Psychology MCAT

Question 1

placebo effect

Answer 1

believing the treatment is being administered can lead to measurable results

Question 2

double blind

Answer 2

opposite of placebo effect, neither the person nor the researcher knows who is in the control group or not

Question 3

meta analysis

Answer 3

big picture analysis of many studies to look for trends in the data

Question 4

attrition

Answer 4

participants dropping out of the study, threat to internal validity, confounding variable

Question 5

type 1 error

Answer 5

false positive

Question 6

type 2 error

Answer 6

false negative

Question 7

large sample size

Answer 7

above 30 people

Question 8

confounding variable

Answer 8

extraneous variable not accounted for EX: ice cream increases sunburn increases, does ice cream increase sunburns?

Question 9

Hawthorne effect

Answer 9

alteration of behavior because of awareness of being observed

Question 10

external validity

Answer 10

difficult to apply conclusion to real world

Question 11

internal validity

Answer 11

experiment is not well done leaving doubts about the conclusion because of inherent flow in the design, is high if confounding variables are limited

Question 12

functionalism

Answer 12

many different interrelated and interdependent parts, Herbet Spencer said organs work for the human body just like institutions of a society and can evolve with pressures of organisms, dynamic equilibrium

Question 13

Emilee Durkheim

Answer 13

sociology, societys capactiy to maintain social order and stability is paramount to its functional success

Question 14

social facts

Answer 14

laws, rules, morals that make up a society, serve some function

Question 15

manifest functions

Answer 15

official consequence of a structure, usually good EX: enforcing laws by police

Question 16

latent functions

Answer 16

not officially sought consequence, good, bad, or neutral EX: raising government money by issuing traffic tickets

Question 17

conflict theory

Answer 17

large scale social structures and their effects in individuals, Karl Marx

Question 18

hegemony

Answer 18

coerced acceptance of values, expectations determined by capitalist class
capitalism->socialism-> communism

Question 19

class consciousness

Answer 19

exploit workers awareness of the reasons for their oppression

Question 20

Max Weber

Answer 20

Protestant/Puritan work ethic (religious, work hard for god)

Question 21

rationalization of society

Answer 21

maximum result, minimum effort

Question 22

symbolic interactionism

Answer 22

George Herbert Meed, 1. ascribe meanings then act 2. language 3. modify meanings

Question 23

social constructionism

Answer 23

people shape reality through interactions

Question 24

social exchange theory

Answer 24

rational actor=game=rational choice theory

Question 25

utilitarianism

Answer 25

humans act rationally, they try to benefit themselves

Question 26

teacher expectancy theory

Answer 26

if student accepts teachers expectations they will be good

Question 27

educational stratification

Answer 27

perpetuates social inequalities

Question 28

fundamentalists

Answer 28

extremely religious people

Question 29

republican government

Answer 29

people have supreme power

Question 30

federalist government

Answer 30

central government and constituents

Question 31

parliamentary government

Answer 31

all interconnected

Question 32

presidential government

Answer 32

head of state

Question 33

anarchy

Answer 33

lawless

Question 34

mechanical solidarity

Answer 34

society integrates because people have common beliefs

Question 35

organic solidarity

Answer 35

integrate through division of labor, different personal experiences

Question 36

medical model of disease

Answer 36

physical and medical factors cause disease, understanding illness

Question 37

social model of disease

Answer 37

disease effected by class, employment, neighborhood

Question 38

food desert

Answer 38

place where no grocery store exists so easier to eat desert

Question 39

sick role

Answer 39

person when sick does not contribute to society, Talcott Parsons

Question 40

social institution

Answer 40

-family -education -religion -health -government/economy

Question 41

I and Me

Answer 41

individual vs social self, character different from social environment

Question 42

relative poverty

Answer 42

inability to meet average standard of living, EX: unemployment

Question 43

absolute poverty

Answer 43

no basic necessities, EX: food, water, healthcare

Question 44

cyclical poverty

Answer 44

transient period, overall state of the economy

Question 45

experimental design

Answer 45

to test casualty, cause and effect, not correlational, phenomenological, nor case study design

Question 46

social constructionism

Answer 46

socialization and constructionism of social realities

Question 47

symbolic cultures

Answer 47

symbols recognized by same culture

Question 48

material culture

Answer 48

physical object

Question 49

nonmaterial culture

Answer 49

specific to social thoughts EX: values

Question 50

pop culture

Answer 50

regular

Question 51

high culture

Answer 51

elite EX: ballet, operas

Question 52

cultural universals

Answer 52

necessities, common to all

Question 53

cultural diffusion

Answer 53

transfer 1 culture to social groups

Question 54

cultural competence

Answer 54

interactions between people with different cultures

Question 55

cultural transmission

Answer 55

information passed down to successive generations

Question 56

cultural lag

Answer 56

material changing, nonmaterial is not changing

Question 57

replacement fertility rate

Answer 57

rate at which the population remains balanced

Question 58

subreplacement

Answer 58

birth rate less than death rate

Question 59

population lag effect

Answer 59

changes in fertility rate are not reflected in birth rate

Question 60

population momentum

Answer 60

children produced during periods of higher fertility rates reproduce

Question 61

morbidity

Answer 61

nature and extent of disease in a population

Question 62

case fatality rate

Answer 62

death as a result of a disease

Question 63

white flight

Answer 63

white people to black people areas

Question 64

urban sprawls

Answer 64

urban to rural areas negative effect is urban blight (urban decline)

Question 65

gentrification

Answer 65

fixes urban life, urban renewal

Question 66

demographic transition

Answer 66

transition from overall death and birth rate from high to low because of industrialization

Question 67

Thomas Robert Malthus

Answer 67

population result of available resources

Question 68

Malthusianism

Answer 68

rate of population increases exceeds rate of resources

Question 69

positive check

Answer 69

raise death rate (disease, etc.)

Question 70

preventative check

Answer 70

lower birth rate (birth control)

Question 71

Malthusian Catastrophe

Answer 71

sustenance not enough for the population, EX: population reduction through famine so people stop having kids in fear of shortage

Question 72

Neomalthusian

Answer 72

movement based on these principles advocated for population control

Question 73

New Great Migration

Answer 73

reverse migration, black migration to the now urban south as racial relations improved