AAMC Psych/Soc Flashcards

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Questions and Answers

What does speech shadowing refer to?

An experimental technique involving listening to music.

A method used in public speaking.

A technique in which subjects repeat speech immediately after hearing. (correct)

A form of non-verbal communication.

Which brain hemisphere is responsible for linguistic production and comprehension?

left

Why is continuous reinforcement best for the beginning of the acquisition phase of operant conditioning?

The schedule unambiguously informs the subject which behavior is correct.

What is instinctual drift?

The phenomenon whereby established habits learned using operant techniques are replaced by innate food-related behaviors. Signup and view all the answers

Research on cognitive aging has demonstrated that aging does NOT diminish a person's ability to retrieve what?

general information Signup and view all the answers

What is a proximal stimulus?

The information our sensory receptors receive about the object. Signup and view all the answers

What is a distal stimulus?

The actual object or event out there in the world. Signup and view all the answers

In operant conditioning studies, how is the subject's motivational state typically defined?

By depriving the subject of some desirable stimulus item for a period of time. Signup and view all the answers

What is a sensitive period (critical period)?

A point in early development that significantly influences physiological or behavioral functioning later in life. Signup and view all the answers

What does the incentive theory of motivation emphasize?

How external factors, including community values and cultural aspects, can motivate behavior. Signup and view all the answers

What does psychoanalytic theory attempt to explain?

Personality, motivation, and mental disorders by focusing on unconscious determinants of behavior. Signup and view all the answers

What is emphasized by the humanistic perspective of personality?

The growth potential of healthy individuals. Signup and view all the answers

What does the behaviorist theory of personality emphasize?

That personality is derived from the interaction between a person and his/her environment. Signup and view all the answers

What does the social-cognitive perspective view behavior as influenced by?

The interaction between people's traits and their social context/environment. Signup and view all the answers

In the trait perspective of personality, what is personality a result of?

Traits, which are habitual patterns of behavior, thought, and emotion that are relatively stable over time. Signup and view all the answers

How can personality be explained according to the biological perspective?

As a result of genetic expression in the brain. Signup and view all the answers

What are theta waves associated with?

Sleep stage 1. Signup and view all the answers

What characterizes sleep stage 2?

Sleep spindles and K-complexes. Signup and view all the answers

What is the deepest stage of sleep characterized by?

Delta waves (Sleep stages 3 and 4). Signup and view all the answers

What are REM sleep waves similar to?

Beta waves, but more jagged. Signup and view all the answers

What characterizes alpha waves according to EEG?

Awake, eyes closed, but starting to doze off. Signup and view all the answers

What does EEG beta waves indicate?

Awake and alert. Signup and view all the answers

What does the evolutionary perspective of human motivation examine?

How behaviors help a species survive across generations, focusing on natural selection. Signup and view all the answers

What is place theory in music perception?

The theory that different sound waves trigger activity at different places along the cochlea's basilar membrane. Signup and view all the answers

What does Functional MRI (fMRI) visualize?

Brain activity using changes in blood flow and blood oxygen level. Signup and view all the answers

What defines validity in testing?

The ability of a test to measure what it is intended to measure. Signup and view all the answers

Define reliability in testing.

The ability of a test to yield very similar scores for the same individual over repeated testings. Signup and view all the answers

What is standardization in testing?

Defining uniform testing procedures and meaningful scores by comparison with the performance of a pretested group. Signup and view all the answers

What does generalization mean?

A conclusion drawn from specific information that is used to make a broad statement about a topic or person. Signup and view all the answers

What type of memory process does negative priming require?

Implicit memory. Signup and view all the answers

What classification of medication may exacerbate negative symptoms of schizophrenia?

Neuroleptics. Signup and view all the answers

What are positive symptoms of schizophrenia?

Hallucinations, delusions, and disorganized thought and behavior. Signup and view all the answers

What are negative symptoms of schizophrenia?

Absence of appropriate behaviors; loss of motivation to do things (avolition), flattened affect, reduced speech. Signup and view all the answers

What are cognitive symptoms of schizophrenia?

Poor executive control, trouble focusing, working memory problems, poor problem-solving abilities. Signup and view all the answers

What is the dependent stressor associated with the need for reassurance?

The isolation resulting from others being driven away. Signup and view all the answers

What is a unidirectional relationship in psychology?

A relationship where a stressor leads to depressive symptoms. Signup and view all the answers

What is a reciprocal relationship?

Dependent stressors not only influence depression but could themselves be influenced by depression. Signup and view all the answers

What is parallel processing?

The processing of several aspects of a problem simultaneously. Signup and view all the answers

What is conscious processing?

A slow deliberative approach to perceiving where we examine and reflect about the stimuli. Signup and view all the answers

If a person with a severed corpus callosum says 'ball' after the researcher asks what he sees, why is this likely?

The word 'ball' was projected to the right visual field, while 'room' was presented to the left visual field. Signup and view all the answers

What is likely to happen if two friends accept internships but are in a state of dissonance?

They are likely to adapt their attitudes to be more in line with the council member. Signup and view all the answers

What does cultural transmission refer to?

The process by which one generation passes culture to the next. Signup and view all the answers

What is the life course perspective?

A holistic perspective that calls attention to developmental processes and other experiences across a person's life. Signup and view all the answers

What is cultural capital?

Knowledge, skills, language mastery, style of dress, and values that provide access to a particular status in society. Signup and view all the answers

What is intersectionality?

An analytic framework for assessing how identity categories interact to shape life chances. Signup and view all the answers

What is social stratification?

A system by which a society ranks categories of people in a hierarchy. Signup and view all the answers

What is symbolic interactionism?

An approach that focuses on interactions among people based on mutually understood symbols. Signup and view all the answers

What does demographic transition theory address?

Changes in birth rates and death rates associated with economic development. Signup and view all the answers

What is a cross-sectional study?

A study in which people of different ages are compared with one another. Signup and view all the answers

What is a performance-approach goal?

The desire to look good and receive favorable judgments from others. Signup and view all the answers

What is impression management?

The altering of the presentation of self to create distinctive appearances. Signup and view all the answers

What is the 'Me' component of self?

The socialized and conforming aspect of self. Signup and view all the answers

What is the 'I' component of self?

The spontaneous, less socialized component of self. Signup and view all the answers

When your needs are met, which midbrain region releases dopamine?

Ventral tegmental area (VTA). Signup and view all the answers

What are the primary structures of the reward system?

Amygdala, nucleus accumbens, hippocampus, prefrontal cortex. Signup and view all the answers

What do context effects describe?

How the context in which a stimulus occurs can contribute to its perception. Signup and view all the answers

What is a flashbulb memory?

A clear memory of an emotionally significant moment or event. Signup and view all the answers

What is the recency effect?

The tendency to remember words at the end of a list especially well. Signup and view all the answers

What does the spacing effect mean?

Distributed study yields better retention than cramming. Signup and view all the answers

What is the primacy effect?

The tendency to remember words at the beginning of a list especially well. Signup and view all the answers

What is the serial position effect?

Our tendency to recall best the last and first items in a list. Signup and view all the answers

What are Kohlberg's stages of moral development?

6 identifiable stages: pre-conventional, conventional, and post-conventional. Signup and view all the answers

What is the looking-glass self?

An image of yourself based on what you believe others think of you. Signup and view all the answers

Based on the looking-glass self concept, how might a person with a stigmatized illness react?

The person will internalize the perceived stigmatization. Signup and view all the answers

Why is memory considered reconstructive?

We extract the gist to make things easier to remember. Signup and view all the answers

Combine the concepts of validity and reliability in testing.

A test measures what it should and achieves the same scores on retest. Signup and view all the answers

What does the Easterbrook hypothesis suggest?

Arousal tends to narrow attentional focus to the eliciting emotions. Signup and view all the answers

What is a self-fulfilling prophecy?

An expectation that causes you to act in ways that make the expectation come true. Signup and view all the answers

What are the three main components of socioeconomic status (SES)?

Occupation, income, education. Signup and view all the answers

What is a dichotic listening task?

A task where a person hears two or more different messages over earphones. Signup and view all the answers

What does the social construction of race imply?

There is little biological basis for race; it is shaped by history, culture, and society. Signup and view all the answers

What characterizes primary groups?

Frequent interpersonal contact. Signup and view all the answers

What defines a secondary group?

An impersonal social group that engages in specific activities. Signup and view all the answers

What would a conflict theorist be concerned with?

Social control, social inequality, and inequalities in political power. Signup and view all the answers

What is a period effect?

The result of a specific historical event like a war or economic depression. Signup and view all the answers

What do cohort differences refer to?

Events that impact one group but not another due to their place in history. Signup and view all the answers

Why is the hippocampus selectively vulnerable during global ischemia?

The expression of NMDA receptors is more abundant in hippocampal than cortical neurons. Signup and view all the answers

What is self-verification?

The tendency to seek out and agree with information consistent with one's self-concept. Signup and view all the answers

What is self-serving bias?

The tendency to take personal credit for success but blame failure on external factors. Signup and view all the answers

What is self-efficacy?

An individual's belief that he or she is capable of performing a task. Signup and view all the answers

What is the Five Factor Model?

Openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, neuroticism. Signup and view all the answers

Involvement of serotonin pertains to what functions?

Appetite, anger, aggression, sleep, sexuality, anxiety. Signup and view all the answers

What are the differences between role strain and role conflict?

Role strain is when you can't fulfill all obligations of one status; role conflict is when one role interferes with another. Signup and view all the answers

What are gestalt principles of closure?

The tendency to complete figures that are incomplete. Signup and view all the answers

What is the gestalt principle of similarity?

Elements that are similar tend to be grouped together. Signup and view all the answers

What is the gestalt principle of proximity?

Things that are near one another seem to belong together. Signup and view all the answers

What is the gestalt principle of symmetry?

We perceive objects that are symmetrically arranged as wholes more often than asymmetrical objects. Signup and view all the answers

What is empirical verification?

The scientific way of learning answers to questions through experiments. Signup and view all the answers

Study Notes

Psychological and Cognitive Concepts

Speech Shadowing: An experimental method where subjects repeat speech immediately after hearing it, assessing auditory processing and comprehension.
Brain Hemisphere Lateralization: Linguistic production and comprehension are primarily located in the left hemisphere of the brain.
Continuous Reinforcement in Operant Conditioning: This schedule is optimal during the acquisition phase as it clearly indicates correct behavior to the subject.
Instinctual Drift: A phenomenon where trained behaviors are overridden by inherent instincts, particularly in animal training scenarios.

Memory and Aging

Cognitive Aging Research: Indicates that aging does not negatively affect the ability to retrieve general information, reflecting preserved semantic memory and crystallized intelligence.
Proximal and Distal Stimuli: Proximal stimulus refers to the sensory information received, while distal stimulus is the actual object or event in the environment.
Memory Processes: Negative priming relies on implicit memory, demonstrating how earlier exposure to a stimulus can affect response to a related subsequent stimulus.

Personality Theories

Psychoanalytic Theory: Focuses on unconscious motives as drivers of personality, emphasizing hidden influences on behavior.
Humanistic Perspective: Highlights the growth potential of self-actualized individuals, emphasizing personal development.
Behaviorist Approach: Suggests personality is formed through interactions with the environment, underlining the impact of conditioning.
Social-Cognitive Perspective: Considers behavior as influenced by both personal traits and the surrounding social context.
Trait Perspective: Defines personality in terms of stable behavior patterns that are consistent over time.
Biological Perspective: Attributes personality traits to genetic factors and brain function.

Sleep Stages

Stage 1 Sleep: Associated with theta waves, marking the transition into sleep.
Stage 2 Sleep: Characterized by sleep spindles and K-complexes; indicates deeper sleep.
Stages 3 and 4: Represent deep sleep characterized by delta waves, crucial for restorative processes.
REM Sleep: Exhibits brain activity similar to beta waves, essential for dreaming and cognitive functioning.

Motivation and Behavior

Incentive Theory: Focuses on external factors from culture and community that drive behavior and motivation.
Evolutionary Perspective: Explores how behaviors evolve and assist in species survival through natural selection.

Research Methods and Validity

Functional MRI (fMRI): A brain imaging technique revealing brain activity by detecting changes in blood flow and oxygenation.
Validity and Reliability: Validity refers to a test's ability to measure its intended concept, while reliability indicates consistency of scores over multiple administrations.
Standardization: Establishes uniform testing procedures and meaningful scores based on comparisons with pretested groups.

Social Stratification: Describes the hierarchical ranking of different social categories within a society.
Cultural Capital: Comprises skills, knowledge, and cultural competencies that enhance an individual's social mobility.
Intersectionality: An analytical framework assessing how identity categories interact to shape individual experiences and societal patterns.
Cultural Transmission: The process in which cultural values and norms are passed from one generation to another.

Psychological Effects and Memory

Recency and Primacy Effects: Focus on how items at the beginning and the end of a list are remembered better than those in the middle.
Flashbulb Memory: Refers to vivid and detailed recollections of emotionally significant events.
Reconstructive Nature of Memory: Suggests that memory is often formed by piecing together information, making it susceptible to errors.

Cognitive Dissonance: A phenomenon where individuals may adapt their attitudes to align with their behaviors to reduce discomfort from holding conflicting views.
Looking-Glass Self: Describes how one's self-image is shaped by perceptions of how others view them.
Self-Verification: The tendency for individuals to seek information that confirms their preexisting self-concept.

Other Key Concepts

Gestalt Principles: Explain how perceptual organization occurs in different ways, including closure, similarity, proximity, and symmetry.
Arousal Theory (Easterbrook Hypothesis): Posits that increased emotional arousal narrows attention, focusing on specific stimuli while potentially ignoring others.
Self-Serving Bias: Reflects the tendency to attribute successes to oneself and failures to external factors.
Self-Efficacy: The belief in one's ability to achieve specific tasks or goals, crucial for motivation and performance.

These notes encapsulate essential concepts across various fields of psychology and sociology, providing a comprehensive overview for study and review.

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This quiz features a set of flashcards related to key concepts in Psychology and Sociology as outlined in the AAMC section bank. It covers topics like speech shadowing, brain hemisphere functions, and reinforcement in operant conditioning. Test your knowledge and prepare effectively for your exams!