MCAT Psychology Review

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Psychometrics

measuring psychological variables through testing

Response Bias

the tendency for respondents to not have perfect insight into their state and provide inaccurate responses

Type 2 Error

False Negative

Type 1 Error

False Positive

p-value

a number from 0 to 1 that represents probability that difference observed in experiment is due to chance (p<0.05 means statistical significance)

Internal Validity

how well an experiment is done

External Validity

extent to which we can generalize findings to real-world settings

Threats to Internal Validity

Impression management, confounding variables, lack of validity/reliability, sampling bias, attrition effects, demand characteristics

Threats to External Validity

Experiment does not reflect real world, unrepresentative sample, situational effects, lack of statistical power

Power

Ability of experiment to pick up an effect

Correlational Studies

explore the relationship between two quantitative variables (Pearson Correlation -1 and +1)

Ethnographic Studies

qualitative method in which researchers immerse themselves completely in the lives, culture, or way of life of the people they are studying

Twin Studies

test relationship between nature and nurture and measures heritability

Longitudinal Studies

How individuals develop over time along some research variable

Longitudinal Method

intervallic measurements of a dependent variable over long time frames

Case Studies

in-depth exploration of individual small group, entity, event, or phenomenon

Phenomenological Studies

describes phenomena using introspective method to explore research questions

Archival Studies

analyze collected data from historical records/ authentic original documents

Biographical Studies

Individual observed and outcomes measured with no attempt to control outcome

Society

group of people who share a culture and live/interact with each other

Sociology

how individuals interact with, shape, and are shaped by the society they live in

Functionalism

Herbert Spencer -> Model that conceptualizes society as a living organism with many interrelated and interdependent parts each with a distinct and necessary purpose

Emile Durkheim

Founder of sociology and favored functionalism

Social Facts

The elements that serve some function in society, such as the laws, morals, values, religions, customs, rituals, and rules that make up a society.

Manifest Functions

official, intended, and anticipated consequences of a structure

Latent Functions

consequences of a structure that are not officially sought or sanctioned

Conflict Theory

a theory that looks at society as a competition for limited resources

Karl Marx

Father of communism, saw capitalism as tension between rich owning means of production and working class getting meager pay while providing labor

Hegemony

a coerced acceptance of the values, expectations, and conditions as determined by the capitalist class

Mark Weber

believed that Protestant/Puritan work ethic was critical factor for capitalist system success and rationalization of society (increasing concern of efficiency)

Problems with Functionalism and Conflict Theory

Functionalism does not account for rapid sociological advances, and Conflict Theory does not factor stability

Symbolic Interactionism

George Herbert Mead -> a micro-level theory in which shared meanings, orientations, and assumptions form the basic motivations behind people's actions, which define their reality

According to Mead, self is developed by:

language, play, games

Individualistic Self "I"

establish its own unique identity through social interactions in face of societal pressures

Social Self "me"

internalized the characteristics of social environment

Thomas Theorem

interpretation of a situation affects the response to that situation

Dramaturgical Approach

(Erving Goffman) Front stage: conforms to image he wants others to see; Back stage: free to act like his true self

Social Constructionism

people actively shape their reality through social interactions

Social Constructs

mechanisms or practices created and sustained by society

Typification

a process of creating standard (typical) social construction based on standard assumptions

Feminist Theory

concerned with the social experiences of both men and women and the differences between these experiences

Rational Choice/Social Exchange Theory

Human behaviors are utilitarian. Utilitarianism assumes individuals are rational in their actions and individuals maximize their own self-interest in every human interaction

Social Institutions

systems and structures within society that shape the activities of groups and individuals

Kin

considered a cultural group rather than a biological one

Fundamentalism

Literal interpretation and strict adherence to basic principles of a religion

Rational-Legal Authority

legal rules and regulations are stipulated in a document

Traditional Authority

custom, tradition, accepted practice

Charismatic Authority

power of persuasion

Aristarchic Government

controlled by a small group of people, selected based on specific qualifications, with decision-making power; public is not involved in political decisions (meritocracies, aristocracies)

Autocratic Government

controlled by a single person, or a selective small group, with absolute decision-making power

Authoritarian Government

unelected leaders, totalitarian (public and private lives of citizens are regulated)

Democratic Government

elected leaders; public has some degree of political decision-making power through direct decisions or representation

Republican Governments

consider their countries to be public concerns and are thus democratic in nature, meaning that the people have the supreme power in these societies

Federalist Governments

include a governing representative head that shares power with constituent groups

Parliamentary Governments

include both executive and legislative branches that are interconnected

Presidential governments

include organizing branches, as well as a head of state

Command Economics (Planned Economics)

economic decisions are based on a plan of production and the means of production are often public (state owned); includes socialism and communism

Market Economies

economic decisions are based on the market (supply and demand) and the means of production are often private

Mixed Economies

blend elements of command and market economies with both public and private ownership

Traditional Economies

consider social customs in economic decisions

Capitalism

economic system in which resources and production mainly private owned and goods/services are produced for a profit

Socialism

Economic System where resources and production are collectively owned, centrally controlled and run by government, everybody has job and provided with what they need to survive

Communism

common ownership of means of production, absence of currencies, classes, states

Welfare Capitalism

most of economy is private with exception of extensive social welfare programs to serve certain needs in society.

State Capitalism

System in which companies are privately run, but work closely with the government in forming laws and regulations

Mechanical Solidarity

allows society to remain integrated because individuals have common beliefs that lead to each person having the same fundamental experience

Organic Solidarity

allows society to integrate through a division of labor, which leads to each person having a different personal experience; thus, each movement is distinguishable and separate

Culture

shared way of life

Values

culture's way of defining what's good and bad

Cultural Diffusion

transfer of elements of culture from one social group to another

Cultural transmission

the process by which one generation passes culture to the next

Demographic Transition

change in a population from high birth and death rates to low birth and death rates

Malthusianism

the possible rate of population increase exceeds the possible rate of resource increase

Socioeconomic Gradient in Health

theory that there exists a proportional increase in health and health outcomes as socioeconomic status increases

Marginal poverty

due to lack of stable employment

Structural poverty

theory that poverty is due to inadequacies in societal and economic structure

Social epidemiology

the study of how health and disease are distributed throughout a society's population

Multiculturalism

a condition in which ethnic groups exist separately and share equally in economic and political life

Ethnocentrism

Belief in the superiority of one's nation or ethnic group.

Meritocracy

a system in which promotion is based on individual ability or achievement

Intergenerational Mobility

changes in the social position of children relative to their parents

Intragenerational mobility

differences in social class between different members of the same generation

Self-Reference Effect

tendency to better remember information relevant to ourselves

Carl Rogers

founder of humanistic psychology, ideal self vs real self

Self-efficacy

the belief in one's own competence and effectiveness

Internal Locus of Control

the perception that you control your own fate

External Locus of Control

the perception that chance or outside forces beyond your personal control determine your fate

Learned helplessness

the hopelessness and passive resignation an animal or human learn when unable to avoid repeated aversive events

Self-Esteem

how much you value, respect, and feel confident about yourself

Charles Cooley looking glass self

a person's sense of self develops from interpersonal interactions with others in society and the perceptions of others

George Herbert Mead Social Behaviorism

the mind and self emerge through the process of communication with others

Mores

Norms that are highly important for the benefit of society and so are often strictly enforced

Folkways

Norms that are less important but shape everyday behavior

Anomie

a social condition in which norms are weak, conflicting, or absent

Differential Association

A theory of deviance that holds that violation of rules results from exposure to attitudes favorable to criminal acts.

Labeling Theory

theory that society creates deviance by identifying particular members as deviant

Structural Strain Theory

if a person is blocked from attaining a culturally accepted goal, they may turn to deviance

Herbert Blumer's Classification of Collective Behavior

crowds, public, mass, social movements

Crowds

group that shares a purpose

Public

group of individuals discussing a single issue