NS 1/2 Behavior

One study participant described overeating in response to a sense of anxiety about the state of the world, especially in relation to global climate change and the poor economy. This anxiety most closely reflects the effect of which kind of stressor?

Ambient Ambient stressors are those chronic environmental stressors that cannot be changed (or are perceived as unchangeable) by the efforts of the individual subject to them. Things like the economy and climate change would be examples of ambient stressors.

difficulty "getting [his] sentences out." The brain area likely to cause these symptoms is the:

Broca's area.

Which of the following symptoms is expected in a patient with Bálint's syndrome?

Difficulty using a fork Paragraph 1 states that Bálint's syndrome patients have defects in hand movements that require visual guidance. Patients would be unable to grab an object while looking at it. This kind of coordination is required for eating with utensils.

As one step in the statistical analysis of the effectiveness of CHW intervention, researchers calculated the average percentage of postnatal care use found in 10 randomly selected groups of 50 mothers. How could the researchers have increased the power of their analysis?

Examine 15 randomly selected groups of subjects. There are five main ways to increase the power of an experiment or study: increase the alpha level, decrease random error, conduct a one-tailed test, expand the sample size, or increase the effect size. Of these, only choice A, which increases the sample size, will increase power.

A physician accepts a new job and finds that for the first several months of work most of her effort is spent learning the mechanisms by which doctors, patients, insurance companies, and the government (at federal and local levels) interact to deliver and pay for care. She particularly notes that the influence by the hospital's legal department often supercedes that of other important administrators who hold MD's. Her experiences and observations most closely reflect what theory of sociology?

Functionalism Functionalism, one of the sociological approaches you should understand for the MCAT, views society and social institutions as interdependent, interacting parts of a whole. Here, the various elements of the hospital system come together to function as a system to deliver health care to the patients.

An experience of discrimination as a result of one's body type could likely impact which of the following? I. Self-esteem II. Self-image III. Self-perception

I and II only Self-esteem is the judgment of one's own value or self-worth. Being discriminated against could certainly have a negative impact on one's sense of value (I). Self-image is a mental construct built in large part by internalizing the judgments that others have about the self. Negative judgments demonstrated through discrimination would thus have an impact on one's self-image (II).

Which of the following are dependent variables examined in the study? I. Trained birth attendant use II. Maternal education III. Use of postnatal care

I and III only In an experiment, the independent variable is the variable that is manipulated by the researcher. This variable represents the presumed cause of a response or trend, while the dependent variable is the presumed effect. Here, the expected effects (i.e., the dependent variables) are changes in the levels of birth attendant use (I), the use of postnatal care (III), and the use of colostrum.

After the newborn is brought home, a father agrees to change at least 2 diapers a day. What kind of support is the father providing?

Instrumental support Instrumental support refers to the various types of tangible help that others may provide to an individual (e.g., help with childcare/housekeeping, provision of transportation, or giving of money).

An overweight person attempts to lose weight by following a series of popular diet books, but he fails in each instance. Eventually, he ceases trying to lose weight and his BMI slowly increases. This situation is most specifically demonstrating which phenomenon?

Learned helplessness Learned helplessness is demonstrated when a person experiences an unpleasant situation or stimulus but finds himself (or herself) unable to escape or avoid the situation. The person then learns that he is unable to affect the situation and simply endures it, even if a change in behavior would allow him to escape. The circumstances in this question demonstrate this phenomenon, as the person could change his behavior and potentially lose weight, but he has learned to simply endure being overweight.

Which of the following best explains the decisions on priority made by women who live outside the law?

Maslow's hierarchy The women outside the law were discussed in paragraph 2. These women prioritize safe sex practices and reducing AIDS risk below immediate survival needs like food and shelter. This is most in accordance with Maslow's hierarchy of needs.

Anterograde memory

Retrograde memory refers to memories before an event — in this case, the stroke. Since the final sentence explicitly tells us that no changes in memory of early life events were observed, choice A can be eliminated. The same sentence mentions that there were no changes in ability to perform skills, which would be governed by procedural memory (choice B), a type of implicit memory (choice D). Only option C remains and must be our correct answer. Note that anterograde memory is memory of events after an event (again, the stroke). This is the form of memory tested and recorded in the results displayed in Figure 1.

A Latina woman in the circumstances described in the third paragraph is most likely attempting to avoid what phenomenon?

Stigmatization The final paragraph mentions the example of Latina women from traditional households may avoid purchasing condoms for her boyfriend because she worries that she will be labeled "loose" Stigma is extreme disapproval of a person based on some behavior or quality of that person. Typically, a culture (or sub-culture) will stigmatize a person based on overt physical deformations (physical disability), deviant personal traits (drug addiction), or deviation from accepted norms of the ethnic group (being a "loose" woman in a traditional Latino subculture).

Researchers conduct an experiment to test the Cannon-Bard theory of emotional arousal. A simulated car crash is used in which the subjects were shown video of an oncoming vehicle. Which of the following results best supports the Cannon-Bard theory?

Subject spots oncoming vehicle ⇒ Subject feels fear and subject heart rate rises The Cannon-Bard theory states that emotion-arousing stimuli simultaneously trigger physiological responses and the subjective experience of emotion.

It is found that some people who suffer from antisocial personality disorder had trouble with speech comprehension as children. What brain area is likely associated with this difficulty?

Wernicke's area Wernicke's area (shown below) is involved in the understanding of written and spoken language

It is found that respondents who were Manoshi members and who listed Manoshi CHWs as part of their support networks were significantly more likely to exhibit optimal MNH behavior. The CHW presence is an example of:

a mediating variable. In cases where a mediating variable is present, the original predictor (or independent) variable works indirectly through a more immediate cause (the mediator variable) to yield a final effect (the outcome, or dependent, variable). The mediator adds to the overall variance accounted for in the data and can explain the relationship between the dependent and independent variables. The primary independent variable in this study was Manoshi membership, while the three reported dependent variables were the MNH practices. In this question, it is said that the presence of a CHW in the social network of those who were already Manoshi members was linked with improved MNH behavior. This implies that the presence of the CHW worker could be what facilitates the effects of Manoshi membership, making CHW presence a mediating variable.

Disulfiram is a common drug used to treat alcoholism by inhibiting the body's ability to process acetaldehyde. Acetaldehyde builds up if alcohol is ingested, resulting in flushing, nausea, and discomfort. This kind of treatment is an example of:

aversive conditioning. Aversive conditioning is a behavioral conditioning technique in which noxious stimuli are associated with undesirable or unwanted behaviors. If this technique is successful, the individual reduces the frequency of the unwanted behavior.

A woman walking to work sees a group of people on the street staring at an open manhole. She stops to join them in staring down at the open manhole. Her behavior is an example of:

conformity. Conformity is defined as the adjusting of one's behavior or thoughts to coincide with a group standard.

All of the following are likely to play a role in postpartum depression EXCEPT:

decreased levels of γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA). GABA is the chief inhibitory neurotransmitter in the CNS. It plays the principal role in reducing neuronal excitability throughout the nervous system and is found in decreased levels in patients with anxiety disorders. Of the choices listed, GABA relates least to mood disorders, such as depression.

The tendency of a new mother to actively join networks almost exclusively with other young mothers is an example of:

homophily. Homophily is the tendency of individuals to associate and bond with others similar to themselves.

In a follow-up study examining the motivations that led to the overeating associated with obesity, many respondents pointed to a rewarding sense of pleasure they felt after eating large portions of high-calorie foods. This sense is mostly closely associated with activation of the:

mesolimbic pathway. The mesolimbic pathway, or reward pathway, is a pathway in the brain connecting the midbrain to the forebrain. It releases dopamine in response to rewarding stimuli, thus reinforcing behaviors that are perceived as pleasurable.

Adrenal glands

release epinephrine (adrenaline), the secretion of which was monitored in this experiment. Broadly, these glands also release corticosteroids, including the stress hormone cortisol.

The women's housing interviewees discussed in the passage most likely lack:

self-efficacy. Paragraph 2 tells us that the women in these housing programs express feelings of helplessness or powerlessness about changing the external realities of their lives. This feeling of an inability to effect change is best described as a lack of self-efficacy.

Traumatic brain injuries can leave patients with reduced ability to care for themselves, reducing their self-efficacy. This can subsequently lead to feelings of worthlessness if they come to perceive themselves as a burden, especially for those patients that had taken pride in their ability to provide for others. These changes represent a decrease in:

self-esteem. An individual's self-esteem is his or her sense of personal worth. The question stem describes patients losing this sense of self-worth.

A person who is well-known in his local subculture of IV drug users is highly regarded by his fellow addicts and receives support in the manner mentioned in the passage. This support is best described as:

social capital. The passage says that IV drug-using subcultures have their own values, roles, and status allocations and that this social network provides its own forms of emotional and tangible support. Social capital is the benefit one receives from one's social networks; thus, the person discussed in the question is receiving social capital as a consequence of his membership in this subculture.

A psychiatrist performing a mental exam shows a list of 10 unrelated images to the patient and asks the patient to memorize them. The exam continues and a few minutes later the psychiatrist requests that the patient describe as many images as he can recall. If most of the remembered images come from the beginning and end of the list, this is an example of:

the serial position effect. Short-term memory is more likely to retain pieces of information from the beginning and end of a list. This phenomenon is called the serial position effect.