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Psychology & Sociology - MCAT Flashcards

1
Q

What is parallel play?

A

Kids playing by themselves but observing other kids playing and adjusting their behavior accordingly Often seen in pre-school aged kids

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2
Q

What is assimilation?

A

Slowly adapting to a new culture from an old one

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3
Q

What is socialization?

A

Learning social norms and values expected in one’s society ex.

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4
Q

What part of the eye holds the vitreous humor?

A

posterior chamber

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5
Q

What part of the eye holds the aqueous humor?

A

anterior chamber

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6
Q

What part of the eye holds the rods and cones?

A

retina

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7
Q

What muscle changes the shape of the lens?

A

Ciliary muscle

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8
Q

Where are most of the cones in the eye?

A

fovea

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9
Q

What types of cones are there?

A

red, green, blue

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10
Q

What feature of the eye is specialized for low light?

A

rods

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11
Q

What photoreceptor contains rhodopsin?

A

rods

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12
Q

Where are rods concentrated?

A

the periphery of the eye

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13
Q

What is the order of the visual processing pathway?

A

optic nerve -> optic chiasm -> optic tract -> lateral geniculate nucleus -> occipital lobe

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14
Q

What is the motion parallax?

A

Viewing closer objects as moving faster and farther objects as moving slower

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15
Q

What type of waves are sound waves?

A

longitudinal

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16
Q

What are the parts of the outer ear?

A

ear lobe, pinna/auricle, external auditoriy canal, tympanic membrane (ear drum)

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17
Q

What are the parts of the middle ear (tympanic cavity)?

A

ossicles (malleus, incus, stapes), eustachian tube

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18
Q

What is the eustachian tube?

A

connects middle ear to throat

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19
Q

What are parts of the inner ear?

A

It is the bony labyrinth comprised of semicircular canals (posterior, lateral, anterior), cochlea, vestibule, hair cells (stereocilia), and basilar membrane

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20
Q

What is the neural pathway from rods and cones?

A

Rods & cones -> horizontal cells -> bipolar cells -> amicrine cells -> ganglion cells -> optic nerve

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21
Q

What side of the eyes and brain processes an image on the right?

A

The left sides

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22
Q

What neuronal cell of the lateral geniculate nucleus detects motion but NOT fine details?

A

magnocellular neurons

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23
Q

What neuronal cells of the lateral geniculate nucleus detect fine details but NOT motion?

A

parvocellular neurons

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24
Q

What is systematically given attention to one thing at a time called?

A

serial memory processing

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25
The act of integrating multiple stimuli simultaneously is known as what?
parallel processing
26
What is the pathway of sound hitting the hair cells (stereocilia) of the ear to transmit sound?
Sound hits ear drum -\> amplified by Malleus, Incus, Stapes (MIS) -\> Oval window Sound waves hit endolymph surrounding hair cells -\> hair cells vibrate -\> Potassium influx into hair cells -\> Calcium influx into hair cells -\> Release of neurotransmitters to vestibulocochlear nerve -\> Medial geniculate nucleus -\> Auditory complex in Temporal lobe
27
What are the two functions of the hair cells of the ear (stereocilia)
Balance and detecting sounds
28
What is the function of the semicircular canals?
Sense rotational acceleration
29
What is the function of the vestibule in the inner ear?
senses linear acceleration
30
What is the pathway of taste sensation in the brain?
thalamus -\> gustatory cortex
31
What is the process of smell in the brain?
olfactory bulb-\> olfactory tract -\> limbic system
32
What is the absolute threshold for a sensory stimulus?
The level of intensity a stimulus has to be in order for your NEURONS to pick up on it at least 50% of the time
33
What is the threshold of conscious perception?
How intense a stimulus has to be for you to actually consciously acknowledge it
34
What is psychophysical discrimination testing?
Testing whether a subject can tell the difference between to stimuli
35
What does Weber's law / the just-noticeable difference state?
For a given stimulus, the change you notice will be a constant proportion of the original input ex. if you can tell the difference between a 10 lb weight becoming an 11 lb weight, that is a 10% difference. So if you were to next pick up a 50lb weight, you could tell the difference between the 50 and 55lb weight. \*\*\*does not work for extremes such as a ton or mg weights
36
What is it called when a stimulus is absent and it is perceived as absent?
correct rejection
37
What is it called if a stimulus is present but you do not perceive it?
miss
38
What does the law of pranganz state?
People perceive objects in a simple, orderly way (part of Gestalt's visual perception) - you see simplified pictures
39
What are monocular visual cues?
relative size, texture gradient, shape, size, height, motion parallax, contrast NOT retinal disparity (binocular cues)
40
What is social stratification?
Ranking individuals based on socioeconomic tiers based on class, race, income, education, power
41
The idea of reaching your full potential/being the best you can be is what tier of Maslow's theory on hierarchy of needs?
self-actualization
42
What is cultural relativism?
The belief that a person's beliefs and health behaviors should be understood in the context of their own culture
43
What are mores?
Informal rules BUT they have strict punishments
44
What are folkways?
Informal rules that may annoy people but do NOT have harsh consequences
45
What is attrition bias?
When subjects drop out of study gradually over time
46
What is social desirability bias?
When subjects act in a way they find more socially acceptable
47
48
What is the difference between discrimination and prejudice?
discrimination is when you put the thoughts (your prejudices) into actual actions
49
What is it called when someone remembers every detail of a particular event?
flashbulb memory
50
In operant conditioning, how is the subject's **motivational state** determined?
by LACK of the reward they were getting...if they keep performing the behavior they are very motivated to get that reward back
51
What type of memory remembers facts and explicit pieces of knowledge that aren't necessarily pertinent to one's personal life (haven't been lived through)?
semantic memory
52
What type of memory remembers events that one has gone through?
episodic memory
53
What is a type I error?
Rejecting the null hypothesis when it's actually true
54
What is a type II error?
Failing to reject the null hypothesis when it's actually false
55
What is construct validity?
How well your means of measuring a variable actually equates to what the real value of it is
56
To be reliable is to be ____ while to be valid is to be \_\_\_\_
consistent; accurate
57
58
What is inter-rater reliability?
How close two people's outcomes are when measuring the same thing (able to show how externally valid an experiment is)
59
What is the social/socioeconomic gradient in health?
The fact that wealthy people live longer than middle class people live longer than poor people
60
What is the lifecourse perspective?
Explains changes to psychological, social, and biological processes overtime
61
What is a source-monitoring error?
Incorrectly thinking you learned something from a specific instance but it didn't actually occur then...not knowing how you learned something but having it memorized ex. thinking previously learned name is someone who is famous
62
What are the different types of pove
marginal poverty - instability in employment absolute poverty - poverty as defined between many countries relative poverty - poverty in relation to another group/class
63
What is the fundamental attribution error?
Valuing personal traits over external factors in someone else
64
What is a schema?
Helps us organize information to be able to respond to something/interpret info quickly
65
What is impression management?
Using certain behaviors to manipulate ones impression of your personality
66
What are dispositional behaviors?
behaviors that are due to internal attributes
67
What are situational behaviors?
behaviors due to genetics, socioeconomics, race, etc
68
What does drive reduction thoery state?
all motives arise from the need to respond to drives such as thirst, hunger, temperature, and biological needs
69
What does humanistic theory state?
Humans are intrinsically good with the desire to get better
70
What is psychoanalytic theory?
Divides the id (unseen traits/basic motives like sex drive), ego (rational self that mediates id and superego), superego (perfectionistic self, who you strive to be)
71
What is cultural capital?
Things beyond money that lead to social mobility such as intelligence or good style
72
What is ascribed status?
something that you've been labelled with at birth that you cannot change such as race, sex, and background
73
What is social cognitive theory concerned with?
Learning things from observation of others (modeling, observational learning)
74
What does intersectionality in psychology refer to?
The simultaneous experience of race, gender, sexuality, nationality, SES, etc.
75
What does opponent process theory state?
people want to avoid extreme emotions by "oppossing"
76
What does the diathesis stress model state?
It explains behavior by genetic predispositions
77
What is the just-world hypothesis?
States that the world is fair (moral choices determine outcomes)
78
What is place theory?
Being able to hear different sounds coming from different places

MCAT (6 decks)

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