Ultimate MCAT Pschycology

declarative memory

The ability to learn and consciously remember everyday facts and events.

intrapersonal intelligence

The ability to understand one's own emotions, motivations, inner states of being, and self-reflection.

naturalistic intelligence

The ability to work with biology and work with and around natural settings. Students have the ability to observe nature and see patterns

learned helplessness

The behavior of giving up or not responding to punishment, exhibited by people or animals exposed to negative consequences or punishment over which they have no control

Internal consistency

The extent to which all the items on an instrument are measuring the same attribut

efferent neurons

neurons that take information from the brain to the rest of the body

afferent neurons

neurons that take information from the senses to the brain

interneurons

neurons that connect afferent and efferent neurons

Componential intelligence

(also known as analytical intelligence) the traditional idea of intelligence. Includes ability to logically reason and think abstractly. Also includes the ability to communicate and think mathematically. This type of intelligence can be evaluated by standard tests of intelligence (e.g. IQ tests)

Experiential intelligence

(also known as creative intelligence) the ability to familiarize oneself with new circumstances and form new concepts. For example: If you move to a foreign country and you are able to learn the new language, you are exhibiting experiential intelligence.

Semantic networks

(also known as frame networks) are neural networks that signify lingual or logical relationships between ideas.

Contextual intelligence-

(also known as practical intelligence, or "street smarts") this is the ability to apply one's knowledge base to the world around them. Example: You have learned that UV rays from the sun can give you skin cancer, so when the sunlight becomes intense, you move to sit in the shade

Wernicke's aphasia

-parietal lobe damage part of the temporal lobe involved in understanding language, problems comprehending speech, expressing meaning

reduce cognitive dissonance

1) Modify our cognition: I don't smoke that much 2)Trivialize : make less important...oh its not that big of a deal 3)Add: adding more cognitions...if i exercise more smoking won't be that bad 4) Deny: Smoking and cancer are unrelated

convergence

A binocular cue for perceiving depth; the extent to which the eyes converge inward when looking at an object. The greater the inward strain, the closer the object.

undifferentiated schizophrenia

A catchall term used when schizophrenic symptoms either do not conform to the criteria of any one type of schizophrenia or conform to more than one type.

Moral hypocrisy

Behaving in a manner so as to appear moral without suffering the consequences

groupthink

A situation in which group members seek unanimous agreement despite their individual doubts

in group

A social group toward which a member feels respect and loyalty (shared interest and identity)

James-Lange

A theory of emotion that states that a stimulus results in physiological arousal, which then leads to a secondary response in which emotion is consciously experienced.

procedural memory

A type of long-term memory of how to perform different actions and skills. Essentially, it is the memory of how to do certain things.

paranoid schizophrenia

A type of schizophrenia that is dominated by delusions of persecution along with delusions of grandeur(social importance).

identity moratorium

An adolescent's choice of a socially acceptable way to postpone making identity-achievement decisions. Going to college is a common example.

rational choice

An approach that assumes people act rationally in their self-interest, seeking to maximize value.

labeling theory

An approach to the study of deviance that suggests that people become "deviant" because certain labels are attached to their behavior by political authorities and others.

ingratiation

An impression management strategy that uses flattery to increase social acceptance.

out group

Any group with which an individual does not identify

Meyers-Briggs

Characterizes personality on four different scales: is an introspective self-report questionnaire designed to indicate psychological preferences in how people perceive the world and make decisions

Reliability

Consistency

Construct validity

Degree to which a test actually measures what it claims to measure

door in the face

In this persuasive technique, a ridiculous request is made knowing that you will refuse followed by a smaller request that is more acceptable

counter attitudinal

Inconsistent attitude related to cognitive dissonance and talks about binge drinking on 21st birthday (the person binge drinking isn't someone who usually drinks) participants do boring task and tell a white lie about how enjoyable it was. Some were paid $1, others paid $20. Later, asked openly how much they had enjoyed the task. Those who were paid $20 said it was boring. Those who had been paid $1 rated the task as significantly more enjoyable.

Compliance

Obedience includes normalizing behavior would not include one of the majority changing views

researcher bias

Occurs when a researcher influences the results of a study

rigid personality

Personality disorder: OCD

foot in the door

Persuasive technique involving making a small request before making a bigger one

mind control

Process by which freedom of choose and action, either as an individual or a group, is compromised to distort perception, motivation, cognition, and behavior. Ex. Jonestown, Milgram and Zimbardo.

group polarization

Shifts or exaggeration in group members' attitudes or behavior as a result of group discussion.

formal social control

Social control that is carried out by authorized agents, such as police officers, judges, school administrators, and employers

Unconditioned stimulus

Stimulus that normally produces a measurable involuntary response

interpersonal intelligence

Students have the ability to engage and interact with people socially; these students have a strength in making sense of their world through relationships

Internal validity

The extent to which an experiment shows convincingly that chagnges in behavior are a functon of the independent variable and not a result of uncontrolled or unknown variables.

Attributional bias

The tendency to attribute one's own negative behavior to external causes and one's positive actions to internal states

fundamental attribution error

The tendency to attribute other people's behavior to dispositional (internal) causes rather than situational (external) causes. A good example would be if someone tripped you and you assumed that they had done it on purpose when in fact they happened to have put their leg out to stretch or lean back. Another example is if someone kicked a cat, and you assumed it was because they hated your cat when in fact it was because the cat was not visible to them. (Say it stepped in front of them suddenly.)

Status quo bias

The tendency to favor the "here and now" and to reject potential change.... many people eat the same thing for breakfast day after day, for example, or walk to work in exactly the same pattern, without variation, refusing to try new food while visiting a country

Framing bias

The two scenarios above are identical, but statistically people will make different decisions based upon how the information is portrayed. We generally respond better to positively portrayed information (98% survival) than to negatively portrayed information (2% mortality). An information-processing bias in which a person answers a question differently based on the way in which it is asked (framed).

Triarchic Theory of Intelligence

View of intelligence; proponents argue that that intelligent behavior arises from a balance between analytical, creative, and practical abilities. Experiential intelligence- Componential intelligence- Contextual intelligence-

Expectation bias

When we see what we want to see; we seek out confirming information and ignore disconfirming information confirmation bias ex. supporters of Bush and Kerry during the 2004 election were able to ignore contradictory statements made by their preferred candidate. Without any effort on their parts, their brains stepped in to protect their current beliefs.

Dementia

chronic disorder of mental processes, particularly the ability to recall. It can be caused by an injury or disease of the brain; it is not contagious. In addition to memory loss, other symptoms of dementia include changes in personality and cognitive abilities (e.g. reasoning).

correlation coefficient

a statistical index of the relationship between two things (from -1 to +1)

differential association theoretical perspective

a theory that explains deviance as a learned behavior determined by the extent of a person's association with individuals who engage in such behavior

catatonic schizophrenia

a type of schizophrenia marked by striking motor disturbances, ranging from muscular rigidity to random motor activity

implicit attitudes

attitudes that influence a person's feelings and behavior at an unconscious level

explicit attitudes

attitudes that we consciously endorse and can easily report

Wernicke's area

comprehend

Weber Fechner law

dI/ I= K

A scientist investigating the Weber-Fechner law detects a just-noticeable difference for a subject when shifting from a 5 kg to an 8 kg mass. When repeating the trial, how many kilograms must be added to a 15 kg mass to replicate the effect?

dI/I=K (8-5)/5 =x/15 15 X 3= 45 5x= 45 x=9 kg

referent power

derived from one's personal attraction

attitude polarization

describes changes in attitudes among people in groups - tendency to go to the extreme.

projective personality assessment

diagnostic personality test using unstructured stimuli to evoke responses that reflect aspects of an individual's personality. Two prominent examples of projective tests are the Rorschach Inkblot Test (Rorschach, 1921) and the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) (Morgan & Murray, 1935). The former asks respondents to interpret symmetrical blots of ink, whereas the latter asks them to generate stories about a series of pictures.

Induce compliance

door in the face A smaller request after a bigger request does improve compliance.

informal social control

exercised by a society without stating any rules or laws. It is expressed through norms and customs. Social control is performed by informal agents on their own in an unofficial capacity. Traditional societies mostly embed informal social control culture to establish social order.

Huntington's disease

fatal genetic condition with no cure. Its symptoms include memory loss and dementia, as well as involuntary movements of the limbs. The disease is caused by neurons that are genetically programmed to degenerate over time. neuroleptics and benzodiazepines

Automation bias

favor suggestions from automated decision making systems and to ignore contradictory information made without automation, even if it is correct. This bias takes the form of errors of exclusion and inclusion: an automation bias of exclusion takes place when humans rely on an automated system that does not inform them of a problem error of inclusion arises when humans make choices based on incorrect suggestions relayed by automated systems.[2] Automation bias has been examined across many research fields.[1] Some factors leading to an over-reliance on automation include inexperience in a task lack of confidence in one's own abilities a reflexive trust of the automated system a lack of readily available alternative information, as a way of saving time and effort on complex

Decay Theory

if long-term memories are not recalled often, it will become harder and harder (if not impossible) to remember them. It is also theorized that our inability to remember certain pieces of information may be due to the natural physiological death of neurons, especially as we age.

conditioned stimulus

in classical conditioning, an originally irrelevant stimulus that, after association with an unconditioned stimulus, comes to trigger a conditioned response

Conditioned response

in classical conditioning, the learned response to a previously neutral stimulus

unconditioned response

in classical conditioning, the unlearned, naturally occurring response to the unconditioned stimulus, such as salivation when food is in the mouth

Egocentric bias

individuals recall the past in a self-enhancing manner; e.g. fishermen "remembering" catching bigger and bigger fish.

normative social influence

influence resulting from a person's desire to gain approval or avoid disapproval ex. standing up for a standing ovation even if you didn't think the performance was great...because it would be awk if you didn't

informative social influence

influence resulting from one's willingness to accept others' opinions about reality. conformity that occurs because of the desire to be correct. In Asch's experiment, some of the participants stated that they believed they must be wrong since no one else agreed with them. They changed their answer so that they would be 'right.'

proactive interference

interference where older information learned interferes with the recall of the more recent information

linguistic intelligence

language skills

8 types of intelligence

linguistic, logical-mathematical, spatial, musical, bodily-kinesthetic, interpersonal, intrapersonal, and naturalistic

objective personality assessment

measures specific personality characteristics based on a set of discrete options, such as in the Meyers-Briggs personality assessment. Objective tests involve administering a standard set of items, each of which is answered using a limited set of response options (e.g., true or false; strongly disagree, slightly disagree, slightly agree, strongly agree). Responses to these items then are scored in a standardized, predetermined way. For example, self-ratings on items assessing talkativeness, assertiveness, sociability, adventurousness, and energy can be summed up to create an overall score on the personality trait of extraversion.

Imagination inflation

occurs when certain memories are either constructed or exaggerated by the person's imagination. This is one way false memories can be created.

Retroactive interference

occurs when the learning of new information prevents someone from remembering information that was learned previously.

characteristics of creativity

openness to experience, new ideas, an internal locus of evaluation, an ability to toy with elements and concepts, perceiving freshly, concern with outside and inside worlds, ability to defer closure and judgment, and skilled performance of the traditional arts, among others.

schema

overall framework of how we remember something (structure and components of the situation, details, etc.). Schemas can skew information. An example of a schema skewing information: being asked to recall the doctor's examining room that you saw as a child. You may remember certain things that were there, but due to your idea of what a doctor's examining room should look like, you may remember things such as tongue depressors, cotton balls, alcohol, etc., regardless of whether or not they were actually there.

Effort justification

people's tendency to reduce dissonance by justifying the time, effort, or money they have devoted to something that has turned out to be unpleasant or disappointing

legitimate power

power based on one's legitimate status or position

coercive power

power based on the ability to punish

Myelin sheath functions

protect the neuron increase velocity of impulse propagation increase electrical insulation

Exchange-rational

refers to the theory that we are rational actors, who perform a cost-benefit analysis of our decisions

expert power

results from one's specialized information or expertise

Broca's area

speech production

The Dissociation Theory

states that the hypnosis patient is experiencing a divided state of consciousness. It is thought that if the patient alters their focus and tunes-out their everyday state of consciousness, they will be able to focus on another more specific and directed state of consciousness.

subjective personality assessment

testers respond freely and give their own interpretations of stimuli Rorschach Inkblot Test, Thematic Apperception Test (TAT),The House-Tree-Person Test,

Post decisional conflict

the dissonance associated with behaving in a counter-attitudinal way. dissonance can be reduced by bringing the attitude into line with the behaviour

Fixation

the failure to see an issue from a new perspective. Sometimes fixation occurs because of a mental set.

Ecological validity

the idea that cognition should be measured in settings and conditions that are as realistic as possible and that the abilities measured should be those needed in real life

primary deviance

the initial act of rule breaking deviance involving occasional breaking of norms that is not a part of a person's lifestyle or self-concept

Regression to the mean

the mean is the phenomenon that if a variable is extreme on its first measurement, it will tend to be closer to the average on its second measurement—and if it is extreme on its second measurement, it will tend to have been closer to the average on its first. significant consideration in the design of experiments

Free choice paradigm

the more "free" choice one has in the decision making process, the more dissonance they will suffer

secondary deviance

the process that occurs when a person who has been labeled a deviant accepts that new identity and continues the deviant behavior

Cannon-Bard

the theory that an emotion-arousing stimulus simultaneously triggers physiological responses and the subjective experience of emotion I see a snake --> I am afraid, and I begin to tremble.

confabulation

the unintended false recollection of episodic memories ex. confusion of an event that happened to someone else with one that happened to you, or a belief that you remember something when it never actually happened

Strain theory

theory that deviance is more likely to occur when a gap exists between cultural goals and the ability to achieve these goals by legitimate means

Korsakoff's syndrome

thiamine deficiency due to chronic alcoholism, damage diencephalic structures (mammillary bodies and medial dorsal nucleus) memoryy impairments

disorganized schizophrenia

type of schizophrenia characterized by severely disturbed thought processes, frequent incoherence, disorganized behavior, and inappropriate affect.