivation, and attention
What is kin selection?
Acting in a way that promotes the health and well-being of family members
What is altruism?
A choice made to benefit the greater good, or the community as a whole
What is a phenomenological study?
It focuses on subjective elements of an experience by trying to understand individuals’ perceptions, perspectives and understanding of a particular situation or event
What is a meta analysis?
The aggregation of smaller studies pertaining to a certain research question in order to draw a conclusion that is statistically stronger than those of the individual studies
What is an observational study?
Draws inferences from a sample regarding the effects of an independent variable on a population, but where the independent variable is not specifically manipulated by the researcher
What is gender conditioning?
How gender roles are established, stems from societal reinforcements and punishments of gender-related behaviors
What is the difference between alogia and avolition?
Alogia = inability to speak, avolition = a lack of interest in goal-directed behavior
What are the stages of the transtheoretical model of change/stage of change model?
Precontemplation -> contemplation -> preparation -> action -> (relapse) -> maintenance
What does the anterior cingulate gyrus do?
Regulating autonomic processes in the body
What is dualism?
The idea that the mind and body are two separate entities
What is cognitive distortion?
A phenomenon in which our mind convinces us that something is true when it isn’t
What is conformity?
A change in a person’s attitudes or behavior in response to pressure from others in a group
In which neuronal location will selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI’s) have the greatest effect?
The synaptic cleft
What is social facilitation?
The tendency to perform better when others are around
What is Thorndike’s law of effect?
Responses that produce a satisfying effect in a particular situation become more likely to occur again in that situation, and responses that produce a discomforting effect become less likely to occur again in that situation
What is the law of diminshing returns?
Lessened results gained from some action over time
Which of the following constructs can be defined and evaluated within the constructs of culture?
Health, illness, and the patient sick role
What is a case study?
Focuses on a small, narrow group of people, with a great deal of description of context and individual detail of subjects
What is outcome bias?
The tendency to judge a decision based on its outcome rather than the original reasoning used to make the decision
What is primary socialization?
Takes place before the age of 5, generally refers exclusively to the influences of family members
What is Alzheimer’s disease caused by?
Reduced acetylcholine production and beta-amyloid plaques in the brain
A cognitive theory of MDD would most likely attribute its cause to:
Unstable or faulty thought processes
Who was Raymond Cattell?
A trait theorist
Who was Carl Jung?
Primarily an analytical psychologist
What are used to measure SES?
Occupation or employment, household income, and educational attainment
What is social escapism?
The avoidane of unpleasant, boring, difficult or anxiety-inducing aspects of daily life
What are spindle neurons?
Brain cells that facilitate rapid communication
What are bipolar neurons?
Brain cells involved in sensory responses
What is acquiescence bias?
Selecting certain responses to please the researcher
What is central tendency bias?
Avoiding extreme responses and gravitating towards the mean
What is criterion validity?
The extent to which a test reflects a specific quality (like empathy) or set of abilities. To measure criterion validity, researchers typically compare their test to another test that is used most often in the field.
What is the stress-diathesis model?
When exacerbated by current stressors, can lead to disturbed functioning
What is the developmental model?
How experiences at an early age can impact a person throughout his life
What is the psychodynamic model?
How relationship experiences can affect subsequent relationships
What is the ecological model?
Description of the factors that impact children’s outcomes as being at ontological, microsystem, and macrosystem
What is authoritarian vs. authoritative?
Authoritarian = harsh parenting with little explanation of expectations, authoritative = optimal outcomes (limits, but not being overly punitive)
What is a cochrane review?
Systematic reviews of primary research in human health care and health policy, investigate effects of interventions for prevention, treatment and rehabilitation
What is a repertory grid?
A test designed to reveal the respondent’s way of construing the world according to the personal construct theory
What is a Weber test?
Has a patient report a sound that ideally should be heard equally on both sides
What is a power analysis?
A statistical calculation performed before a study to determine the minimum sample size needed for the study to have enough power
The findings regarding business leaders in the final paragraph most strongly supports the idea that as you go to the top of corporate hierarchies, you expect large increases in the incidence of:
Antisocial personality disorder (narcisissm = usually about attitudes about oneself)
What does a PET scan do?
Injects patient with a radioactive analogue of glucose, and then measuring the radioactive emissions from the body
What does CT provide?
High-resolution images of many different angles using computer processing
What is primary kin?
Immediate family (husband-wife, father-daughter, sister-brother)
What is secondary kin?
Immediate kin of someone with whom you have a primary kin relationship (ex. husband and mother-in-law)
What is tertiary kin?
The secondary kin of someone with whom you have a primary kin relationship with
What is primary deviance?
Deviance from a norm that is considered “acceptable” by society and does not result in any aggressive reactions that could cause ostracism
What is secondary deviance?
Is not considered acceptable and often results in the individual being excluded from a group
Which of the following symptoms would make it more difficult for a physician to differentiate between bipolar disorder and schizophrenia in a new patient?
Delusions and anhedonia
What is an example of parallel processing?
Identifying a country’s flag by its colors
What occurred in Sherif’s Robber’s Cave Experiment?
Children were grouped into different camps and, through manipulation, were encouraged to have negative attitudes towards each other, but after given a task in which they had to collaborate, they began to view each other more favorably
What are expectancy effects?
Occur when participants behave in a way that they believe is expected in a study, based on the observation of others
What are Hawthorne effects?
Describe the idea that individuals are affected by being observed
What is actor-observer bias?
The attribution of others’ actions to internal factors and one’s own actions to external factors
What is false consciousness?
A belief by individuals that doesn’t reflect the reality of the system
What are possible characteristicss of a caste system?
Horizontal mobility and a closed system
A mother complains to her pediatrician that her daughter obsessively cleans her room, often doing laundry after every outfit so that the hamper is always empty. Freud would argue that the daughter has become fixated with which stage of psychosexual development?
Anal phase (anal retentive) -> phallic = Oedipus/Electra complex, latent = unfulfilled with sexual experiences, genital = other sexual dysfunctions (OAPLG)
A psychologist may argue that a psychic claiming to be hearing voices could be suffering from auditory hallucinations caused by malfunctioning of which region of the brain?
Frontotemporal structures
What is integration?
When immigrants merge new and old customs
What is the diathesis-stress model?
Some people are born with genetic or biological traits that predispose them to depression. When they are in certain environments, these traits are activated and depression emerges
What is the learned helplessness model?
A sense of powerlessness that can emerge after traumatic events
According to the Seligman’s Learned Optimism Theory:
Optimistic individuals tend to interpret negative events as external, temporary, and non-global
What is the Weberian stratification theory?
Wealth, prestige, and power influence that way that individuals treat one another
The information presented in the study support the idea that a physician would find which symptoms and behaviors when interviewing a patient with bipolar I disorder?
Extreme weight fluctuations and hallucinations/delusions
Which of the following could account for the high comorbidity between BPD and SUD?
Substane abuse is a diagnostic criteria of BPD
What is social capital?
The value embedded in social networks, which includes connections, job leads, the availability of people to aid in a crisis, and so forth (economic resources that one can gain from being a part of social networks)
What is cultural capital?
Non-financial factors that lead to social mobility, such as knowledge of styles and manners of speech, appearance, and charisma
What is the false consensus effect?
People tend to overestimate how common their behavior is and assume that others do the same things they do
What is client-centered therapy?
Emphasizes collaboration between practitioner and client and expression of empathy by the clinician
What is psychodynamic theory?
Emphasizes the influence of early-life experiences on functioning
What is systems theory?
Emphasizes the influence of systems on an individual’s life
What is dialectical behavioral theory?
Emphasizes regulation of affect and interpersonal effectiveness
Generally, how long is short-term memory?
15-30 seconds
What is normative conformity?
Describes a situation in which a person drinks alcohol to fit in or be liked
What is identification?
The individual assimilates an aspect, property, or attribute of the other and is transformed wholly or partially by the model that other provides
What is anterograde amnesia?
Not being able to form any new memories (like due to drinking alcohol)
What is pareidolia?
The psychological phenomenon that causes some people to see or hear a vague or random image or sound as something significant
What is abasia?
The inability to walk
What is parapraxis?
A (Freudian) slip of the tongue or unintended action
What is frotteurism?
The interest in rubbing, usually one’s pelvic area, against a non-consenting person for sexual pleasure
What is primary prevention?
Prevention of a disease or problem behavior before any signs, symptoms, or risk behaviors have developed
What is secondary prevention?
When there is an established risk factor present or when a disease/problem behavior has already begun to develop
What is tertiary prevention?
Prevention of a disease or problem behavior from getting significantly worse
What is false consciousness?
Awareness of yourself and your interests only
What is class consciousness?
Awareness of your class and the interests of your class as a whole
In strain theory, what would rebels, innovators, and retreatists do?
Rebels = violence, innovators = theft, drug dealing, retreatists = drug abuse
What is residual poverty?
Chronic, multigenerational poverty
What is marginal poverty?
A type of poverty that happens when people are chronically unemployed or underemployed
What does the Yerkes-Dodson law say?
That individuals perform best at moderate levels of arousal
What are Erikson’s stages of psychosocial development in order?
Trust vs. mistrust (0-18 months), autonomy vs. doubt (2-3), initiative vs. guilt (3-5), industry vs. inferiority (6-11), identity vs. role confusion (12-18), intimacy vs. isolation (19-40), generativity vs. stagnation (40-65), ego integrity vs. despair (65-death)
What does the autonomic nervous system control?
Bodily functions (sympathetic response)
What does the reticular activating system do?
Regulates wakefulness and sleep-wake transitions
Sound-induced vibrations depolarize hair cells of the cochlea by opening ion channels that are gated in what way?
Mechanically
In a study, each trial involves administering a drop of lemon juice to the participant’s tongue and measuring the participant’s level of salivation. As more trials are conducted, the researcher finds that the magnitude of salivation declines. After a certain point, the researcher switches to administering lime juice. This researcher is most likely studying which process?
Habituation and dishabituation
What is a physiological indication of increased sympathetic arousal?
Measuring electrical conductivity of the skin
What type of design is LEAST appropriate for research on residential segregation?
Experimental methods
What is gentrification?
Reinvestment in lower income neighborhoods in urban areas, which results from the influx of more affluent groups (could cause increased neighborhood stratification, displacement of lower-income residents, expanded tax base for local government)
What is linguistic relativity?
People’s perceptions are relative to their spoken language
What is social support?
Social network ties (friends, family, and other relationships) that provide an individual with various types of assistance, which are associated with improving health or reducing har
What is the difference between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation?
Intrinsic = an increase in the desire to do something as a reuslt of internal factors; extrinsic = an increase in the desire to do something as a result of external factors (seek reward/avoid punishment)
An immigrant teen stops participating in the ethnic customs of his family and instead identifies with the dominant culture of the new country by dressing, speaking, and acting like teens from that culture. In this scenario, the teens of the new country’s dominant culture become which type of group for the teen?
Reference group
Are triadic groups more stable than dyadic groups?
YES
What sequence best describes the pathway used to transmit auditory information in humans?
Cochlea → organ of Corti → medial geniculate nucleus → auditory cortex
Weber’s law can be applied to:
visual stimuli, as when a man attempts to distinguish between images at different brightness levels
What are some true statements about the visual pathway?
The temporal fibers do not cross paths, at least some of the original fibers do cross paths, and at the optic chiasm, it is the nasal optical fibers that cross the opposite hemispheres
What is the Eustachian tube?
Helps the ear maintain equal pressure with the environment
What is the superior olive?
Responsible for localizing sound
What is the superior colliculus?
Helps us coordinate head rotation with visual focus on a specific point
What is an auditory pathway similar to that of humans?
auditory nerve → inferior colliculus → medial geniculate nucleus → auditory cortex
What is the area of the brain that does not deal with olfactory sensations?
Thalamus
What is the difference between Meissner’s corpuscles and Meissner’s discs?
Corpuscles = light touch; discs = deep touch
What is controlled by the vestibular system?
Balance
What is an example of the Gestalt principle of good continuation?
When observing two intersecting lines of different colors, instead of noticing four separate lines, we perceive two (soccer ball = principle of closure)
What is motion parallax?
The interpretation of larger objects as closer
What is convergence?
The closer an object, the more inward our eyes need to turn in order to focus
What are similar between those in REM and those that are physiologically awake?
The presence of beta waves, similar respiratory activity, and similar heart rate
Participants in a reality show who are asked to live in a dark room for several consecutive days probably release less of which hormone?
ACTH
In the middle of a recital, a violinist notices with some annoyance that a rude individual is talking in the audience. Initially, she continues with her performance as usual; however, as the talking continues, she grows distracted and misses a note. Which model of attention best explains this phenomenon?
Treisman’s attenuation model; a filter “turns down” the intensity of the annoying talking, but its intensity increases over time.
A runner is attempting to practice sprinting while listening to a language-learning podcast. Which type(s) of processing is this individual utilizing?
Listening to the podcast utilizes controlled processing
What are components of the working memory model?
Phonological loop, episodic buffer, and the visuospatial sketchpad
What are Gardner’s eight intelligences?
Verbal/Linguistic, Logical/Mathematical, Visual/Spatial, Bodily/Kinesthetic, Musical, Intrapersonal, Interpersonal and Naturalist
What is Spearman’s idea of general intelligence?
General intelligence (g) influences the performance on all mental tasks, while another component influences abilities on a particular task (s)
What is Galton’s idea of hereditary genius?
A system of arranged marriages between men of distinction and women of wealth would eventually produce a gifted race
What is Binet’s idea of mental age?
Tried to reason young adolescnce inteligences to find out future success
What is second-order conditioning?
A situation in which a stimulus that was previously neutral is paired with a conditioned stimulus
Some studies find that the association between discrimination and health is stronger for U.S.-born members of certain ethnic minority groups than it is for immigrant members of the same ethnic minority group. This finding suggests that the possible effect of discrimination on health is most likely related to:
Social integration in the U.S.
Controlling for other variables means that the researchers:
Considered various factors in the sample that could be confounding variables
What is regression?
A return to earlier stages of development
What is systems theory and psychodynamic theory?
Systems = dealing with systems such as families, psychodynamic = defenses, such as displacement
What is institutional memory?
The collective memory of the individuals in an organization about its history, situations the organization has confronted, and what was necessary to deal with them
Pitch is detected in the brain by the distance that the traveling wave generated along the basilar membrane travels prior to dissipating. Which of the following accurately describes the effect of a low frequency sound compared to a high frequency on this membrane? (Note: Assume both sounds are emitted at the same intensity)
A high-frequency sound generates a traveling wave that would dissipate more quickly along the length of the membrane relative to a low-frequency sound. No clear conclusion can be drawn regarding the amplitudes
What are some ideas of groupthink?
Excessive stereotyping (esp of opponents), illusion of unaminity (nobody is against leader), mindguards (thought poice to prevent outside thoughts), collective rationalization (discount warnings and fail to re-engage their assumptions)
What are the 7 universal emotions?
Happiness, sadness, fear, surprise, disgust, anger, contempt
What is social antipositivism?
A belief that the social realm may not be subject to the same methods of investigation as the natural world
To foster the use of problem-oriented strategies with a minimum number of patient-doctor sessions, a clinician would most likely use what modality of therapy?
DUH CBT is a common therapy (cognitive-behavioral)
What is the familiarity heuristic?
Past behavior will continue to the present
What is the sick role?
A role a patient plays in which he is expected to try to recover from his illness
When exposing subjects to a stressful stimulus, researchers observed that they recorded a physiological response in the subjects before the subjects reacted in any other way. This is consistent with which theory or theories of emotion?
James-Lange and Schachter-Singer
What is an edict?
An official order or proclamation issued by a person in authority
What is the dependency ratio?
The number of people under the age of 15 and over the age of 64, over those who are in the middle
What is the social gradient in health?
People who are less advantaged in terms of socioeconomic class have worse health (and shorter lives) than those who are more advantaged
What is the life course perspective?
Aging is a social, psychological, and biological process that influences each other, expectations of what an age entails no longer applies due to biological gains in our time
What is the intersectionality of medicine?
Multiple factors going into medicine
What is linguistic relativity vs. linguistic determinism?
Linguistic relativity = language affects the way we think; linguistic determinism (Sapir-Whorf hypothesis) = language is the sole factor that determines how we think
What is somatic symptom disorder vs. conversion disorder?
Somatic symptom disorder = having a symptom that does not necessarily have a medical reason, but you worry about it excessively and are disproportionately anxious about it; conversion disorder = experiencing a symptom right after a highly stressful/traumatic event but there is no medical reason for this symptom
Which type of psychoactive drug has the lowest risk of dependence?
Hallucinogens
To determine the effectiveness of brainstorming, a researcher designs a study in which participants are asked to produce alternatives to an existing marketing strategy on their own or with a group. Which pattern of results is most likely based on research on group processes?
On average, participants generate more alternatives alone than in a group
What is the function of the medulla oblongata?
Breathing, heart and blood vessel function, digestion, sneezing, swallowing
Confirmation bias vs. self serving bias!
Confirmation bias = seeking out information that confirms their existing point of view and ignore disconfirming evidence; self-serving bias = attributing positive outcomes to yourself and attributing negative outcomes to others
What is hindsight bias?
The tendency of people to overestimate their ability to have predicted an outcome that could not possibly have been predicted
What is response bias?
The tendency of a person to answer questions on a survey untruthfully or misleadingly
What is the sociological paradigm of functionalism?
Makes a distinction between manifest and latent functions of social activities
What is an example of the Thomas theorem?
A child’s perception about the existence of ghosts will keep him awake at night, though they actually don’t exist
What is the function of the medulla oblongata?
Breathing and arousal from sleep
What is eidetic memory?
Photographic memory
What is reproductive memory?
Remembering something exactly
The finding from Study 3 regarding the differential effect of emotional arousal on memory for central and peripheral details is best explained by which mechanism? Increasing emotional arousal:
Causes a restriction of the focus of attention
Every time a volunteer in a sleep study begins to exhibit rapid eye movements (REM), the experimenter wakes the person up. On the following night, when his or her sleep is uninterrupted, the person will most likely:
Have more REM sleep than usual (REM rebound)
What is the elaboration likelihood model?
Considers the variables of the attitude change approach—that is, features of the source of the persuasive message, contents of the message, and characteristics of the audience are used to determine when attitude change will occur.
What is the function of the pons?
Sleep, hearing, taste, balance, facial expressions
The standard version of a dichotic listening task involves:
Presenting two different auditory messages, one to each ear
Public health campaigns often target behaviors that are formed in adolescence. For example, alcohol, tobacco, and drug use interventions are often designed to prevent or delay risky behaviors because patterns established in adolescence are associated with disorders in adulthood. This example is best described as using which approach to health?
Life course perspective on health behavior
In response to the findings of this study, a religious leader sets up a website to attract young people to his or her congregation. Which sociological application of the findings best describes the leader’s response?
There are cohort differences that impact individual behavior, and by responding to those differences, the religious leader may be able to attract young people
Urine from inbred strain (Strain A) male mice was swabbed every day for one week on the nostrils of female mice of inbred strain (Strain B). Compared to unswabbed, female Strain B mice, uterine weight, but not total body weight, increased in the swabbed mice. Strain A male urine had no effect on uterine weight or body weight of inbred, female Strain C mice. Which statement best explains these results?
The molecular profile of puberty-accelerating, chemosensory neurons differs between mouse strains
What is self-verification?
The tendency to seek out (and agree with) information that is consistent with one’s self-concept
In order to balance on one foot, many people need to have their eyes open. This is an example of:
Sensory interaction
What is sensory coding?
How we encode/transfer short term memory into long term memory
Which phenomenon will an animal trainer most likely try to avoid when training a rabbit for a television commercial?
Instinctual drift
Research on cognitive aging has demonstrated that, in general, aging does NOT diminish a person’s:
Ability to retrieve general information
What is culture lag?
The notion that society takes time to adjust to technological or social changes
What is cultural transmission?
How culture is learned, culture is passed along from generation to generation through various childrearing practices
What is proximal and distal stimuli?
Proximal = what we sense in our eyes; distal = where that stimulus is coming from
What is incentive theory?
Through external factors, you can cause motivation in a person’s behavior
What is cultural assimilation?
Describes a situation in which one group’s culture begins to resemble those of another
What are context effects?
Environmental factors affect how an event is perceived or remembered
What are practice effects?
Relates to gains in scoring when an individual is retested in a similar environment
What is a partial report technique?
Relates to Sperling’s experiments on sensory (iconic) memory; he would flash a grid of numbers at participants and then immediately ask them to recite a particular row or column; it is in contrast with a full report technique, where he would just ask them to report anything they could remember
What is word association testing?
A test in which the tester gives the patient words and the patient responds with the first thing that comes to mind; used by psychoanalysts like Jung to infer subconscious thoughts or personality traits
What is psychophysical discrimination testing?
Participants are asked to differentiate between two stimuli (either by saying it exists or describing it somehow quantitatively); related to the just noticeable difference
What is operational span testing?
Testing of the capacity of working memory; researchers alternate between presenting a word to be remembered, then asking participants to verify a simple math equation (to interrupt rehearsal), after which the participants are tested to see how many words they remember
What is autobiographical memory?
Defined as one part of our life that we remember more than most
What are the 4 types of attachment?
Secure attachment = child is distressed when mother leaves and is comforted upon her return; ambivalent attachment = child is distressed when mother leaves but not comforted when she returns; avoidant attachment = child doesn’t care she left or when she returns; disorganized attachment = overt displays of fear, strange jerky movements (prominent in child abuse)
What is sensitive period vs. critical period?
Sensitive period = can be more easily acquired during this time, but can still be acquired; critical period = something must be acquired during that time or it cannot be acquired at all
What is exchange theory?
An application of rational choice theory to social interactions
What is social epidemiology?
How society affects health
What is cultural capital?
How “cultured” you are (education, intellect, style of speech, style of dress, etc.) - helps in social world
An example of intersectionality is the relationship between:
Race/ethnicity and social class
Based on the concept of the looking-glass self, which reaction is most likely for a person who acquires a stigmatized illness?
The person will internalize the perceived stigmatization against him or her
If the researchers were focused on an evolutionary perspective of human motivation, what aspect of the study results would be of most interest to them?
Hunger ratings for images of food
When does a fear of stranger (stranger anxiety) express itself in infants?
Around 8 months of age
What is interposition?
A monocular cue where you know if two objects are overlapping that one is in front of the other
What is counterbalancing?
Participants are presented the same variables in a different order to control for the order being a potential confounding variable
What was the first antipsychotic drug used to treat schizophrenia?
Neuroleptics
What is the activation-synthesis theory?
Dreams are created by changes in neuron activity that activates the brainstem during REM sleep, cerebral cortex tries to synthesize them
Two friends accept internships with a city council member even though they do not agree with many of the council member’s policies. Which is most likely to happen if they are in a state of dissonance? The students will:
Adapt their attitudes to be more in line with the council member
What is the generalized other?
The view of the rest of society (comes from Mead’s the I and the Me)
What are some primary and secondary reinforcers?
Primary = water, food, sex, sleep, air; secondary = money
What is McDonaldization of society?
Predictability, calculability, efficiency, and control
A rat receives food for pressing a lever on a variable ratio schedule. Which pattern of responding is most likely to be observed?
Relatively high response rate with no predictable pauses
According to the psychodynamic theory, conflict between the superego and the id leads to unconscious conflict. The ego attempts to reduce this conflict through the use of defense mechanisms. Based on this description, the unconscious conflict functions as:
A drive
What is opponent process theory?
The way humans perceive colors is controlled by three opposing systems (BL/Y, G/R, B/W) and in drugs, drug addiction is the result of an emotional pairing of pleasure and the emotional symptoms associated with withdrawal
Regular breathing and regular, slow brain waves are most consistent with which stage of sleep?
Stage 3
What is the difference between neural plasticity and long-term potentiation?
Neural plasticity = brain is rewiring itself; long term potentiation = increased strength between neuron connections as a result of experiences/deliberate rehearsal
Which experimental scenario is most likely to result in social facilitation?
A participant is asked solve an easy puzzle in front of other participants
The independent variable of a memory study that tests the encoding specificity effect is most likely to be:
Encoding specificity = enhanced memory when testing takes place under the same conditions as learning
What is aversive conditioning?
The use of something unpleasant to stop an unwanted behavior
A patient with Korsakoff syndrome is very guarded toward the therapist and is reluctant to answer the therapist’s questions. At subsequent appointments, the patient indicates not recognizing the therapist but is less guarded and more willing to answer questions. This suggests that the patient:
Has no explicit memory of meeting the therapist but does have an implicit memory of the meeting
The sociological concept of medicalization refers to the process in which:
A problem becomes described in medical terminology and treated by medical professionals
What distinguishes ethnocentrism from cultura relativism?
Ethnocentrism assumes universal norms, whereas cultural relativism describes awareness of diversity
Social stigma is most commonly associated with:
An attribute that is devalued (related to symbolic interactionist perspective)
A public health agency seeks to improve population health by motivating people to modify their health behaviors. If the agency followed the rational choice perspective, which of the following strategies would they most likely use?
Reduce the cost of fruits and vegetables while increasing the cost of processed foods
Difference between cultural transmission and cultural diffusion?
Cultural transmission = passing on cultural information from one generation to the next; cultural diffusion = passing things from one culture to another
What is relevant to the dramaturgical approach to social interaction?
Front stage self, back stage self, impression management, communication
A study uses the receipt of government assistance to indicate socioeconomic status. Which of the following reflects the main methodological issue that is raised by using this measure?
Validity
What is the difference between the halo effect and the just-world hypothesis?
Halo effect = judging another person using an impression of a person; just-world hypothesis = good things happen to good people
A patient with cone dystrophy, a rare genetic disease that leads to the loss of cone cells, would be able to see best at which time of day?
Dusk
What is the difference between sensations and perceptions?
Sensations = entirely physiological process; perception = organization, identifization, and interpretation of sensory information (threshold of conscious perception)
Where do the utricle and saccule (otoliths) exist?
The vestibule (portion of bony labyrinth)
Hearing loss that accompanies old age most likely results from degradation of which structure?
Hair cells
What does the cuneate nucleus do?
Carries fine touch and proprioceptive information
Darwin’s theory of emotion makes which fundamental assumption?
The expression of emotions is a heritable characteristic
Which theory or theories of emotion account(s) for the ability of individuals with suppressed sympathetic nervous function to experience emotions?
Cannon-Bard theory and Schachter-Singer theory
What is the Babinski sign?
Outward splaying of the toes, is abnormal after 1 year of age
What is formed from neural crest cells?
Dorsal root ganglia, melanocytes (pigment-producing cells), and calcitonin-producing cells of the thyroid
Where are the inferior and superior colliculus?
Midbrain
How is the posterior pituitary different from the anterior pituitary?
The posterior pituitary is comprised of axonal projections of the hypothalamus.
Ego-syntonic vs. ego-dystonic?
Syntonic = compatible with one’s values of thinking; dystonic = not compatible
What is a biological marker for Alzheimer’s disease?
Enlarged cerebral ventricles
What is conversion disorder?
Characterized by unexplained symptoms affecting voluntary motor or sensory functions
What is thought insertion, echolalia, word salad, and neologisms?
Thought insertion = individual believes that thoughts are being placed into their head; echolalia = individuals repeat another’s words; word salad = a patient’s speech may be so disorganized that they throw words together incomprehensibly; neologisms = individuals invent new words
What must be observed in a patient with schizophrenia?
Positive symptoms
What is an example of escape learning?
A chef opens a window when her kitchen becomes too hot
What is the self-reference effect?
People remember words significantly better when they processed them in reference to themselves
What are stereotypes in the stereotype context model?
Admiration = viewed with pride and other positive feelings; contemptuous = viewed with resentment, annoyance or anger; paternalistic = inferior, dismissed, ignored; envious = jealousy, bitterness, distrust
What do the lateral hypothalamus and ventromedial hypothalamus do?
Lateral = hunger; ventromedial = satiety
What are the distinctiveness, consistency, and consensus cues?
Distinctiveness = acting similarly across multiple situations; consistency = similar behavior over time; consensus = compare the target behavior to everyone else’s behavior
What are the types of attachment?
Ambivalent = distressed upon separation but mixed responses upon return; avoidant = little/no reaction upon separation and return; disorganized = no clear pattern; secure = upset upon separation and comforted upon return
What is Albert Bandura known for?
Observational learning, social learning theory, reciprocal determinism (Bobo Doll experiment)
What is WIlliam Stern known for?
IQ
What is Charles Cooley known for?
Looking-glass self
What is Robert Sternberg known for?
Triarchic theory of intelligence (practical, creative, analytical)
What is Max Weber known for?
Bureaucracy; conflict theory
What is Raymond Cattell known for?
Big Five traits (openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, neuroticism)
What is Talcott Parsons known for?
Sick role
What is Herbert Blumer known for?
Symbolic interactionistism
What is BF Skinner known for?
Operant conditioning
What is an example of crystallized intelligence?
An experienced accountant fills out several financial statements over the course of an hour
According to the model articulated by Erik Erikson, which example demonstrates an individual in the industry vs. inferiority stage of development?
A happy, healthy, 8-year-old male leads his soccer team in goals scored and excels in mathematics class
What is Kohlberg’s conventional stage of moral development?
Conformity to social rules and desire to maintain social order
The social desirability bias is a cognitive tendency that impacts the design of many research studies, particularly those which contain surveys or questionnaires. How can this bias best be described?
When asked personal questions, individuals typically respond in a way that exaggerates their own positive attributes.
A psychology professor wants to let her students decide whether their final exam should require recall or recognition. The students should choose:
Recognition, because matching given information with memories is easier than retrieving that information with little or no help
Roland wants to take advantage of context effects to maximize his score on the MCAT. He could most effectively do so by:
Studying in an uncomfortably warm room that mimics the temperature of the testing facilities
A study finds that children who have comparatively poor mastery of language and syntax after puberty are unable to improve to appropriate levels, even after additional years of language practice. This information provides evidence for:
The nativist theory of language development
Which of the following conditions could result in an inability to plan coherent sentences or understand syntax, without affecting an individual’s ability to physically produce words?
Wernicke’s aphasia and temporal lobe damage
Mrs. Jones, a middle-aged woman, is attempting to use biofeedback to deal with her stressful day-to-day life. What might this entail?
Using a machine to monitor heart and respiratory rate in order to train herself to control involuntary responses
In what ways does cortisol differ from a peptide hormone?
As a glucocorticoid, cortisol probably diffuses directly through plasma membranes
What is the main functional difference between the adrenal medulla and the adrenal cortex?
The adrenal medulla releases compounds that also act as neurotransmitters, while the adrenal cortex releases hormones alone
What is the Moro reflex?
An infant’s response to the feeling of falling (an infant will throw his head back, extend his arms, and cry when physical support is withdrawn)
If a child is already intrinsically motivated, and their parents what to reinforce a behavior:
They should not reward the child for the behavior
What is the opponent process theory?
Drug addiction is the result of an emotional pairing of pleasure and the emotional symptoms associated with withdrawal
What is sensitization?
An increase in the magnitude of a response after repeated exposure to the same stimulus
Mirror neurons are thought to play a direct role in:
Empathy and observational learning
What is shaping?
A procedure of continuous reinforcement to help the subject acquire a behavior that ONLY applies to operant conditioning
When referring to classical conditioning, extinction always involves:
A conditioned stimulus becoming neutral
What is learned helplessness?
When an individual gives up and stops trying to avoid an aversive consequence
What are George Mead’s four stages of the development of the “self”?
Imitation, play, game, generalized other
What does the representativeness heuristic involve?
Predicting the outcome of events based on similar events that have occurred in the past
Jackson and Jay were best friends and tennis partners for six years. Recently, Jay transferred to another school, causing their friendship to suffer as they were forced to compete for a single spot at the state championship. According to the stereotype content model, Jackson likely views Jay:
With an envious stereotype
What are discriminating stimuli?
A type of stimulus that is used consistently to gain a specific response and that increases the possibility that the desired response will occur.
A team of researchers at a pharmaceutical company tests a new cancer drug. The researchers have concluded that the drug is effective, but other scientists CANNOT replicate the findings. Which is the most likely explanation for the lack of replicability of the original results?
Observer bias
What is the glass elevator concept?
Men will be promoted to supervisory roles more quickly than their female counterparts
What is the overconfidence effect?
Overestimating the accuracy of one’s beliefs and judgments
When asked whether a person who is afraid of spiders would be diagnosed as having a psychological disorder, a psychologist replies, “It depends on whether or not this fear interferes with the person’s life.” The psychologist appears to rely most heavily on which criterion of abnormality?
Maladaptiveness
In an evaluation study for a diabetes intervention program, the subjects in the sample had a median age of 45 and a mean age of 55. Which statement accounts for the difference between the median age and the mean age?
The sample included subject(s) who were much older than the age of 45
Alcohol dependence is most strongly indicated by:
Withdrawal symptoms
Whenever a two-year-old sees a moth, the butterfly-like pattern on her dress shoes, or hair bows that resemble the shape of a butterfly, she proudly exclaims, “Butterfly!” This process is referred to as:
Overextension (applying a term for one class of objects to other objects that bear only a superficial resemblance)
What is bootstrapping?
The initial stage(s) of grammatical development
Which procedure is most effective for teaching a dog to shake hands?
Shaping (reinforcing successive approximations of a behavior)
Which statement does NOT describe a monocular depth cue?
Objects that are to the front of the point of focus are perceived as being closer than objects that are behind the point of focus (retinal disparity)
What is culture lag?
When norms and values have yet to catch up with technological advances
What is medicalization?
The process in which a social problem comes to be defined as a disease or disorder
A researcher applying the concept of assimilation to immigrant health would propose which hypothesis? An immigrant group’s life expectancy will:
Approximate the majority group’s life expectancy over time
Auditory hair cells are what type of receptors?
Mechanoreceptors
Anthropologists are studying a newly-discovered desert culture that is thought to have worshipped rain. It appears that, instead of praying to a human-like deity, these people chose to dedicate themselves to the rain as a form of recurring miracle. This rain-worshipping behavior exemplifies:
Social constructionism
What is a sect?
A collection of individuals with distinct, often extreme religious beliefs
A sociology professor tells her lecture students that substance abuse has recently undergone significant medicalization. In making this statement, the professor most likely means:
That this condition is now being viewed as physiological in origin, rather than being based on personality and choice
What are examples of symbolic culture?
A loaf of bread cooked with a traditional recipe and eaten during holidays and a building that sits in a plaza that holds great religious significance
A master status can also be a:
Ascribed status
Group polarization is best described as:
The tendency for group discussion to intensify members’ original stances, toward either one extreme or the other
Bystander apathy is another name for:
The bystander effect
Students at a football game spontaneously doing “the wave,” a new fan base for a boy band, or a group of rioters for educational rights are all examples of crowds. The spontaneous nature of these groups lead to collective behavior, which is characterized as:
Short-lived in nature with no clear organization
Political socialization is the study of the ways that individuals acquire their political cognitions, attitudes, and behaviors. What are aspects of political socialization?
Gender, religion and faith, and the media
A young girl is experiencing a crush for the first time. When she tells her friends, she says “I hope he likes me the way I like him.” Which type of self-concept development is this, and why?
Categorical self; the young girl is realizing that she is an object that other people may also perceive
What are components of an individual’s self-image?
Physical description, social roles, and existencial self
What describes stage 1 of the demographic transition model?
The fertility rate is higher than would be expected for the same population in stage 3, and the population size tends to fluctuate moderately due to disease and catastrophe
Which are most likely true of a poor, undeveloped country that is very racially and culturally homogenous?
The rate of emigration is higher than the rate of immigration, and approximate magnitude of its fertility rate cannot be determined without more data
An individual who is a member of a lower socioeconomic class is likely to:
Have weak ties and a larger network of connections, and have less social capital since he or she exists in a larger network of people
Cultural capital can include:
Educational degrees and public speaking ability
Mrs. Mooney is a member of the lower middle class. Mrs. Mooney is most likely:
A middle school teacher with a bachelor’s degree
If spatial inequality exists between two areas of the same city:
One area must have more accessible resources (such as stores, clean water, and medical facilities) than the other
In your sociology class, you are given a list of ten Los Angeles neighborhoods with demographic breakdowns by race for each. Which of these pieces of information, if added to this data, would be most useful for calculating Massey and Denton’s concentration index of segregation for the ethnic groups in these areas?
Square mileage of each neighborhood
In most regions, in comparison to men, women have:
Higher morbidity and lower mortality rates
Historically, the United States and Canada have been categorized as which type of governmental or social system?
Partial meritocracy
An experimental protocol that relies entirely on surveys and questionnaires is especially vulnerable to which form of bias?
Social desirability bias
If a study of unemployment reveals that age correlates significantly with unemployment, yet hours spent outside the house after unemployment remains the same, this is best explained by which understanding of ageing?
Activity theory
According to the functional attitudes theory, an immigrant from a poor country who immigrates to a wealthy country and begins to support the empowerment of women is adopting an:
Adaptive attitude
What is the dependency theory of globalization?
Peripheral countries are poor and are positioned in the economy by exporting commodities to core countries
While Person A was in a coma, researchers considered stimulating her brain to bring her out of the comatose state. The researchers would most likely have stimulated the:
Reticular activating system
What is a token economy?
Token economy is kind of like chuck E cheese. There is incentive because you win objects such as tokens that can be exchanged for larger prizes or wants.
