MCAT Sociology and Psychology Lecture Review

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering key sociological and psychological concepts including social stratification, mobility, research methods, and theoretical perspectives.

Frustration-Aggression Theory

A theory stating that a blocked goal leads to frustration, which then results in aggression; it is frequently used to explain violence following failure, defeat, rejection, or obstacles.

Social Learning Theory

The theory that behavior is learned through observation and imitation (modeling), such as a child witnessing domestic violence and learning violent behavior.

Conflict Theory

A macro-level sociological perspective that explains behavior through social inequality, focusing on competition for power, wealth, and social class.

Incentive Theory

The theory that behavior is motivated by external rewards such as money, grades, or praise.

Optimal Arousal Theory

A theory suggesting that moderate arousal produces the best performance, while too little leads to boredom and too much leads to anxiety.

Vertical Mobility

A change in a person's social status that moves them up or down the social hierarchy (e.g., nurse becoming a doctor, or a doctor becoming unemployed).

Horizontal Mobility

A change in a person's life that does not change their social status (e.g., a doctor moving from New York to Texas or a teacher changing schools).

Intragenerational Mobility

Social mobility that occurs within one person's lifetime (e.g., a teacher becoming a principal).

Intergenerational Mobility

Social mobility that occurs between generations, specifically between a parent and a child (e.g., a father who is a janitor having a son who becomes a surgeon).

Concentration of Poverty

A situation where large numbers of people living in poverty are concentrated in the same neighborhoods, often characterized by higher crime, violence, and pollution, and fewer resources.

Spatial Inequality

The concept that where a person lives affects their opportunities and health outcomes, with low-income neighborhoods often facing more hazards and fewer resources than high-income ones.

Situational Attribution

Explaining someone's behavior by pointing to external or environmental factors, such as their neighborhood, poverty levels, or school quality.

Dispositional Attribution

Explaining someone's behavior by pointing to internal or personal characteristics, such as personality, motivation, intelligence, or laziness.

Transmission of Poverty

The persistence of poverty across generations due to environmental and structural barriers rather than a lack of individual ability or motivation.

Social Exclusion

Being marginalized in a way that prevents full participation in society economically, socially, or civically.

False Consciousness

A Karl Marx and conflict theory concept where lower social classes accept beliefs that benefit the upper class and maintain the status quo, even when those beliefs work against their own interests.

McDonaldization

A concept created by sociologist George Ritzer describing how society becomes more focused on efficiency, predictability, calculability, and control.

Social Reproduction

The tendency of social class to stay the same across generations due to unequal access to resources and opportunities.

Economic Capital

Financial resources including money, wealth, income, and property.

Social Capital

Social resources gained from connections, networking, and who a person knows.

Cultural Capital

Non-financial social assets such as education, knowledge, skills, and values that promote social mobility.

Educational Stratification

The unequal access to educational resources and opportunities based on social class, which helps perpetuate social inequality.

Hidden Curriculum

The unwritten, unofficial, and often unintended lessons, values, and perspectives that students learn in school, such as respecting authority and teamwork.

Teacher Expectancy Effect

Also known as the Pygmalion Effect, it occurs when a teacher's expectations influence student performance, effectively acting as a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Stereotype Threat

A phenomenon where individuals perform worse because they fear confirming a negative stereotype about their group.

Social Class

A category of social stratification based on economic resources, such as income, wealth, and property.

Social Status

The level of respect, prestige, or reputation an individual has in society, which is not always equal to their wealth.

Power

The ability to influence or control others and affect decisions.

Absolute Poverty

The inability to meet basic survival needs, including food, water, shelter, and clothing, regardless of how wealthy others are.

Relative Poverty

Poverty defined in comparison to the standard of living in a particular society, where an individual cannot meet the expected standards such as internet or transportation.

Class Consciousness

The awareness that social class and systemic structural barriers affect opportunities and outcomes in society.

Meritocracy

A system where success and advancement are based solely on individual merit, including ability, talent, effort, and accomplishments.

In-Group

A group with which an individual identifies and feels a sense of belonging.

Out-Group

A group with which an individual does not identify and may feel distrust or bias toward.

Primary Group

A small social group whose members share personal, long-lasting, and emotionally important relationships, such as family or close friends.

Secondary Group

A larger, more impersonal group that is goal-oriented and often temporary, such as coworkers or classmates.

Reference Group

A group that an individual uses as a standard for evaluating themselves and their own behavior.

Institutional Discrimination

Unfair treatment of certain groups that is built into the policies, practices, and systems of institutions like healthcare, schools, or the legal system.

Environmental Injustice

The practice where certain low-income or minority groups are exposed to more environmental hazards, such as pollution and toxic waste, than others.

Ambient Stressors

Constant, background environmental stressors like noise, pollution, bad odors, or crowding that can negatively impact health.

Sampling Bias

A bias that occurs when a research sample does not accurately represent the population, usually because participants were not randomly selected.

Social Desirability Bias

The tendency of research subjects to respond in a way that will be viewed favorably by the experimenter.

Role Strain

Tension and stress caused by competing expectations within a single social role (e.g., a doctor balancing patient empathy with clinical rules).

Role Conflict

Stress caused by the competing expectations of two or more different roles held by the same person (e.g., being a doctor and a parent simultaneously).

Socioeconomic Gradient in Health

The observation that as socioeconomic status (SES) increases, health outcomes generally improve.

Medicalization

The process of defining a normal human condition or behavior as a medical illness that requires diagnosis and treatment.

Social Exchange Theory

A microsociological perspective that views social interactions as a cost-benefit analysis where individuals try to maximize personal gain.

Content Analysis

A research method used to systematically analyze and code communication (text, speech, images) to identify specific patterns or themes.

Life Course Approach

A holistic perspective that Views health as the result of cumulative biological, psychological, and social experiences throughout an entire lifespan.

Illness Experience

A symbolic interactionist approach focusing on how individuals interpret and incorporate illness into their self-identity and daily lives.

Subculture

A group with unique values and beliefs that distinguish it from the dominant culture but remain generally compatible with mainstream society.

Counterculture

A group that rejects and opposes the dominant norms and values of the mainstream culture.

Symbolic Interactionism

A micro-level theory focused on how individuals create meaning through symbols and everyday social interactions.

Social Constructionism

A theory that explores how society creates shared meanings and definitions, such as the social definition of 'mental illness'.

Functionalism

A macro-level theory that views society as a complex machine with various institutions working together to maintain stability and order.

Secularization

The historical process in which religion loses social and political influence over time as societies modernize.

Fundamentalism

A reaction to secularization characterized by a renewed commitment to strict, traditional religious beliefs.

Religiosity

The extent to which an individual incorporates religious beliefs and behaviors into their daily life.

Manifest Function

The intended, recognized, and deliberate purpose of an institution or social behavior.

Latent Function

The unintended, unrecognized, and often hidden consequence of an institution or social behavior.

Traditional Authority

Power that is legitimized by long-standing customs, such as a monarchy.

Charismatic Authority

Power legitimized by the exceptional personal appeal or inspiration of a leader.

Rational-Legal Authority

Power legitimized by formal rules, credentials, or professional positions, such as a physician or judge.

Gentrification

The redevelopment of a lower-income neighborhood by higher-income residents, leading to higher property values and the displacement of original residents.

Glass Escalator

A form of institutional discrimination where men in female-dominated occupations (like nursing) are promoted faster into leadership positions.

Social Loafing

The phenomenon where individuals exert less effort when working in a group compared to when they work alone.

Division of Labor

The specialization of work into interdependent tasks, which typically increases efficiency and production but may lead to worker exploitation or boredom.

Malthusian Theory

The theory that population grows exponentially while food supply grows slowly, leading to inevitable limits such as famine or disease.

Intersectionality

The framework for understanding how multiple social identities (e.g., race, gender, class) intersect to impact an individual's life and treatment in society.

Age-Specific Fertility Rate (ASFR)

The number of live births per year per $1,000$ women in a specific age group.

Caste System

A closed social stratification system where status is ascribed at birth and social mobility is generally impossible.

Class System

An open social stratification system where status is at least partly achieved through education and career, allowing for social mobility.

Demographic Transition Model (DTM)

A model describing the shift from high birth/death rates to low birth/death rates as a country industrializes and develops.

Sick Role Theory

A theory by Talcott Parsons outlining the rights (exemption from responsibility, not blamed) and obligations (trying to get better, seeking help) of a sick person.

Bipolar Disorder (BD)

A mood disorder characterized by shifts between depressive episodes and manic episodes; the mnemonic DIG FAST ( ext{Distractibility, Indiscretion, Grandiosity, Flight of ideas, Activity increase, Sleep decrease, Talkative}) describes mania.

Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD)

A personality disorder characterized by a chronic pattern of instability in mood, self-image, and relationships, often involving a fear of abandonment.

Availability Heuristic

A mental shortcut where the likelihood of an event is judged based on how easily examples of it come to mind from memory.

Representativeness Heuristic

A mental shortcut where a person or event is judged based on how well they match a typical prototype or stereotype.

World Systems Theory

A global perspective of social change that categorizes countries as Core (wealthy/industrialized), Periphery (resource-rich/poor), or Semi-periphery (middle ground).

Dependency Ratio

A measure comparing non-working dependents to the workforce, calculated as: \text{Dependency ratio} = \frac{(\text{# child dependents}) + (\text{# retired dependents})}{\text{# people in workforce}} \times 100