MCAT Behavioral Sciences Key Concepts

If a student who fails a math exam makes a dispositional attribution to rationalize their academic struggle, they are most likely to:

attribute their failure to a lack of preparation

Research has shown that when individuals study material right before going to sleep, they perform better on a recall measure upon awakening compared to individuals who study and then watch a movie before going to sleep. Which memory construct provides the most likely explanation for these results?

interference

A study finds that identical stimuli evoke different emotional responses in rats depending on the prior state of the subject and its immediate environment. Which theory of emotion would this most support?

Schacter-Singer theory

Key Concept

Schedules based on elapsed time are referred to as interval schedules and can be either fixed-interval or variable-interval schedules. Ratio schedules involve reinforcement after a certain number of responses have been emitted. The fixed ratio schedule involves using a constant number of responses.

A student is investigating the bystander effect and receives permission to conduct the study in the school cafeteria. What is a potential dependent variable that can be measured by the student?

The amount of time a student takes to assist another student in distress

conversion disorder

a mental condition in which a person has blindness, paralysis, or other nervous system (neurologic) symptoms that cannot be explained by medical evaluation

meta-analysis

a procedure for statistically combining the results of many different research studies

What type of learning is taking place in Study 1?

operant conditioning In Study 1, the frequency of pressing the lever increases because it results in the delivery of heroin, which is an example of operant conditioning through positive reinforcement.

hidden curriculum

refers to the unwritten, unofficial, and often unintended lessons, values, and perspectives that students learn in school

Key Concept

repeating the digits presented to a specific ear is an example of shadowing

independent variable

the variable being manipulated to see if it has an effect

image schema

visual or pictorial mental representation of an idea

fMRI

uses magnetic fields and radio waves to look at brain function and measures blood flow and not glucose (PET) CT scans and MRI will allow you to detect brain structures but not the brain activity whereas fMRI and PET scans can detect brain activity.

Which of the following rationales best exemplifies the use of central route processing?

"It is the most nutritious flavor they have." Looking at the nutrition labels and taking that into consideration is an example of central route processing that relies on deep thinking and consideration. At the other extreme are those who do not elaborate, focusing on superficial details: the appearance of the person delivering the argument, catchphrases and slogans, and credibility. This is known as peripheral route processing.

A student asks her professor for an extension on a research paper. Which of the following statements best represents the impression management strategy of alter-casting?

"You're such a great professor, so I did not think it would be a big deal to ask." Alter-casting is imposing an identity onto another person, which is what is occurring here. The identity being imposed here is "a great professor."

Which of the following phrases, spoken from a resident physician to his intern during patient rounds, demonstrates alter-casting?

"You, as her physician, should treat her with statins to decrease her cholesterol level" This is an example of alter-casting. The resident is imposing the intern's identity as the patient's physician to get him to do what he wants.

zero sum game

"your loss is my win"

If a human can detect a change in the noise level of a quiet room when the sound intensity is increased from 40 units to 44 units, then according to Weber's Law, what increase in intensity is required to be detectable on a busy street with an ambient sound level of 80 units?

(4/40) × 80

An "explosion of language" occurs when children begin to learn words rapidly and expand their vocabulary by testing words in different situations. At what age does this most commonly begin?

18 months - 9 to 12 months: babbling - 12 to 18 months: about one word per month - 18 to 20 months: "explosion of language" and combining words (C) - 2 to 3 years: longer sentences (3 words or more) - 5 years: language rules largely mastered

Recordings of brain wave activity revealed that the participants in the S groups spent the most time in the stage of sleep characterized by sleep spindles. This observation indicates that they were in which stage of sleep?

2

A study presents participants with fictitious names. The next day, participants are given a list of celebrity names, the old fictitious names from the previous day, and new fictitious names. They are asked to identify the famous names on the list. The most common errors the participants make are source monitoring errors. Which graph demonstrates the most likely outcome? (AAMC Test 2 Q10)

A For the source monitoring problem, somebody is asked to identify the famous names on the list. If there was source monitoring, they'd confuse whether the familiar names they see are actual celebrities or just names that they've been presented earlier. The most important thing about this is that they'd be LEAST likely to say that the new names that they are exposed to are "famous" names. I believe only one graph on the answer choices showed more "old" vs "new".

In which situation is neurotransmitter release from a presynaptic cell most likely to stimulate an action potential in a postsynaptic cell?

In a postsynaptic neuron where a depolarizing change in membrane potential exceeds threshold

The aggression scale in Study 1 allowed the researchers to isolate socially-influenced aggressive behaviors. Which alternative method would best determine if aggression was actually being modeled as opposed to already learned?

A biographical sketch of the children's social life up until the study

Which of the following scenarios could be considered an example of escape learning?

A chef opens a window when her kitchen becomes too hot This best depicts escape learning, as it is an example of a behavior intended to reduce an unpleasant stimulus that already exists.

Which of the following statements is correct?

A church is an example of a Gemeinschaft because the members attend due to a shared interest in religion. Gemeinschaft (community) refers to groups unified by feelings of togetherness due to shared beliefs, ancestry, or geography. These shared beliefs extend to religion.

Which of the following best exemplifies the recognition-primed decision model?

A firefighter knows that a structure is about to collapse thanks to her years of experience in similar situations Recognition-primed decision model is exemplified when similar situations (years of experiences) play a large role in decision-making and actions (knowing that the structure is likely to collapse).

Which of the following scenarios is an example of retroactive interference?

A firefighter moves to a new district and learns the new radio codes. He goes back to his old district to cover someone else's shift, and can no longer remember the old radio codes. Retroactive interference: the learning of new information causes the forgetting of old information

Which measure would be most useful if the researchers were interested in the degree of sympathetic arousal experienced in the different conditions of Study 1?

A measure of electrical conductivity of the skin

Which of the following statements about the idea of the self-concept is true?

Each of us has one self-concept that describes who we are, but we have multiple identities that connect us to specific groups The self-concept is the sum of all of the ideas that come to mind when we think of who we are while identities refer to the components of our self-concept related to the groups to which we belong.

Which of the following studies best explores the mechanisms of social reproduction?

A study where one group of poverty-level families moves to a low-poverty neighborhood, while the control group remains in a high-poverty area. Exploring whether moving to a wealthier neighborhood can break the cycle of a lifestyle of poverty, powerlessness, isolation, and apathy being transmitted from one generation to another would provide useful insight into the mechanisms of social reproduction.

Which of the following is an example of eustress?

A young couple nervously but confidently plans their wedding together This is an example of eustress because the couple is experiencing stress due to a positive life change

Which of the following is the best example of a manifest function of an institution?

After-school child care programs allow adults in single-parent households to maintain full-time employment

What is the advantage of including a specially trained cultural liaison as opposed to training physicians in cultural competency?

Adding a cultural liaison creates a triadic group, a more stable arrangement than a dyadic group. From the perspective of basic group dynamics in sociology, larger groups are generally considered more stable but less intimate, whereas smaller groups are usually considered less stable but more intimate. Dyads, two-person groups such as the physician-patient group, are unstable because either party can break the single social tie. The triad, three person groups such as the physician-patient-cultural liaison group, is considered relatively more stable because of the additional social ties.

A politician's questionable behavior is attacked during a heated debate. Rather than admitting his actions were wrong, he begins to explain his actions by blaming the circumstances of the event. Which of the following describes the tactic employed by the politician?

Aligning actions The politician is making excuses to justify his behavior, which is most consistent with aligning actions. Reaction formation occurs when individuals suppress urges by unconsciously converting them into their exact opposites. Projection is a defense mechanism by which individuals attribute their undesired feelings to others. This would be true if the politician said that his opponent had the same feelings or had done the same actions.

As an exhausted student begins to tire and closes his eyes for a moment during a dull lecture, which pattern will most likely be observed if an EEG is used to measure electrical activity of the student's brain?

Alpha waves Remember the mnemonic BAT-D for the waves seen during waking and sleeping. Beta waves occur while a person is awake and alert, focused on a task. Alpha waves occur while a person is awake, but has closed their eyes and is in a relaxed state. Theta waves occur as a person enters sleep Stage 1 and 2. Lastly, delta waves are seen in deep sleep stages 3 and 4.

The function of which of the following brain structures in relation to Wernicke's and Broca's area is most analogous to the corpus callosum in relation to the left and right hemispheres of the brain?

Arcuate fasciculus Broca's area and Wernicke's area are connected via the arcuate fasciculus, a bundle of axons which allows appropriate association between language comprehension (Wernicke's area) 分かる and speech production (Broca's area)

Key Concept

As with a group affected by groupthink, an individual's confirmation bias causes the person to seek, and attend to, only information that confirms his or her existing point of view and to ignore disconfirming evidence.

When an expert chemist studies a newly created synthetic element and describes its properties as they relate to the trends of the periodic table, which term best describes how the chemist incorporates this new information?

Assimilation Assimilation is the process of classifying new information (properties of the new element) into existing schemata (the periodic table trends). Accommodation is the process of adjusting existing schemata to encompass new information. This would be correct if the properties of the new element were used to adjust the trends of the periodic table.

A child who doesn't seem to notice when her mother departs or when she returns is displaying which type of attachment pattern?

Avoidant attachment Avoidant attachment occurs when a child does not know that he or she has a secure base to return to, and so will show little or no distress when the caregiver leaves and little or no comfort when the caregiver returns, showing no preference between the caregiver and a stranger. Disorganized attachment is when a child shows NO CLEAR PATTERN of behavior in response to the caregiver's absence or presence, but instead can show a mix of different behaviors. Ambivalent attachment is when the child will be very distressed on separation from the caregiver but has a mixed response when the caregiver returns, often displaying ambivalence.

Which concept takes into account the negative impact of long-term exposure to stressful events addressed in the first paragraph?

General adaptation syndrome general adaptation syndrome (GAS) is a model of the body's stress response that consists of three stages: alarm, resistance, and exhaustion. An individual enters the stage of exhaustion only after that individual has encountered the stressor for a prolonged period of time.

A well-prepared but anxious student sits for an exam. The student thinks "I'm really nervous, but I've studied and I think I can handle it." Which of the following describes the kind of appraisal performed by this student?

Both primary and secondary appraisal Primary appraisal occurs when an individual first interprets whether a situation is stressful. Secondary appraisal occurs when the individual then evaluates whether or not the stressful situation can be overcome. The student first performs a primary appraisal, the function of which is to answer the question "Is this stressful?" When the answer is "yes," a secondary appraisal occurs, answering the question "Can I handle this?"

A researcher wants to gain insight into how a social movement organization presents its beliefs to the general public in an effort to attract new members. Which methodological approach would be most appropriate for this study?

Conducting a content analysis of the organization's website Conducting content analysis of online information would provide data on how the social movement organization frames issues to the broader public. Content analysis is a sociological method that is used to make inferences about communication. As applied to studying a website, content analysis could help determine which beliefs the organization publicly emphasizes. In contrast, the methods in the other response options would not specifically generate data about the public presentation of beliefs (surveying organization members about their beliefs).

Following a failed product rollout by a major tech corporation, reports surface that product engineers had serious doubts about the launch, but their warnings were ignored by a leadership hierarchy determined to meet deadlines. This is indicative of which of the following?

Groupthink Groupthink is a phenomenon that occurs when the desire for harmony within a group results in an incorrect decision being made.

Which theory or theories of emotion account for the ability of individuals with suppressed sympathetic nervous function to experience emotions?

Cannon-Bard and Schacter-Singer theory The Cannon-Bard Theory holds that emotion happens alongside physiological arousal after the stimulus occurs. Thus, this theory accounts for emotion felt by those with suppressed sympathetic nervous systems because the physiological reaction is not required to have an emotional reaction. The Schachter-Singer theory accounts for this by saying that two factors, physiological arousal and labeling the emotion based on the environment, allow individuals to experience emotions. Again, since there is more than a physiological component to emotion according to this theory, it accounts for those with suppressed sympathetic nervous systems experiencing emotion.

125 of the 600 students in an elementary school experience severe, blood bowel movements at approximately the same time. An investigator believes it to be due to food served in the cafeteria. Which of the following types of studies would be most appropriate to test the hypothesis?

Case-control study

Which type of psychoactive drug has the lowest risk of dependence?

Hallucinogens

self-serving vs confirmation bias

Confirmation bias is basically trying to "confirm" a preconception about someone. For example, if you think short people are terrible basketball players and you are a short person miss a shot you go "ha, see, short people are bad at basketball!" Because you're looking to confirm something you already believe. Self serving is more so attributing negative things about you to something else. For example "I got a bad grade because my teacher is an ass and that dude wouldn't stop coughing next to me when I was writing it".

Consistency vs distinctiveness

Consistency is something that a person typically always does which can be related to their internal attributes. So if someone is always early to class this means they are good at being timely. Distinctiveness is when something changes from their typical consistent patterns. So if that same person is super late one day, this is likely due to external factors. The person changes behavior based on situation (traffic)

Which of the following is best classified as controlled processing?

Consulting an English-Spanish dictionary This suggests an active form of memorization, which is consistent with controlled processing. An infant learning a word for the first time, a man humming along to a catchy tune, and recognizing the voice of a friend in a crowded market are all examples of passive acquisition of information.

Harlequin ichthyosis, a rare genetic disorder, causes the skin to become thick and scaly. Flaking skin behind the eyelids of individuals with this condition is most likely to damage which structure of the eye?

Cornea The cornea is in direct contact with the eyelid and is thus most susceptible to damage from flaking skin.

Which of the following is most likely to directly contribute to demographic transition?

Improved sanitation Demographic transition is the process by which countries transition to an industrial society with low birth and death rates

A trained opera singer can distinguish between the musical notes A7 at 3520 Hz and B7 at 3872 Hz. According to Weber's law, which of the following notes would the opera singer be LEAST likely able to distinguish?

E4 at 659 Hz and F4 at 699 Hz the just noticeable difference is the least (3872 - 3520) / 3520 = 0.1)

How could the researchers use the foot-in-the-door technique to increase the participants' likelihood of adopting a diet diary?

Encourage the participants to sign a petition in support of diet diaries. The foot-in-the-door technique refers to convincing individuals to make a small commitment toward a cause, because this small commitment increases the likelihood of a larger commitment toward the same cause in the future. Option A is an example of this. If the participants make a small commitment toward diet diaries (signing a petition), according to the foot-in-the-door technique, they will be more likely to adopt a diary diet in the future.

Participants who reported personal memories about particular songs were retrieving which type of information?

Episodic

Which aspect of equality is considered a requirement in a meritocracy?

Equality of opportunity

psych studies

Experimental: there is an independent variable that is manipulated by the testers (think treatment groups) Longitudinal: evaluates individuals over time (this if often applicable if looking at events that occur at different points in life) Case: usually deals with qualitative data about one or a few individuals Cross sectional: looks at a population at a specific point in time

Which sociological theory would view crime as a disruption to the equilibrium of a social order?

Functionalism Functionalism focuses on the way that individuals' actions contribute to the harmony, or equilibrium, of society. Social constructionism focuses on how individuals put together their social reality by communicating and working together to agree on the significance of a concept or principle. Conflict theory focuses on how power differentials, rather than equilibrium, contribute to the social order. Symbolic interactionism focuses on shared understanding of words, gestures, and symbols, rather than on maintaining social equilibrium.

A thirty-five-year old woman has noticed an increased ability to converse about diverse topics intelligently, even though her problem solving ability has remained unchanged. Which of the following best describes this change?

Her crystallized intelligence has increased while her fluid intelligence has remained the same. Fluid intelligence consists of raw processing speed, mental quickness, and abstract reasoning and used when we attempt to try and solve problems we have never seen before. Crystallized intelligence is what we know from experience, culture, learning, and education and is used when we try to solve problems we have seen before. Crystallized intelligence does not decline while fluid intelligence peaks at early adulthood and starts to decline in middle adulthood.

Which of the following measures could help prevent deindividuation during a group meeting?

Holding the meeting in a room with a mirrored wall Seeing oneself in a mirror is a reminder, consciously or not, of individuality. Team-building exercises would encourage a group cohesiveness associated with deindividuation. An online chat room would promote anonymity and, therefore, deindividuation

Members of online communities will often integrate the personality characteristics that they display online into their self-perception and offline behavior, particularly when posts that emphasize those characteristics receive positive feedback, such as "likes," from the group. This is best explained by:

Identity shift effect The identity shift effect describes how individuals will change their behavior to conform to the norms of a group in order to gain acceptance and then incorporate the standards of the group into their identity.

Key Concept

In the acquisition phase of the fear conditioning paradigm, a stimulus (light) that is neutral with respect to the freezing response is associated with an unconditioned stimulus (in this case, foot shock) over a series of trials, until the neutral stimulus elicits a conditioned response (freezing behavior in response to the light).

Which psychological theory best explains the role of community values in the preliminary studies of tobacco cessation?

Incentive theory As described in the passage, the preliminary studies suggest that smoking cessation can be successful when individuals are motivated by culturally consistent values that support quitting. The incentive theory of motivation calls attention to how factors outside of individuals, including community values and other aspects of culture, can motivate behavior. The other options, drive theory, humanistic theory (self-realization), and psychoanalytic theory would be more likely to look for motivational factors within the individual.

Which of the following would be the best explanation for why patients with a pituitary tumor often have trouble staying asleep?

Increased cortisol production Cortisol contributes to wakefulness. If ACTH production is increased by a tumor in the pituitary, then the patient would have difficulty staying asleep due to the increased cortisol. Decreased melatonin levels would be associated with difficulty falling asleep, not with trouble staying asleep. Also, melatonin is secreted by the pineal gland, not the pituitary gland.

A five-year-old attempts to force her classmates to join her game. Her bossy attitude gets the attention of the teacher and she is told to play nicer. According to Erikson, which stage of psychosocial development is she experiencing?

Initiative vs. guilt A five-year-old would be in the initiative vs. guilt crisis. This is when a child tests their ability to take initiative in the world. If they press too far, they then experience guilt.

Which phenomenon will an animal trainer most likely try to avoid when training a rabbit for a television commercial?

Instinctual drift - learned behavior "drifts" to the organism's species-specific (instinctual) behavior stimulus generalization is the tendency for the conditioned stimulus to evoke similar responses after the response has been conditioned extinction is the disappearance of a previously learned behavior when the behavior is not reinforced.

A little boy who gets a new block set wishes instead to swaddle his sister's baby doll. Which psychological concept is best expressed by this suppressed desire?

Jung's anima The anima is repressed femininity in males that explains emotional behaviors. The animus is repressed masculinity in females that explains power-seeking behavior, which is the reverse of the scenario described.

Which of the following situations would provide the most support for the Schachter-Singer theory of emotion?

Like the Schachter-Singer theory would predict, the woman here is experiencing an emotion that is consistent with both her physiological reaction and interpretation of her environment.

A researcher suggests that the benefits of bilingualism are related to the idea that the structure of language affects the perceptions of its speakers. This researcher is referring to which concept?

Linguistic relativity Sapir-Whorf hypothesis is the same thing as linguistic relativity! nativist theory is a biologically based theory, which argues that humans are pre-programmed with the innate ability to develop language

Though the cause of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) is unclear, one hypothesis involves reactive gliosis of astrocytes in the region of the brain that controls breathing and arousal from sleep. Further studies might reasonably focus on the prenatal development of the:

Medulla oblongata (GATA breathe) The medulla oblongata is responsible for the function of vitals

Based on the study, which assessment represents a subjective measure of motivation?

Participants' answers on the exit questionnaire

Which of the following sleep stages is most likely to immediately precede brief middle-of-the-night awakening?

REM Stage Brief periods of awakening are often interspersed within periods of REM sleep, where arousal levels already reach that of wakefulness.

Research suggests that babbling is a universal feature of infancy, and that infants use the phonemes that are used most frequently in their parents' language. Assuming that this is true, which of the following statements best describes these observations?

Nativism best explains the universality of babbling, while learning theory best explains the differences in babbling across cultures. Nativism is the belief in universality in language, while learning theory explains learned language from an infant's parents.

In a study of college students, a correlation was found between those reporting high rates of insomnia and reduced hit rates for detecting the sounds of birds chirping. This represents what type of correlation, and what phenomenon was described?

Negative, signal detection

A director of a farmers' market hopes to optimize the market's efficiency. He assigns each customer a unique number, and instructs his cashiers to write down the number and the time of purchase for each sale they make. The director compiles the data and builds a map of the customer traffic. Which of the following describes the method the director is using to accomplish his goal?

Network analysis The director is having the cashiers write down the number of each customers at each store in an effort to represent customer traffic, which fits the definition of a network analysis. Semantic networks relate to how concepts are mapped in one's mind. The network in the question stem is a physical map, not one of the mind.

Anencephaly, a condition characterized by the absence of a major portion of the brain, is most likely caused by a defect of which structure during embryonic development?

Neural tube

The stereotypical 1950's American housewife is dutiful and yet subservient to her husband, loving yet stern to her children, and responsible for keeping the house clean and orderly. Using the stereotype content model, the 1950's American housewife fits best into which stereotype?

Paternalistic stereotype Paternalistic stereotypes are those in which the group is looked down upon as inferior, dismissed, or ignored. Admiration stereotypes are those in which the group is viewed with pride and other positive feelings. Envious stereotypes are those in which the group is viewed with jealousy, bitterness, or distrust. Contemptuous stereotypes are those in which the group is viewed with resentment, annoyance, or anger.

Does the right hemisphere of the brain only process visual information from the left eye?

No, the right hemisphere processes information from the left visual field of both eyes Each hemisphere of the brain processes the visual information from the opposite visual field of both eyes.

Which statement is NOT compatible with the hypothesis that the self-serving bias can account for participants' explanations of their body weights?

Non-obese participants view their healthy weight as a result of not having any fast food restaurants near their home Self-serving bias is the attribution of personal successes and failures to internal and external factors, respectively. A non-obese individual would attribute his or her healthy weight to an internal, stable source, such as strong willpower. However, a non-obese individual would not attribute his or her healthy weight to an external source, such as not having any fast food restaurants near home.

All the participants in the study are given information regarding the benefits of a healthy diet. According to the cognitive dissonance theory, which hypothetical finding is most likely?

Obese participants will question the validity of the information provided. According to the cognitive dissonance theory, when an individual's attitudes are incongruent with his or her behavior, this leads to cognitive dissonance. To eliminate cognitive dissonance, the individual can either change his or her attitudes or his or her behavior. The theory posits that individuals are more likely to adjust their attitudes to align with their behavior than the other way around. Therefore, obese participants are likely to question the importance of the information provided.

A 20-year old male psychiatric patient exhibits echolalia, hallucinations, and delusions of grandeur. Which of following sets of symptoms is most likely to accompany these?

Paranoia and thought insertion Both paranoia and thought insertion are examples of positive symptoms of schizophrenia.

Which observation disconfirms the theory that the hunger drive is based on a person's interpretation of stomach contractions, while satiety is based on stomach distension?

People whose stomachs have been removed still experience hunger

"Arithmetic," when used as a noun, is typically pronounced with emphasis on the second syllable. However, when used an adjective, the emphasis is typically placed on the third syllable. This can be characterized as a distinction of which component of speech?

Phonology (refers to the actual sound of language) Semantics refers to the association of meaning with a particular word. Morphology refers to structure of words. Finally, syntax refers to how words are put together in sentences.

Neighborhood-level socioeconomic inequalities are most likely to affect physician-patient interactions through which phenomenon?

Physical boundaries create social boundaries and closed networks which develop their own cultures

George says that he wouldn't cheat on the medical licensing exam because he's afraid of getting caught and not getting into medical school, while Eric says he wouldn't cheat because it would lead to a decrease in the standard of care and he has an obligation to do what's best for everyone. According to Kohlberg, which of the following describes the phases of moral reasoning demonstrated by George and Eric, respectively?

Preconventional; postconventional George is demonstrating preconventional reasoning: his moral decision-making is based on self-interest. Eric is using postconventional reasoning: his motives are toward promoting the greater good.

According to Piaget's theory, in what stage of cognitive development are the children who are targeted by advertisements for high caloric foods?

Preoperational Children in Piaget's preoperational stage are typically between the ages of 2-6 or 7.

According to Piaget's theory of cognitive development, which stage is characterized by symbolic thinking, egocentrism, and centration?

Preoperational stage The preoperational stage lasts from about two to seven years of age and is characterized by symbolic thinking, egocentrism, and centration. Symbolic thinking refers to the ability to pretend and imagine. Egocentrism is the inability to imagine what another person may think or feel. Centration is the tendency to focus on only one aspect of a phenomenon. Concrete operational stage (7-11 years of age): in this stage children can understand conservation and consider the perspectives of others. It does not involve symbolic thinking, egocentrism, and centration Formal operational stage (adolescence) : this stage is marked by the ability to think logically about abstract ideas. It does not involve symbolic thinking, egocentrism, and centration

primary groups vs in group

Primary group the is your core social group. Parents, close friends from childhood. Long term relationships formed which have a great social impact on the individual. In group- a group you are affiliated with based on identification - can be ethnicity, nationality, gender, religion, etc.

The researchers change the procedure such that instead of placing the objects in a box, the participants have to recall all the objects that they have seen during training. According to the spreading of activation theory, which type of memory error is most likely?

Recalling objects that were not presented but are from the same category as the training objects Spreading activation suggests that, when a concept is activated, the activation spreads to concepts that are semantically or associatively related to it. Thus, people often retrieve unpresented members of a category when tested on their memory for a series of presented concepts from that category.

A man wants to train his new pet parrot to say its first word. Which conditioning strategy would best exemplify how the man will begin shaping this behavior?

Rewarding the parrot for squawking Shaping is a type of operant conditioning that rewards increasingly specific behaviors that lead to a more complex desired behavior. Because the parrot does not know any words, shaping in this case must begin with the most elementary component of the desired behavior and then require the parrot to make successively closer iterations of the target word in order to earn the reward.

A new resident is having difficulty keeping up with the amount of paperwork, pressure to publish case studies, and increased patient load. However, he's still able to be what he considers a good father to his son. Which of the following is the resident experiencing?

Role strain The doctor is having difficulties satisfying multiple requirements of a single role (being a resident), but not multiple roles (he is still meeting the requirements of being a father).

In a random association test, a participant is asked to say the first three things that come to their mind when they hear a given word. In one instance, the researcher says "picnic" and the participant responds with the words: "blanket," "ants," and "watermelon." What psychological phenomenon is this researcher most likely testing?

Schemata Schema are existing associations an individual has with specific concepts and can include a concept, a behavior, or a sequence of events. Information processing: the bases are decision-making and problem-solving

Studies suggest that gender identity is usually formed by the age of three. Subsequent to this important milestone in the development of identity, which of the following is an appropriate criterion for determining the gender identity of an individual?

Self-appraisal

A man buys a new set of speakers for his television. Before he has a chance to connect them, his friend walks into the room and remarks that the sound quality coming from the television is vastly improved. Which of the following concepts best explains his friend's mistake?

Signal detection theory Signal detection theory focuses on the changes in our perception of the same stimuli depending on both internal (psychological) and external (environmental) context. In this case, the friend had an expectation that the TV would sound better. This is why he likely perceived it to be so.

The discussion of which topic in the passage is most consistent with social cognitive theory's emphasis on modeling?

Smoking prevention by establishing norms against tobacco use Social cognitive theory (originally referred to as social learning theory) suggests that behaviors are learned through observing others and modeling their actions.

In a memory study, researchers compare individuals with a specific memory disorder against a control group. Both groups are told a story and asked to recall details of the story several weeks later. The researchers find that many individuals in both groups are unable to recall where they first heard the story, and some even believe the events in the story actually happened to themselves. Which of the following errors of memory was seen in this study?

Source amnesia Source amnesia often manifests when a person hears a story of something that happened to someone else, and later recalls the story as having happened to him- or herself.

A student is accepted to a prestigious high school, but cannot attend because the bussing system does not provide transportation to and from his neighborhood. This is best described as which type of social inequality?

Spatial inequality

A country has new contraceptive programs and many women's rights groups begin to form. Which stage of demographic transition is this country most likely entering?

Stage 3 Stage 3 is characterized by decreasing birth rates, often due to increased access to contraceptives and more rights for women. Stage 4 is characterized by low birth rates and low mortality rates. In the scenario in the question stem, birth rates are only beginning to decline.

A conflict theorist is most likely to reference which concept in order to explain the causes of access disparities for SUD (Substance Use Disorder) treatment?

Stratification

Researchers design a study to explore how healthcare providers establish rapport, show empathy, and navigate disagreements with their patients. Based on this description, the researchers are most likely taking a theoretical approach that is consistent with which sociological paradigm?

Symbolic interactionism

The increase in rebellious behavior in teenagers is most related to which of the following hormones?

Testosterone

A medical school wants to implement a personality test to help students learn to work better together. Which of the following personality models would work best for this purpose?

The Big Five The Big Five uses dimensions of five traits that are important in a collaborative environment: openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism. Somatotypes and the four humors are both outdated theories.

A researcher conducts observational research on the study habits of college students. When students are aware of the researcher's presence, they are more attentive, focused, and structured. When students are not aware of the researcher's presence, they are inattentive, unfocused, and distracted. Which concept best describes this phenomenon?

The Hawthorne effect The Hawthorne effect describes changes in research participants as a result of their awareness that they are being observed. The changes to the students' study habits are best explained by the Hawthorne effect, which was first observed among workers. A self-fulfilling prophecy is an individual's internalization of a label that leads to a fulfillment of that label. Impression management refers to individuals actively managing how they are perceived by others. The Thomas theorem states that if an individual believes something to be real, then it is real in its consequences.

Key Concept

The cognitions regarding what constitutes the male identity are an example of schemas. A schema is a pattern of thought or behavior.

Which sociological concept is suggested by the passage's discussion of the knowledge, skills, and education required for practicing medicine?

The cultural capital of physicians Cultural capital refers to assets beyond money that can help lead to social mobility such as knowledge, skills, and education. Social capital is the value a person derives from their social networks

A young boy is very hungry after school and, having no money, considers taking a candy bar from a convenience store on the way home. However, he begins to feel guilty about the idea and decides to wait to eat until he gets home. Which of the following statements regarding this scenario is most accurate?

The desire to steal food and eat originated from the id. The decision to wait originated from the ego. The feeling of guilt originated from the superego. The id functions on the tension that drives action to satisfy the need to survive and reproduce. The ego aims to relieve the tension in a more appropriate manner. The superego creates feelings of pride and guilt at our accomplishments and failures.

According to the psychoanalytic perspective, the concept of actual self most closely resembles which of the following?

The ego The ego, operating according to the reality principle, is the component of personality that is most in touch with reality. Thus, it most closely resembles the actual self.

Darwin's theory of emotion makes which fundamental assumption?

The expression of emotion is a heritable characteristic

A team of researchers wanted to test whether the James-Lange theory of emotional arousal could explain subjects' physical and emotional experiences while they viewed clips from a horror film. Which of the following scenarios is most consistent with the James-Lange theory?

The participants experienced physical symptoms of autonomic arousal, such as a racing heart, and then they reported that they felt afraid.

According to the psychodynamic perspective, which of the following is likely to be the most influential in the moral reasoning of Kohlberg's preconventional phase?

The id According to psychodynamic theory, the id is the aspect of personality most associated with self-interest and gratification. Similarly, in Kohlberg's preconventional phase, people make decisions with self-interested motives.

Key Concept

The increasing share of the population over the age of 65 primarily stems from the baby boomers, the post-World War II generation in the United States and Canada. Birth rates were relatively high for almost two decades after World War II. Demographers define the baby boom generation as those individuals born between approximately 1946 and 1964. The baby boom generation is the main sociohistorical factor that explains the projection in the passage about the increasing share of the population over 65 years of age

Researchers hypothesize that experiencing a certain scent while viewing paintings of flowers will influence the viewers' ratings of attractiveness of the paintings. Researchers dispensed a floral scent in one room with paintings and no scent in another room with paintings. Which statement is accurate regarding the study?

The independent variable is the presence or absence of scent in the rooms

The children from the experiment in the passage participate in a separate study using Piaget's water conservation task. They are shown two identical beakers, containing equal amounts of water. The water from one of the containers is poured into a thinner and taller beaker. Which prediction is most likely to be confirmed?

The majority of the 11-year-olds will state that the amount of water in the taller beaker is the same as in the original beaker. According to Piaget's theory of cognitive development, conservation tasks are mastered during the concrete operations stage, which starts at approximately 7 years and ends around 11 to 12 years. The majority of the 11-year-olds will have completed this stage, which will allow them to judge that pouring water into a taller beaker does not change its quantity.

Which of the following systems best represents a meritocracy?

Token economy Token economies reward positive behavior or achievement with tokens that can be exchanged for privileges, treats, or other reinforcers. It is a small scale example of a meritocracy.

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. The looking-glass self suggests that the self-concept is influenced by how we perceive that others are viewing us. Based on the looking-glass self, a person who acquires a stigmatized illness is likely to internalize the stigmatization directed against him or her.

Which statement best explains why continuous reinforcement is best for the beginning of the acquisition phase of operant conditioning?

The schedule unambiguously informs the subject which behavior is correct.

How would a structural functionalist interpret the efficacy of yoga as part of a smoking cessation therapy?

The utility of yoga as an effective smoking cessation therapy is an unintended, though beneficial, outcome of a yoga practice. Because the expected function of yoga is not specifically smoking cessation, its utility as a cessation therapy is a latent function of the social activity. The sociological paradigm of functionalism makes a distinction between manifest, or intended, and latent, or unintended, functions of social activities. From the functionalist perspective, almost all social actions have both manifest functions and latent functions, both of which are connected to overall social stability.

What experimental set-up is most likely to result in a person with a severed corpus callosum saying "ball" after a researcher asks, "What do you see?"

The word "ball" is projected to the right visual field, while "room" is presented to the left visual field. Images projected to a visual field are represented in the opposite hemisphere of the brain. If "ball" is projected to the right visual field, the word will be represented in the left hemisphere where it could be verbalized by left-sided language centers.

Sensations differ from perceptions in which of the following ways?

They are limited by absolute thresholds An absolute threshold is the minimum of stimulus energy that is needed to activate a sensory system. In other words, below that threshold of stimulus input, no sensation occurs. Perception does not use absolute thresholds, but a threshold of conscious perception.

maladaptive vs adaptive coping

Think of maladaptive coping as drinking, you drink to forget. It doesn't fix the problem typically, and you would think of it as a negative coping mechanism. Think of adaptive coping as something that addresses the situation, if you're stressed you address it, let's say this was done by yoga, or breathing routines.

Which operationalization is most appropriate for the independent variable of the proposed follow-up experiment?

Type of communication, established by training a doctor who is also a confederate to use patient-centered communication or a communication style that is not patient-centered The researchers are interested in the effect of type of communication on level of mistrust; therefore, type of communication is the independent variable. To establish a causal relationship between the two variables, the independent variable needs to be manipulated, as described, by training the doctor to adopt different communication styles.

Which of the following is an example of a latent function?

University attendance leading to unexpected business networking opportunities following graduation. A latent function is an unintended positive effect on a system, whereas a manifest function is an explicitly intended positive consequence of an institution.

What is the best explanation for the difference in the number of intrusion errors in Phase 1? (Section Bank Q2)

Verbal inputs to the left ear, which first go to the auditory cortex in the right hemisphere, must be processed by the language areas of the left hemisphere.

The left cerebral hemisphere in humans is most often linked with which cognitive function?

Vocabulary skills Vocabulary skills tend to be lateralized to the left hemisphere, whereas visuospatial skills, music perception, and emotion processing tend to be lateralized to the right hemisphere.

Researchers conduct a study to determine if there is a correlation between gender and car feature preference. Which of the following questions asked of the participants would most effectively allow the researchers to identify socioeconomic status as a confounding variable in the study?

What is your annual household income and total value of your household's assets?

Key Concept

What makes conditioning more effective? The best way to do this is to make the delay between conditioned stimulus and unconditioned stimulus as short as possible. If we were using extinction as an outcome measure, then randomizing the timing or changing the pairings at times would have been a reasonable answer choice.

Functionalists would most likely agree with which of the following statements?

When illness prevents an individual from performing his/her function in a society, it is a form of dysfunction. According to functionalists, manifest (intended) functions have positive effects. Dysfunctions have negative effects.

Which explanation of the results of Study 1 presents the most appropriate application of the optimal arousal theory? Reminding participants of:

a negative stereotype associated with their identity increases arousal beyond what is optimal and leads to poor performance. Optimal arousal theory basically says that there is a goldilocks zone for arousal where people perform best. Too much arousal and it's hard to concentrate; too little arousal and you're not motivated well enough to do the task at hand - both extremes result in poor performance. So here, A is out because optimal arousal would lead to good performance, not variable. B is out because fluctuating arousal doesn't really indicate poor performance - it would probably cause fluctuating performance if anything. D is out because eliminating arousal completely would result in poor performance per optimal arousal theory. C is correct because it's basically saying that informing women of the stereotype causes too much arousal and according to optimal arousal theory, too much arousal is outside the goldilocks zone and you get poor performance.

randomized control trial

a study in which people are allocated at random to receive one of several interventions, one of which is the standard of comparison or control

agonist

a substance which initiates a physiological response when combined with a receptor

A teacher rewards his students by distributing plastic chips. Students receive a chip for each instance of desirable behavior. At the end of each month, they can exchange their chips for prizes. The teacher sees major decreases in undesirable behaviors as a result of this system, which is known as:

a token economy

Research on cognitive aging has demonstrated that, in general, aging does NOT diminish a person's:

ability to retrieve general information the capacity for retrieving general information (i.e., semantic memory, crystallized intelligence) is unaffected by aging declarative memory IS affected. Procedural memory and declarative memory are the two types of long term memory. Declarative memory is the memory of facts, data, and events. Procedural memory is the memory of how to do things. The two types of declarative memory are semantic memory and episodic memory. Semantic memory is recall of general facts, while episodic memory is recall of personal facts.

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. research on cognitive dissonance has found that people tend to change their attitudes to match their behaviors, rather than change their behavior.

The study in the passage best supports identifying popular culture as:

an agent of socialization Besides popular culture, other agents of socialization include schools, family, and religion. Sociologists use the term agents of socialization to refer to parts of society that are important for socialization (the process of learning the norms and values in a society). Social reproduction refers to the emphasis on the structures and activities that transmit social inequality from one generation to the next

social contract

an agreement among the members of a society to cooperate for social benefits

longitudinal study

an observational study in which repeat measurements of the same variables are taken over a prolonged time

confounding variable

an outside influence that changes the effect of a dependent and independent variable

A person looking at the night sky notices she no longer sees a dim star when her gaze remains fixated on it, but the dim star reappears when she shifts her gaze to one side of the star. What is the most likely cause of the reappearance of the dim star in her vision? Shifting her gaze moved the image of the dim star:

away from the fovea toward the periphery of the retina The fovea is the part of the retina that contains a high density of cones for daytime vision, whereas, the periphery of the retina contains a high density of rods which are more photosensitive and can detect dim light.

Key Concept

based on the standardization system used to score IQ, the Wechsler Scales of Intelligence (WISC) scores are "normalized" to a mean of 100 and a standard deviation of 15. So 68% of the scores will be between 85 and 115.

taboos

behaviors that are completely forbidden under any circumstance. Taboos are often punishable by law and usually result in severe disgust by members of the community. Examples include incest and cannibalism.

trait perspective

believes that individual personality can be broken into countless stable traits that are ubiquitous across all humans and cultures

Research findings indicate higher levels of patient trust and physician attention in race-concordant physician-patient relationships because:

both the physician and patient belong to the same in-group. Members of in-groups share common backgrounds and similar identities, which generally result in high levels of trust among in-group members. Racial/ethnic identity can be an important characteristic of an in-group, resting in a shared culture, language, or community. status is the honor or prestige attached to one's position in society (one's social position)

Which term refers to closed status positions that hinder social mobility?

caste system

cross-sectional study design

categorizes patients into different groups at a single point in time

group polarization

cause individuals to become more extreme in their perceptions and choices regardless of their personal feelings. Since the participant clearly experienced high levels of pain (>8) in all conditions, group polarization would increase the number of even higher ratings.

Damage to which nervous system structure is most likely to cause problems in the participants' ability to perform the synchronous behaviors in studies 1 and 2?

cerebellum The cerebellum is most likely to be involved in the execution of a coordinated motor task.

Similar activation levels in which brain region were LEAST likely in S and TSD participants when they were viewing the images presented in the study?

cerebellum The cerebellum is a structure that helps maintain posture and balance and coordinates body movements. Nucleus accumbens, hypothalamus, and amygdala are primary structures of the reward system.

Which of the following parts of the central nervous system is responsible for voluntary movement?

cerebrum the cerebrum is responsible for integration of sensory input, conscious thought, and all voluntary actions the cerebellum is mostly responsible for balance and proprioception the midbrain, medulla, and pons make up the brainstem, which is responsible for controlling the very basic necessities for sustaining life, such as breathing, hunger, and adjusting heart rate

Suppose squares 1, 2, 3, and 4, moving from left to right at the top of the grid light up and some participants think "top row lights up first," to remember the sequence. Which process is most likely being used to enhance working memory capacity?

chunking Priming is the implicit memory effect in which exposure to a stimulus influences response to a later stimulus. It is a technique in psychology used to train a person's memory both in positive and negative ways. An example of this is introducing the color blue to a person in order to help him/her recognize "sky" as a word. While positive priming speeds up the memory process, negative priming naturally slows it down.

A person who regularly cooks Brussels sprouts sees them being prepared and immediately senses the sulfur smell even though it is not present. The erroneous sensation is most likely the result of:

classical conditioning A stimulus causing a secondary stimulus fits with classical conditioning. Parallel processing is the process of blending different clues to determine what something is, so this would not apply.

Which psychological process is best represented in the hypothetical example at the end of the passage?

cognitive dissonance The question refers to the passage's description of a hypothetical scenario in which family members ask a provider to withhold aspects of a cancer diagnosis from a patient. Negotiating how to handle diagnosis and treatment can take on added complexity when patients and providers come from different cultural backgrounds. As the passage suggests, a provider may feel tension after fulfilling a family's request (to withhold aspects of a diagnosis) that conflicts with professional norms favoring disclosure. The resulting experience of psychological discomfort identifies cognitive dissonance, which can occur when there is a discrepancy among attitudes or an inconsistency between an attitude and a behavior.

Researchers studying the relationship between patients' socioeconomic status (SES) and their risk of developing lung cancer conducted a year-long study that followed a thousand patients in zip codes associated with a low SES and another thousand in zip codes associated with a higher SES. This study design is an example of:

cohort study design (follows a group and assesses them at different points in time)

Which statement is consistent with a symbolic interactionist interpretation of the findings in Study 2? The stigmatizing example:

created a negative label the participants interpreted and responded to in their behavior

In operant conditioning studies, the subject's motivational state is most typically operationally defined by:

depriving the subject of some desirable stimulus item for a period of time

self-fulfilling prophecy

different from stereotype threat in that a self-fulfilling prophecy usually involves an expectation upon an individual rather than a group

A researcher studies rats in her lab. She presents a green light, followed by a treat, and a red light, followed by nothing. Which of the following best describes the observation that the rat eventually salivates only when presented with the green light and not the red light?

discrimination

The tendency of doctors to use a physician-centered communication style more often with Black patients is an example of:

discrimination Prejudice describes attitudes (emotional), not behaviors. Discrimination is a behavior! Stereotypes are cognitive.

Key Concept

during interactions, teachers demonstrate language and new vocabulary, and children learn through observing and interacting. This process, a type of observational learning, is called modeling.

Which of the following is a negative symptom of schizophrenia?

emotional flattening negative symptoms are defined as the absence of appropriate behaviors and emotion. delusions, hallucinations, and disorganized speech are positive symptoms

Which research methodology involves the extended, systematic observation of a complete social environment?

ethnographic methods

Key Concept

exchange theory addresses decision making via cost-benefit analyses; similarly, incentive theory argues that individuals are motivated to engage in behaviors that produce rewards or incentives.

Which type of design is LEAST appropriate for research on residential segregation?

experimental methods Due to ethical concerns, as well as practical considerations, experimental research is generally not available for studying residential segregation. Except under special circumstances, it would be unethical and impractical to randomly assign participants to groups in which segregation is manipulated as an independent variable.

Data on the role of Maintenance Factor 1 on PD (panic disorder) is LEAST likely to come from which type of research?

experimental studies The primary obstacle to using experimental methods in such studies is the difficulty of systematically manipulating participants' physiological states and their sensitivity to changes in those states.

attribution theory

explains how we attach meaning to our own and other people's behaviors

explicit vs implicit bias

explicit bias would involve an individual knowingly making stereotypes or judgements about a group of people. When individuals are exhibiting implicit bias, they are unconsciously stereotyping about a group of people.

A 5 year old participant is told by a researcher that she will receive a candy bar if she is able to correctly identify 90% of the emotional cues. What tactic is employed by the researcher?

extrinsic motivation classical and operant conditioning both require repeated behavior

Which technique was most likely used to measure increased neural activation of specific brain regions when viewing the images of food?

fMRI An fMRI is an imaging technique that measures brain activity by detecting associated changes in blood flow.

Under certain circumstances, such as having received news about something traumatic on a particular day, many people claim that they remember every detail of what they were doing when they received the news. Psychologists use which term to describe this unusual phenomenon?

flashbulb memory

source monitoring error

foccurs when a memory derived from one source is misattributed to another source

A city public health investigator is interested in assessing the incidence (occurrence or frequency) of various sexually-transmitted diseases (STDs) in the local homosexual community. He places an advertisement in the local newspaper looking for "volunteers for a study in sexually-transmitted disease risk in gay men and women." Participants are assured that no personally identifiable data will be collected. Conclusions about the incidence of each STD drawn from the study will be used to design a public outreach program of targeted STD prevention in local precincts. Criticisms of his study would most likely focus on its:

generalizability, since the rate of STD's among volunteers acquired through such a newspaper advertisement may not be representative of the homosexual community in the city as a whole

After encountering a rebellious student in a new environment, a teacher is surprised by the student's positive behavior, manners, and abilities outside the classroom. Based on this information, the teacher's surprise can be most directly explained by:

fundamental attribution error The teacher's surprise stems from a disproportional reliance on dispositional, rather than situational, attributions to explain the student's behavior.

game theory

holds that people are rational beings who act according to their self-interest

mood disorders

illnesses affecting an individual's long term emotional state. Mood disorders are best exemplified by two major illnesses: major depressive disorder and bipolar disorder. Anxiety disorders differ from mood disorders in that the underlying issue is not the individual's baseline emotional state, but an irrational fear or worry which may snowball out of control. Somatoform disorders involve circumstances where the physical symptoms an individual is experiencing cannot be fully explained by a general medical condition. Dissociative disorders are classified as conditions in which the building blocks of reality, such as memory, identity, or awareness, are broken down.

Negative priming (slow, error-prone responses to stimuli that were previously ignored) requires which type of memory process?

implicit memory

vicarious learning

learning through observation

experimental study design

involves separating a group into two randomized groups in order to see the effects of a certain variable on a sample

dependency ratio

is a ratio of the number of economically dependent members of the population to the number of economically productive members. The economically dependent are those considered too young or too old to work, whereas the economically productive are the working-age population (approximately between the ages of 18 and 65).

In a community, weak ties are:

large in number and increase access to social capital Weak ties generally are numerous and allow individuals to access social capital. Without weak ties, individuals find it hard to tap into any social capital.

material vs symbolic culture

material culture would be related to goods or items of clear material value, not perceived or theoretical value (symbolic culture)

Sound-induced vibrations depolarize hair cells of the cochlea by opening ion channels that are gated in what way?

mechanically Hair cells of the cochlea are specialized mechanoreceptors.

The combination of drive-reduction and incentive theory allows for explaining behavior motivated by secondary reinforcers, which can include:

money money is a secondary reinforcer since it requires a pairing or association with a primary reinforcer for it to have value primary reinforcers: water, sexual activity, food

According to the hypothesis presented in the passage, which drug is most likely to cause a decline in the wheel-running behavior of ABA-induced rats?

morphine morphine is an endorphin agonist as opposed to alcohol, cocaine, and marijuana

An individual hears a persistent, loud beeping after turning on his car. Once he puts on his seatbelt, the beeping stops. This alarm is an example of:

negative reinforcement This correctly identifies that the alarm is taken away to increase the behavior of fastening one's seatbelt.

The researchers determined that two participants in the S group were taking medication that may have exacerbated their negative symptoms. Which classification of medication were these participants most likely taking?

neuroleptics neuroleptics are the first antipsychotic drugs used to treat schizophrenia and though they are effective in treating positive symptoms, their side effects include cognitive dulling, which can exacerbate negative symptoms.

mores

norms that are based on some moral value or belief. Dependent on a group's understanding of what is right and wrong, so generally produce strong feelings. When public figures are not truthful, there's usually outrage and a sense that the individual has done something morally wrong. However, mores do not always have serious consequences like laws do.

formal sanction

officially recognized and enforced

case-control study design

one wherein subjects with a certain outcome are assessed for previous risk factors

At the time of the car accidents, which component of the nervous system of both Person A and Person B was NOT likely to be activated?

parasympathetic nervous system ("rest and digest")

Which concept CANNOT explain the ability of the participants in both studies to visually process the faces they were shown?

place theory Place theory posits that one is able to hear different pitches because different sound waves trigger activity at different places along the cochlea's basilar membrane. Therefore, it is a concept that does not involve the visual system. Parallel processing is a part of vision in that the brain divides what it sees into four components: color, motion, shape, and depth. Interposition occurs in instances where one object overlaps the other, which causes us to perceive depth. Accommodation is the ability of the eye to change its focus from distant to near objects (and vice versa).

For Patient 2, panic attacks act as:

positive punishers The patient describes the panic attacks as highly aversive and mentions that he no longer goes to meetings for fear of a panic attack. Thus, the frequency of the patient's attendance at meetings has decreased as the result of the panic attacks. Therefore, the panic attacks have been positive punishers.

representativeness heuristic

predicated on categorizing items based on whether they fit the prototypical image of that category. For example, humans are more likely to categorize something as being hot if it is red, due to the fact that the prototypical image of something hot is red.

After initially learning to ride a bike, riding a bike becomes easy for an individual. Each time the individual rides a bike thereafter, what type of memory is being used?

procedural

The technical term for the type of stimulus registered by the sensory receptors, mentioned in the first paragraph, is:

proximal stimulus The proximal stimulus is the stimulus registered by the sensory receptors (e.g., the pattern of light falling on the retina) Distal stimuli are objects and events out in the world about you.

negative sanction

punishment for violating norms

A person has difficulty with vision whenever there are rapid and significant increases or decreases in ambient light. This person is most likely lacking the full function of his:

pupil The pupil expands and contracts based on the absence or presence of light. The retina is responsible for storing and processing images, not taking in light. While the lens directs light, it is not responsible for taking in light. The cornea does gather and use light, but it's not responsible for how much light is accepted.

An example of intersectionality is the relationship between:

race/ethnicity and social class Intersectionality calls attention to how identity categories intersect in systems of social stratification. For example, an individual's position within a social hierarchy is determined not only by his or her social class, but also by his or her race/ethnicity. Intersectionality can also refer to intersections involving other identity categories such as age, gender, or sexual orientation.

An immigrant teen starts to reject the ethnic customs of his family and instead identifies himself as an American by dressing, speaking, and acting in ways that are associated with American culture. In this scenario, Americans become which type of group for the teenager?

reference group Individuals often emulate the attitudes and behaviors of groups that they admire and would like to join. Sociologists refer to these as reference groups, which are important for self-evaluation and identity formation

cognitive dissonance

refers to a situation where someone's behavior conflicts with their beliefs or attitudes. For example, when people smoke even though they know it's pretty bad for them, they experience cognitive dissonance

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: (Official Guide Q24)

reticular activating system The reticular activating system is involved in controlling alertness and is most likely to be stimulated to bring someone out of a coma. The somatosensory cortex is involved in receiving the sensory signals from the skin.

positive sanction

reward for conforming to norms

schizoid vs avoidant personality disorder

schizoid personality disorder is characterized by a lifelong pattern of social withdrawal. Avoidant personality disorder can be distinguished from schizoid personality disorder because those with avoidant personality disorder craves acceptance and affection while ones with schizoid personality disorder have no desire for interpersonal interaction.

Selective attention vs divided attention

selective attention is the ability to select from many factors or stimuli and to focus on only the one that you want while filtering out other distractions divided attention is the ability to process two or more responses or react to two or more different demands simultaneously. Often referred to as multi-tasking.

empiricism

states that the only source of knowledge comes through our senses

Anxious about a nagging illness, a patient feels ignored by a doctor who is struggling to catch up with patient examinations on a very busy day. The doctor misinterprets the discomfort and agitation of the patient as hostility. Which sociological paradigm can best explain this scenario?

symbolic interactionism

Which statement accurately represents the application of CBT (cognitive behavioral therapy) in the study? In the study, CBT addresses smoking behaviors through:

systematic modification of individual behavior and self-assessments CBT first addresses maladaptive behaviors through behavior therapy to systematically modify a person's behavior. This is followed by sessions designed to foster cognitive change, through self-assessments. Behavioral therapy deals mainly with learning aka conditioning. Cognitive behavioral has the added component of tackling faulty ways of thinking through self-assessment.

feature detection

the ability of the brain to identify specific components of visual stimuli such as corners or edges

feature detectors

the ability to detect certain types of stimuli, like movements, shape, and angles, requires specialized cells in the brain called feature detectors

The use of privileges in an inpatient therapeutic setting would be most strongly advocated by proponents of:

the behaviorist perspective of personality Biological - genes = personality Behavioural - conditioned (rewards/punishments) behaviour = personality Humanist - free will actions to improve self = personality Psychoanalytic - unconscious mental life and the results of the ID/ego/superego struggle = personality cognitive - interplay between personal choice and environment influences behaviour = personality

selection bias

the bias introduced by the selection of individuals, groups or data for analysis in such a way that proper randomization is not achieved, thereby ensuring that the sample obtained is not representative of the population intended to be analyzed

folkway

the most mild type of norm. Common rules or manners that we are supposed to follow on a day-to-day basis. Basic, everyday courtesies such as opening the door for someone or helping a person who has dropped something in the grocery store.

dependent variable

the outcome factor; the variable that may change in response to manipulations of the independent variable

social facilitation

the phenomenon by which individuals are more likely to perform better on simple tasks when in the presence of others

Which interpretation of the research findings is consistent with the conflict theory perspective? Status hierarchies facilitate:

the preservation of structural power while being maintained by practices of discrimination Conflict theory emphasizes the competition between groups over the allocation of societal resources. It assumes that power and authority are unequally distributed across a society, and that groups attempt to maintain their advantages.

Key Concept

the right hemisphere, and specifically the right prefrontal cortex deals with processing and displaying negative emotions

A person has left his shopping list in the car, but decides not to go back for it because he is confident that he has the list memorized. Upon returning home, he realizes that he remembered most of the items from the beginning and end of the list, but forgot many items from the middle of the list. This outcome illustrates:

the serial-position effect Items from the primacy and recency portions of the list have been recalled, but not the middle items. Together, the primacy and recency effects comprise the serial position effect. Hindsight bias, also known as the knew-it-all-along phenomenon, refers to the common tendency for people to perceive events that have already occurred as having been more predictable than they actually were before the events took place.

A soldier is unable to repeat an oath that her drill sergeant has read aloud to her unit, though she is able to comprehend the oath and verbally apologize for the mishap. Which of the following statements identifies the brain region likely to be affected in the soldier and its effect?

the soldier has damage to her arcuate fasciculus and suffers from conduction aphasia The solider can comprehend language, so Wernicke's area is intact and she can articulate speech, so Broca's area is undamaged. It follows that the arucate fasciculus is injured, which is involved in repeating back spoken word, known as conduction aphasia.

A researcher replicates the experiment with the addition of a physical stressor to the first phase of the experiment. According to Selye's general adaptation syndrome, this change is:

unnecessary, because the human stress response is not specific to the type of stressor According to Selye's general adaptation syndrome, people's response to various stressors is similar.

informal sanction

unofficially recognized and does not result in specific punishment