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Various MCAT Flashcards > Next Step Psych/Soc Vocab > Flashcards

Next Step Psych/Soc Vocab Flashcards

1
Q

Need based theories of motivation

A

Most common: Maslow’s hierarchy of needs: physiology, safety and security, love and friendship, self-esteem and achievement, self actualization

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2
Q

Social reproduction

A

The process of transmitting social inequality to the next generation. Based on differences in financial capital, cultural capital, human capital, and social capital.

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3
Q

Attitudes, components

A

A positive or negative feeling towards something or someone. Consists of Emotion (I like wine); Behavior (I will drink wine if offered); Cognition (I know red wine is good for my heart).

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4
Q

Variable interval

A

Reinforcement after the first response, after a variable amount of time has elapsed (e.g. after a food pellet is dispensed, there is some changing period of time during which no food pellets will be dispensed. After that time is up, the first level press will get a food pellet.)

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5
Q

Avoidance Learning

A

A behavior that prevents a negative stimulus (e.g. pressing a lever before the noise starts keeps it silent)

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6
Q

Identity

A

A person’s sense of and expression of their group affiliations and individuality

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7
Q

Dramaturgical approach

A

A perspective on sociology that focuses on the context of human behavior rather than the causes, viewing everyday social interactions as a form of performance in which people are playing roles

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8
Q

Vestibular sense

A

The labyrinth of the inner ear provides a sense of spatial orientation, sense of balance, and sense of movement

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9
Q

Ovaries

A

Sex organ of the female that releases: progesterone, estrogens (mainly estradiol), inhibin

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10
Q

Fixed interval

A

Reinforcement after a fixed number of responses (e.g. a food pellet after every 5 lever presses)

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11
Q

James-Lange theory

A

Emotions start as physiological states in the body and emotions are reactions to those bodily responses

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12
Q

Self-concept

A

The set of beliefs one has about who one is (gender roles, sexuality, racial identity, personal characteristics, etc.)

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13
Q

Neurotransmitters

A

Chemicals used to send signals across a synapse between a neuron and the target cell. Include amino acids, monoamines, peptides, and others (adenosine, acetylcholine, nitric oxide, etc.)

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14
Q

Prestige

A

A positive esteem of a person or group

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15
Q

Functionalism

A

A large-scale sociological approach that analyzes particular social structures and functions that influence society as a whole

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16
Q

Heuristics in problem solving

A

A quick way to solve a problem using experience when a full exhaustive search would be impossible. Generates results that may not be the best. (e.g. rule of thumb, educated guess, intuition, common sense, stereotypes)

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17
Q

Kohlberg stages

A

Stages that represent an individual’s ability to reason through ethical and moral questions. Relate not to the outcome (decision made), but the process by which an individual thinks about ethical questions 1. Pre-conventional: obedience and punishment, self-interest 2. Conventional: conformity, authority obedience 3. Post-conventional: Universal ethical principles

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18
Q

Olfactory pathway

A

Nose, olfactory epithelium, olfactory receptor, olfactory nerve (part of the CNS), olfactory bulb, brain (piriform cortex, amygdala)

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19
Q

Body Dysmorphic Disorder

A

Somatoform disorder in which the patient has excessive concern with a perceived defect or deficiency in their body

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20
Q

Social loafing

A

Phenomenon of individuals putting in less effort when working in groups

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21
Q

Social facilitation

A

The presence of other people will increase performance on familiar tasks but reduce performance on unfamiliar ones

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22
Q

Alzheimer’s Disease

A

Most common form of dementia. No cure, develops with age and worsens as it progresses, eventually fatal. Starts with simple absent-mindedness, then deepening confusion and eventual debilitating cognitive deficits.

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23
Q

Front stage vs. back stage

A

Front stage: how a person behaves when an audience is present, adhering to certain conventions for the audience Back stage: how a person behaves when no audience is present

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24
Q

Psychoanalytic perspective on personality

A

Personality is developed by early childhood experiences and influenced by the unconscious part of the mind. Freud said personality develops through psychosexual stages

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25
Q

Hair cells

A

Sensory receptors in the organ of Corti on the basilar membrane. Located in the cochlea of the inner ear. The hairs detect sound as vibrations in the tectorial membrane

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26
Q

Foot in the door phenomenon

A

Getting someone to agree to a small request increases the likelihood they will then agree to a much larger one

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27
Q

Residential segregation

A

The physical separation of different groups into neighborhoods, typically along race, ethnic, or income criteria

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28
Q

Sleep disorders

A

Medical disorder of sleep patterns. (e.g. insomnia, narcolepsy, night terrors, sleep apnea, sleepwalking, enuresis)

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29
Q

Unconditioned stimuli

A

A natural stimulus that provokes a response with no learning at all. (e.g. food is an unconditioned stimulus for salivation)

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30
Q

Subcultures

A

A group of people within a culture that differentiate themselves from the larger cultures

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31
Q

Fertility

A

The average number of expected children born to a woman assuming that the woman will survive from birth to the end of her reproductive life

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32
Q

Piaget’s stages

A

Sensorimotor Preoperational Concrete Operational Formal Operational

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33
Q

Innate behaviors

A

Instinctive behavior that occurs in the absence of any learning or experience. Can be simple or fairly complex behavior

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34
Q

Vicarious emotions

A

When an observer feels the same emotion that someone being observed would feel (e.g. feeling embarrassment when someone else commits a social faux pas)

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35
Q

Elaboration likelihood model

A

A process of persuasion in which attitudes are influenced both by high elaboration factors (e.g. evaluating and processing information), the ‘central route’, and low elaboration ones (e.g. the attractiveness of the person making the appeal), the ‘peripheral route’)

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36
Q

Shaping

A

Rewarding a series of small behaviors that are a part of the overall behavior desired in order to create larger behavior which would likely never occur on its own

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37
Q

Parkinson’s disease

A

Degenerative disease. Motor difficulties due to death of dopamine-generating cells in the substantia nigra of the midbrain

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38
Q

Social cognitive theory

A

Some portion of people’s learning occurs not through direct behavior, but by observing the consequences of the behavior of others

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39
Q

Emotion Components

A

Cognition: evaluation of events Physiology: bodily responses Motivation: motor responses an emotion generates Expression: facial and vocal signals of the feeling Feelings: subjective experience of the emotion (3 main: physiological, cognitive, behavioral)

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40
Q

Primary reinforcement

A

A stimulus that an organism desires with no learning (e.g. food, water)

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41
Q

Marginalization

A

The social exclusion in which individuals or groups are systematically barred from normal opportunities in a society (work, housing, health care, legal services)

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42
Q

Cognitive theories of motivation

A

Motivation is based on cognitive process. For example, to reduce cognitive dissonance, or in goal-setting theory to reach a particular end state. Focuses on our rationale and decision-making abilities

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43
Q

Hypothalamus

A

Portion of the brain connected to the endocrine system. Produces: dopamine, growth hormone releasing hormone, thyrotropin-releasing hormone, somatostatin, gonadotropin-releasing hormone, corticotropin-releasing hormone, oxytocin, vasopressin

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44
Q

Social stratification

A

A hierarchy of classes of people based on differences in power or privilege. It carries from generation to generation, is present in all societies, and includes beliefs

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45
Q

Mood disorders

A

Depression and bipolar disorder. Disturbance in a person’s underlying mood is the main feature of the disorder

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46
Q

Memory encoding

A

Process of turning sense information into information in the brain (memory) that can later be recalled (e.g. remember what something looks like)

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47
Q

Meritocracy

A

Political philosophy that holds that power should accrue to individuals demonstrating merit as measured by achievement or intellectual talent

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48
Q

Eysenck’s three factor model

A

Model of personality based on activity of reticular formation and limbic system. Personality made up of: 1. Extraversion 2. Neuroticism 3. Psychoticism

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49
Q

Vygotsky and development

A

Theorized that play is essential in a child’s development. Children learn symbolic play (using a stick to pretend it’s a horse) and learn social rules through play (e.g. playing house to stimulate acceptable social interactions)

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50
Q

Group polarization

A

Groups tend to make decisions that are more extreme than the initial attitudes of the individual members

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51
Q

Schizophrenia

A

Mental disorder involving delusions, hallucinations, disorganized thinking, lack of emotion and lack of motivation

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52
Q

Intuition in problem solving

A

The ability to have knowledge or solve a problem without rational inference or reasoning. Subjects typically don’t know the process by which they have the intuitive judgment. Associated with the right brain.

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53
Q

Learning theory of language development

A

Language is learned from the environment (not based on inherent biological systems) in some manner similar to operant condition. Various theories about what that manner is

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54
Q

Conflict Theory

A

A variety of approaches to sociology that focus on inequality between social groups and the power differentials that exist between them. Most strongly associated with Karl Marx.

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55
Q

Cultural capital

A

Non-economic assets that provide value to an individual and that can promote social mobility (e.g. education, dress, attractiveness, humor)

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56
Q

Norms

A

Socially held beliefs about appropriate behavior

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57
Q

Prejudice

A

Having a positive or negative view of a person or thing prior to experience with that person or thing. Typically towards people based on some group affiliation. Often unreasonable and difficult to change

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58
Q

Gestalt princples

A

Laws of perceptual organization that guide the brain in making a whole out of sensory parts

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59
Q

Attraction

A

A process between two people which draws them together and leads to friendship and romance.

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60
Q

Peripheral route processing

A

A process of shaping attitudes that depend on the environmental characteristics of the message (attractiveness of the speaker, catchy slogan, seeming expertise). Useful when the idea is essentially weak or the audience unable or unwilling to work to evaluate the merits of the idea

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61
Q

Social cognitive perspective on personality

A

Personality is developed through observational learning, situational influences, cognitive processes. Focuses on self-efficacy

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62
Q

Pineal gland

A

Portion of the brain that secretes melatonin

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63
Q

Classical conditioning

A

A form of learning that pairs neutral stimuli with natural stimuli in which the learner is able to pair this neutral stimuli with the response normally given to the natural stimuli (ring a bell and a dog salivates)

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64
Q

Social capital

A

The value of a social network. Collective or economic benefits that result from cooperation between people and groups

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65
Q

Biological Perspective of Personality

A

Personality reflects the functioning of physiological processes in the brain. Influenced by hormone levels, neurotransmitter levels, size and development of various brain structures. Associated with Eysenck’s Three Factor Model

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66
Q

Privilege

A

A set of unearned advantages accruing to someone owing to membership in a group (e.g. male privilege in China under the one-child policy resulted in infanticide of female offspring)

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67
Q

Circadian rhythm

A

A built-in rhythm of an organism that is roughly 24 hours long but can adjust to external stimuli. Present in plants, animals, fungi, bacteria

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68
Q

Discrimination

A

When an animal learns to respond to one conditioned stimulus but gives either a different response or no response at all to a slightly different stimulus

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69
Q

Absolute Poverty

A

Deprivation of basic human needs including access to food, water, shelter, safety. Was set to $1.25/day in 2005 by the World Bank.

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70
Q

Social constructionism

A

A theory that people construct their sense of reality and meaning through interaction with others, most powerfully through language

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71
Q

Sensitivity index

A

A measure of how easily a signal can be detected. Estimated as d’=Hit Rate - False Alarm Rate

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72
Q

Stereotype threat

A

Anxiety that one will fulfill a negative stereotype causing decreased performance

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73
Q

Behaviorist Perspective of Personality

A

Personality is a learning process of operant conditioning controlled by the environment. People have response tendencies which create behavior patterns. Childhood not the crucial period as the environment-based learning continues through life.

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74
Q

Train perspective of personality

A

Personality is made up of a number of traits that are heavily influenced by biology. Various theories. “Big Five” theory: 1. Openness (to experience) 2. Conscientiousness 3. Extraversion 4. Agreeableness 5. Neuroticism

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75
Q

Adrenal Medulla

A

Gland just above the kidneys that releases: epinephrine, norepinephrine, dopamine, enkephalin.

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76
Q

Neural plasticity

A

Changes in neural pathways and synapses that occur in response to experience. Can be a change on the level of a single cell or remapping entire chunks of the cortex

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77
Q

Aggression

A

Acts carried out either with an intention to cause harm or to increase relative social dominance.

78
Q

Stigma

A

Social disapproval. Usually based on overt external deformities, personality deviations, or membership in an unfavored group (e.g. antisemitism)

79
Q

Meditation

A

One of a number of practices meant to induce a mode of consciousness in which the person focuses on an aspect of awareness, emotion, or sense of well-being

80
Q

Cerebellum

A

Coordination, precision, timing of movement (gait, posture, complex tasks like typing or playing the piano)

81
Q

Limbic system

A

Collection of brain structures involved with emotion, behavior, motivation, long-term memory, smell. Includes hippocampus, amygdala, fornix, mamillary body, etc.

82
Q

Somatosensation

A

Sensory system through the skin, muscles, bones, joints, etc. Processes proprioception, touch, thermoception, nociception

83
Q

Positive reinforcement

A

A stimulus delivered to increase a behavior (e.g. a food pellet to encourage pressing a lever)

84
Q

Acquisition

A

The phase of conditioning in which the conditioned stimulus is paired with the unconditioned stimulus and the animal is learning to give a conditioned response.

85
Q

Somatoform disorders

A

Mental disorder that creates physical symptoms that cannot be explained by an actual medical condition. Includes conversion, somatization, hypochondriasis, body dysmorphic disorder, pain disorder

86
Q

Preoperational stage

A

Piaget stage 2: 2-7 yrs. Child can speak, imagine symbolically, but not carry out mental operations

87
Q

Drive reduction theory

A

Motivation results from an organism’s desire to reduce a drive (hunger, thirst, sex)

88
Q

Signal detection theory

A

A mathematical theory for measuring how sensitive people are in spotting stimuli correctly and rejecting false signals correctly

89
Q

Ingroup

A

Any group that a person psychologically identifies as their own

90
Q

Deindividuation

A

When an individual loses a sense of self-awareness when in a group.

91
Q

Freud stages of psychosexual identity development

A

Oral: 0-1 yr, oral fixation is a passive immature personality, nail-biting, smoking, thumb-sucking Anal: 1-3 yr, anal fixation is obsessively neat/organized personality, or reckless, careless, and disorganized Phallic: 3-6 yr, fixation can by oedipus complex (boys & girls), Electra complex (girls) Latency: 6-12 yr, fixation leads to sexual unfulfillment Genital: puberty-death, fixation leads to frigidity, impotence

92
Q

Neutral stimuli

A

A stimulus which initially produces no specific response other than focusing attention attention (e.e. a noise made by a clicker in dog training)

93
Q

Conformity

A

Matching behavior to social norms as a result of direct or unconscious pressure. Conforming behavior occurs both in groups and while alone.

94
Q

Conditioned stimuli

A

A neutral stimulus that is paired with an unconditioned stimuus and comes to elicit the response. (e.g. the bell before the food)

95
Q

Mirror neurons

A

Neurons that fire when an animal exhibits a behavior and when it observes another carrying out that same behavior, as if the observer were the one acting. Present in both motor and sensory cortical areas

96
Q

Locus of control

A

The extent to which individuals believe that they can control events that affect them

97
Q

Hypnosis

A

A mental state in which the subject is focused intensely on particular thought or memory while being more open to suggestion

98
Q

Operant conditioning

A

Conditioning in which behaviors are shaped by their consequences (rather than their antecedents as in classical conditioning). It uses reinforcement and punishment to change behavior, whereas classical conditioning shapes reflexive behavior

99
Q

Assimilation

A

Process of one culture or language beginning to resemble that of another group

100
Q

Cultural relativism

A

An attempt to study societies while minimizing ethnocentric bias

101
Q

Conditional Reinforcement

A

A stimulus that an organism learns to desire due to its pairing with another reinforcer (e.g. money or a clicker noise in dog training)

102
Q

Feature detection

A

Specialized nerve cells in the brain respond to particular features such as edges, angles, or movement. These feature detection neurons fire in response to images that have specific characteristics

103
Q

Social identity

A

The part of a person’s identity that comes from their sense of membership in some social group

104
Q

Anterior Pituitary

A

Gland that releases: growth hormone, thyroid stimulating hormone, adrenocorticotropic hormone, beta-endorphin, follicle stimulating hormone, luteinizing hormone, prolactin.

105
Q

Nativist theory of language development

A

Language acquisition must be biologically dependent on the native capacity of the human brain (theories linked most commonly to Chomsky)

106
Q

Variable ratio

A

Reinforcement after changing number of responses (e.g. a food pellet after a changing number of lever presses)

107
Q

Formal operational stage

A

Piaget stage 4: age 11 onwards. Can do hypothetical and deductive reasoning and think about abstract concepts

108
Q

Bystander Effect

A

The more individuals are present, the less likely someone will offer help

109
Q

Intelligence

A

Many different definitions (one general ability vs. many different “types” of intelligence) that generally relate to problem-solving ability, abstract thinking, and ability to learn from experience

110
Q

Morbidity

A

Number of people in ill health per unit time, usually give per 1000 people per year

111
Q

Brainstem

A

Part of the CNS that connects the spinal cord to the brain. Medulla oblongata, pons, and midbrain (mesencephalon). Regulates the CNS, controls sleep cycle, heart rate, breathing, eating, etc.

112
Q

Divided attention

A

The ability of the brain to perform multiple tasks at once (such as driving a car and talking on the phone). The brain has limited attention resources and as multiple tasks are added, especially in the same modality (listening to the radio and listening to a conversation), performance drops

113
Q

Schachter-Singer theory

A

Emotions depend on physiological arousal and cognitive label. People use their environment or experience to label why they feel the physiological stimulation they do

114
Q

Psychological disorders, categories

A

Anxiety, somatoform, mood, schizophrenia, dissociative, personality

115
Q

Conversion disorder

A

Somatoform disorder in which a patient suffers numbness, blindness, or paralysis with no identifiable medical cause

116
Q

Nociception

A

Sensation of pain triggered by mechanical, thermal, or chemical stimuli above a threshold

117
Q

Incidence rate

A

Total number of newly appearing cases of a disease per unit time, usually given as a proportion (e.g. 5 per 1000, or 0.045%, or 1 in 100,000)

118
Q

Memory types

A

Topographic memory, flashbulb memory, declarative memory (explicit memory), procedural memory (implicit memory)

119
Q

Reference group

A

A group against which an individual (or other group) is compared. It provides benchmarks against which the traits of an individual can compare herself, either by comparison or by contrast

120
Q

Ethnocentrism

A

The process of judging another culture by the values and standards of your own culture

121
Q

Language, brain areas

A

Wernicke’s area: temporal lobe, ability to comprehend speech Broca’s area: frontal lobe, speech production

122
Q

Anxiety Disorders

A

Excessive anxiety or fear. Includes Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Phobias, Panic, OCD, PTSD

123
Q

Sensory adaptation

A

A form of neural adaptation in which the sensory system stops responding to a constant stimulus

124
Q

Modelling

A

Process of learning through imitation of others. “Modelling” can refer to the actions of the person demonstrating the behavior, or the behavior of the learner

125
Q

Voluntary movement control

A

Posterior part of the frontal lobe of the cerebral cortex

126
Q

Cerebrum

A

Uppermost part of the brain including the cerebral cortex (frontal lobe, parietal lobe, temporal lobe, occipital lobe) and subcortical structures (hippocampus, basal ganglia, olfactory bulb); Arises from prosencephalon (forebrain); Controls all voluntary actions of the body (with assistance of cerebellum)

127
Q

Urbanization

A

The process of shifting a population from rural to urban settings, most common in developing countries. By 2010, more than half of the world’s population had shifted to urban environments

128
Q

Erikson stages of psychosocial identity development

A

0-2 yrs, Hopes, Trust vs. Mistrust 2-4 yrs, Will, Autonomy vs. Shame 4-5 yrs, Purpose, Initiative vs. Guilt 5-12 yrs, Competence, Industry vs. Inferiority 13-19 yrs, Fidelity, Identity vs. Role Confusion 20-39, Love, Intimacy vs. Isolation 40-64 yrs, Care, Generativity vs. Stagnation 65-death, Wisdom, Ego Integrity vs. Despair

129
Q

Globalization

A

Interconnection and interdependence across national boundaries, involving the exchange of culture, ideas, goods, etc.

130
Q

Prevalence rate

A

Total number of people with a given disease at a given point in time, usually given as a proportion (5 per 1,000, or 0.045%, or 1 in 100,000)

131
Q

Punishment

A

A consequence that causes a behavior to occur less frequently

132
Q

Institutional discrimination

A

Unjust discriminatory treatment of a group by formal organizations such as governments, public interactions, and corporations. Typically codified into set rules (e.g. racial segregation laws)

133
Q

Self-esteem

A

The cognitive and emotional evaluation a person has of their own worth

134
Q

Role taking

A

3-6 yrs: Egocentric role taking, can’t distinguish own perspective from others 6-8 yrs: Subjective role taking, child can tell that others will have different views based on different information 8-10 yrs: Self-reflective role taking, child understands that others have different values 10-12 yrs: Mutual role taking, child simultaneously considers his own view and differing views of others 12+ yrs: societal role taking, child now considers social and cultural effects on views

135
Q

Demographic shift

A

The increase in the median age of a country due to rising life expectancy and/or reduced birth rate. Has happened in nearly every country in the world as it becomes more economically developed

136
Q

Endocrine organs

A

Hypothalamus, pineal gland, pituitary gland, thyroid, adrenal medulla, testes, ovaries

137
Q

Environmental justice

A

The effort to fairly distribute environmental benefits (clean water, parkland) and environmental burdens (industrial facilities, pollution) across all of society

138
Q

Escape learning

A

A behavior stops a negative stimulus (e.g. silencing an obnoxious noise to encourage a lever press)

139
Q

Relative poverty

A

Income below some proportion of the median income. Thus poverty is relative to the society one is in.

140
Q

Testes

A

Sex organ of the male that releases: androgens (mainly testosterone) from Leydig cells, estradiol and inhibin from Sertoli cells

141
Q

Dissociative disorders

A

Mental disorders involving breakdown in memory, awareness, and identity. Includes dissociative identity disorder (formerly multiple personality disorder), dissociative amnesia, and depersonalization disorder

142
Q

Peer pressure

A

A pressure change attitudes, values, or behaviors to conform to group norms

143
Q

Self-efficacy

A

A belief in one’s own ability to achieve goals

144
Q

Mortality

A

Number of deaths per unit time, usually given per 1000 people per year

145
Q

Altruism

A

Acting for the good of other at one’s own expense and with no expectation of benefit

146
Q

Depression

A

A low mood that leaves subject feeling sad, hopeless, worried. Characterized by disruptions to sleep and eating and loss of pleasure

147
Q

Cognitive dissonance

A

Mental discomfort when someone holds two contradictory beliefs at once

148
Q

Interactionist theory of language development

A

Language is acquired through social interaction with adults. Emphasizes the role of feedback and reinforcement. Requires modeling of adults

149
Q

Self-fulfilling prophecy in stereotypes

A

A person’s behavior can change to fit a stereotype if the person believes it themselves. For example, a stereotype that Asians are good at math can lead an Asian student to work exceptionally hard to excel in a math class

150
Q

Extinction

A

When the conditioned stimulus stops generating a conditioned response

151
Q

Weber’s Law

A

States that the ability to distinguish between two physical stimuli depends on a proportional increase in that stimulus (heavier of two masses, louder of two sounds, etc.). For example, a personal can tell one mass is heavier than another if there is a 10% difference between them.

152
Q

Concrete operational stage

A

Piaget Stage 3: 7-11 yrs. Child can solve problems in a logical fashion. Can begin to understand induction, but still have trouble with deduction

153
Q

Thyroid

A

Gland in the neck which releases: calcitonin, thyroxine, triiodothyronine

154
Q

Visual pathway

A

Eye, optic nerve, optic chiasm, optic tract, thalamus, visual cortex (occipital lobe)

155
Q

Incentive theory

A

Motivation is based on external incentives rather than internal drives. People’s varying behaviors result from the different incentives in their environment and the differing values they place on those incentives

156
Q

Diencephalon

A

Region of embryonic neural tube that leads to the thalamus, subthalamus, hypothalamus, epithalamus

157
Q

Korsakoff’s syndrome

A

Neurological disorder due to lack of thiamine (vitamin B1) associated with chronic alcoholism. Involves memory loss, invented memories, lack of insight, and apathy

158
Q

Universal emotions

A

Anger, disgust, fear, happiness, sadness, surprise (one more?)

159
Q

Stress

A

The body’s response to an environmental stressor or challenge. Triggers the sympathetic nervous system

160
Q

Groupthink

A

A breakdown in decision making in which groups value coherence and loyalty to the in group over critical analysis of the decisions

161
Q

Cannon-Bard Theory

A

Emotional expression is hypothalamic, emotional feeling is dorsal thalamus. Physiology and subjective feeling are independent. Physiological arousal does not have to precede subjective feeling of emotion.

162
Q

Stereotypes

A

An idea about a particular group of people which may or may not accurately reflect reality. Cognitive in nature. (as opposed to prejudice which is emotional and discrimination which is behavioral)

163
Q

Symbolic interactionism

A

A microsociological approach that analyses behavior - people behave towards the environment based on the meaning they ascribe to things, and that sense of meaning is based on social interaction and individual interpretation

164
Q

Personality disorders

A

Mental disorders involving an enduring set of behaviors or cognitions that cause distress or disability. Includes paranoid, antisocial, borderline, narcissistic, avoidant, obsessive-compulsive

165
Q

Deviance

A

Actions that violate social norms, either explicit rules (e.g. committing a crime) or informal mores (e.g. being atheist in a religious society)

166
Q

Negative reinforcement

A

A stimulus withdrawn to increase a behavior (e.g. silencing an obnoxious noise to encourage pressing a lever)

167
Q

Humanistic perspective on personality

A

Personality develops as a person grows psychologically. Emphasizes free will and self-actualization. Associated with Maslow’s hierarchy of needs

168
Q

Kinesthetic sense

A

Sense of the position of body parts relative to one another

169
Q

Socialization

A

The process of acquiring and transmitting cultural norms and customs, developing the social skills for a person to participate in society

170
Q

Multiculturalism

A

Communities with multiple distinct cultures. Also the ideology that promotes diversity as opposed to assimilation (e.g. publishing official gov’t communications in multiple languages)

171
Q

Generalization

A

When a new stimulus that is similar to a conditioned stimulus comes to generate the same or similar response

172
Q

Reflex arc

A

Neural pathway in which afferent nerve synapses with efferent nerve in the spinal cord, generating a response while the signal is still being sent up to the brain

173
Q

Selective attention

A

The ability of the brain to focus on a single input and “tune out” other stimuli. “Cocktail party effect”

174
Q

Fundamental attribution error

A

Overvaluing a personality-based explanation rather than environmental explanations. For example, explaining that members of an ethnic group must be poor because they are all lazy, rather than environmental impediments to their ability to get out of poverty

175
Q

Pheromones

A

Chemical secreted or excreted by an animal to trigger a social response from others. Includes alarm, food, and sex pheromones

176
Q

Sensorimotor stage

A

Piaget’s Stage 1: Infants, toddlers. Knowledge through senses and manipulating objects

177
Q

Peripheral nervous system

A

Nerves and ganglia outside the brain/spinal cord. Divided into somatic and autonomic systems

178
Q

Inclusive fitness

A

The ability of an organism to increase its fitness by behaving altruistically to support group members that share its genes. (e.g. a worker honey bee surrenders any possibility of reproducing itself but supporting the hive increases inclusive fitness and the reproduction of its genes through the queen)

179
Q

Conditioned response

A

A response to a conditioned stimulus which usually mimics an unconditioned response. (e.g. salivating in response to food is an unconditioned response; salivating in response to a bell is a conditioned response)

180
Q

Central Route Processing

A

A method of shaping attitudes that asks the audience to think more, to analyze the content of the message. Depends on the cognitive ability and motivation of the audience. High motivation –> deep processing –> persuasion towards message and lasting change

181
Q

Unconditioned response

A

A natural response that happens with no learning at all (e.g. salivation in response to food)

182
Q

Biases

A

Cognitive or motivational forces that result in repeated, systematic deviations from rational judgment. (e.g. availability heuristic, congruence bias, outcome bias)

183
Q

Consciousness altering drugs

A

Drugs that cross the blood-brain barrier to have an effect on the central nervous system. Common categories: anxiolytics, euphoriants, stimulants, depressants, hallucinogens

184
Q

Spontaneous recovery

A

After a behavior has extinguished, a conditioned stimulus may once again elicit a conditioned response after a rest period

185
Q

Individual discrimination

A

Treatment of one individual by another in a way that is worse than a normal social interaction owing to some group affiliation. (e.g. charging a higher rate for a cleaning service for a customer in an ethnic minority because “they’re messier people”)

186
Q

Attachment Theory

A

Study of long-term relationships, especially between infants and their primary caregiver. Includes several attachment patterns: secure, anxious, avoidant, ambivalent, disorganized.

187
Q

Parallel processing

A

The ability of the brain to process multiple things at once, such as in vision where color, motion, shape, and depth are all processed simultaneously to help the brain identify visual stimulus

188
Q

Attribution Theory

A

A process of explaining what happens by attributing causes to the environment, or attributing certain thoughts of feelings to other people

189
Q

Brain study methods

A

Electrophysiology (EEG), Neuroimaging (PET, fMRI), Effects of brain damage (strokes)

190
Q

Auditory Pathway

A

Outer ear, auditory canal, tympanic membrane, middle ear (malleus, incus, stapes), inner ear (cochlea), Organ of Corti, Vestibulocochlear nerve, thalamus, temporal lobe

191
Q

Stages of sleep

A

Stage 1: Drowsy sleep, transition from alpha to theta waves Stage 2: Conscious awareness gone, theta waves Stage 3: Slow-wave sleep/Deep sleep, delta waves REM: dreaming, muscle paralysis

Various MCAT Flashcards (5 decks)

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