psych

A. Parietal lobe –

Responsible for processing touch, spatial awareness, and sensory input.

Processing somatosensory information:
→ A person recognizes pressure, pain, or temperature from their skin.

• Proprioception and body awareness:
  → A participant in a study can touch their nose with eyes closed — thanks to spatial/body awareness from the parietal lobe.

• Spatial reasoning:
  → Someone mentally rotates an object or judges distances between items — functions linked to parietal lobe activity.

Core Psychodynamic Concepts (Freud-based)

🔑Id

1. • Operates on the pleasure principle

   • Unconscious drives (e.g., sex, aggression, hunger)

   • Present from birth, irrational, impulsive

2. Ego

   • Operates on the reality principle

   • Mediates between id and superego

   • Uses defense mechanisms to reduce anxiety

3. Superego

   • Internalized moral standards and ideals (conscience)

   • Source of guilt, shame, and perfectionism

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Self-Evaluation Maintenance Model (SEM)

→ People try to protect their self-esteem by distancing from successful others or downplaying importance of the trait

🧠 MCAT Example:

A student who values academic success finds out their best friend scored significantly higher on the MCAT.
The student starts avoiding study sessions with the friend and begins saying that “standardized tests aren’t a good measure of intelligence.”

• Threat to self-esteem → close friend outperforms in a domain the student values

• Protective responses:

  • Distancing (reduce closeness)

  • Devaluing the test (reduce importance)

🧠 MCAT Example:

A student who values academic success finds out their best friend scored significantly higher on the MCAT.
The student starts avoiding study sessions with the friend and begins saying that “standardized tests aren’t a good measure of intelligence.”

self evaluation maitnence model

MCAT Example:
A medical student is yelled at by a supervising doctor and can’t yell back. Later, they go home and snap at their roommate.
→ Anger is displaced from the supervisor to the roommate.

displacement

projection

MCAT Example:
A student feels jealous of a peer’s success but accuses the peer of being jealous of them.
→ The student is projecting their jealousy onto the other person.

D. Emotional Displacement

Definition:
Redirecting emotions from the original source to a safer or more convenient target.

Example:
Angry at your boss but yelling at your sibling instead.

1. Specialized division of labor: Each employee has a specific role or task (not multiple).

2. Hierarchy of authority: Clear chain of command.

3. Formal rules and regulations: Consistent procedures.

4. Impersonality: Decisions based on objective criteria, not personal feelings.

5. Technical competence: Employees are selected and promoted based on technical qualifications and merit, not favoritism.

6. Formal written communications: Documentation is important.

Weber’s Bureaucracy Characteristics (high-yield MCAT):

1. Race and ethnicity are institutionalized in social structures. Neither race nor ethnicity is simply an individual characteristic. Instead, they are tied to social structures beyond an individual's control and become institutionalized.

Race and ethnicity are social constructs, meaning their meanings and significance can change across time and place.

• These identities are often institutionalized—embedded in social structures like laws, education, and employment.

• Race is not purely biological but often tied to perceived physical traits; ethnicity involves shared cultural traits.

Race and ethnicity

Passing cultural knowledge, beliefs, and customs from one generation to the next within the same culture.

Cultural Transmission:

• The spread of cultural elements (ideas, styles, religions) from one culture to another, often through contact.

indicates the mutual exchange of cultural values and practices among cultural groups in a society or among societies.

• Cultural Diffusion:

• Definition: The most frequently occurring value(s) in a data set.

• Example: 1, 2, 2, 3, 4 →

• Use: Can be used with categorical data too (like favorite color).

 Mode , mode here is 2

• Definition: A measure of how spread out the values are around the mean.

• High SD: More variability (more inconsistent responses).

• Low SD: Less variability (more consistent responses).

• Use: Measures variability, not central tendency.

📈 4. Standard Deviation

two routes to persuasion:

1. Central Route Processing

• Involves deep thinking, attention to content, logic, and quality of argument.

• Requires motivation + ability to process info.

• Leads to long-lasting attitude change.

2. Peripheral Route Processing

• Based on superficial cues like appearance, tone, mood, or nonverbal behavior.

• Used when individual is not motivated or unable to deeply process content.

• Leads to temporary attitude change.

🧠 Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) —

• says that the just noticeable difference (JND) between two stimuli is a constant proportion of the original stimulus.

• Example: If you can detect a difference between 10g and 11g weights (10% difference), then you’d need a 20g vs. 22g to notice a difference — still a 10% increase.

• Weber’s Law

• Definition: Our brain perceives objects as stable and unchanging (in size, shape, color), even when sensory input changes.

• Example:

  • You see a white shirt under yellow light and still perceive it as white.

  • A car driving away looks smaller on your retina, but you still know it’s the same size.

Perceptual Constancy

• Definition: The minimum intensity of a stimulus needed to detect it 50% of the time.

• Example:

  • The faintest sound you can hear in a quiet room.

  • The dimmest light you can see in complete darkness.

• Not relevant here: You’re comparing two stimuli, not detecting the presence of just one.

“Can I notice it at all?”

Absolute Threshold

• Definition: The smallest difference between two stimuli that can be noticed.

• Think: “Can I tell these two things apart?”

🔹 2. Just Noticeable Difference (JND)

Definition:
The process by which people move from urban city centers to surrounding suburban areas, often in search of more space, better living conditions, or escape from urban poverty.

MCAT Example:
After industrial jobs declined in a city’s center, many middle-class families moved to the suburbs, leaving behind concentrated poverty in the urban core.

Suburbanization

• The physical separation of groups into different neighborhoods based on race, ethnicity, or socioeconomic status.

• Example: In some cities, minority groups live mostly in certain neighborhoods due to historical housing policies.

Residential Segregation

• The process where wealthier individuals move into a poor urban area, leading to increased property values and displacement of lower-income residents.

• Example: Young professionals renovating old buildings in a city’s historic district, pushing out original low-income residents.

Gentrification

• The mass movement of white populations out of urban areas into suburbs, often in response to increasing minority populations in the city.

• Example: In the mid-20th century, many white families moved to suburbs as African American families moved into urban neighborhoods.

White Flight

can bias how people process negative information, leading them to more readily accept good news and discount bad news — a form of motivated reasoning.

Optimism

your belief in your ability to succeed in a specific task or situation.

Coined by Albert Bandura (Social Cognitive Theory), it refers to your confidence in controlling your own behavior, motivation, and environment to achieve a goal.

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🧠 MCAT Example:

A student believes they can learn all the content needed to score well on the MCAT — this student has high ——- for test prep.

✅ Self-Efficacy – Definition

Self-efficacy

is solving a new problem by applying a solution or method from a similar, previously solved problem.

MCAT Example:
A caregiver managing a child’s fever by using a cooling method that worked for another child’s illness is applying an ——- .

❓ What is an Analogy in Problem Solving?

Analogy

is a qualitative research method used in sociology and anthropology where researchers immerse themselves in a social environment to observe and interact with people in their natural settings. It provides deep insight into cultural practices, beliefs, behaviors, and social interactions.

• It often involves participant observation, interviews, and field notes.

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📘 MCAT Example:
A medical sociologist lives in a rural community for 6 months to observe how cultural beliefs about illness affect people’s healthcare-seeking behaviors and use of traditional medicine.

🔹 Definition (Psych/Soc):
Ethnography

• = reward after every correct response
  → Fast learning, but quick extinction if reward stops.

• = reward after some, not all, correct responses (e.g., variable ratio)
  → Slower learning, but behavior is more resistant to extinction because the subject gets used to not being rewarded every time.

• Continuous reinforcement

• Partial reinforcement

In operant conditioning, partial reinforcement, rather than continuous reinforcement, leads to a response that is:

• slower to acquire and more resistant to extinction.

refers to the fear and suspicion towards cultures perceived to be foreign.MCAT Example: A citizen refuses to rent their apartment to an immigrant because they fear “foreigners” are dangerous.

Xenophobia

• Definition: Blaming a person or group for problems they did not cause, often as a way to cope with frustration or failure.

MCAT Example (from your question): A woman blames people from Country A for the loss of her job, even though they had no direct role in the outsourcing decision.

Scapegoating ✅ (Correct)

Lasts about 0.5 to 2 seconds (very brief, like a quick visual or auditory snapshot).

Holds info for about 15 to 30 seconds without rehearsal.

Sensory memory:

Short-term memory (working memory):

is the expected development associated with the gradual unfolding of one's genetic blueprint.Example:
A baby learning to walk typically follows a general timeline because of maturation of the nervous system and muscles, not just practice or learning.

MCAT relevance:
explains developmental milestones like walking, talking, or puberty, which happen in roughly the same order across individuals.

Maturation

is a personality trait characterized by behaviors and attitudes that are hostile, uncooperative, and oppositional toward others.

Antagonism

Examples include cocaine, amphetamines, caffeine, and nicotine. They increase central nervous system activity, leading to heightened alertness, energy, heart rate, and blood pressure. On the MCAT, remember stimulants increase dopamine in the brain’s reward pathways, making them highly addictive.

Stimulants:

Examples are alcohol, benzodiazepines, and barbiturates. These drugs decrease CNS activity, causing sedation, relaxation, and reduced anxiety. Many act on GABA receptors and can depress respiratory function.

Depressants:

Examples include LSD, psilocybin, and mescaline. They alter perception, mood, and cognition by affecting serotonin receptors, leading to sensory distortions. less affect on liek health

Hallucinogens:

Examples are morphine, heroin, and codeine. They primarily relieve pain and induce euphoria by acting on opioid receptors.

Opioids:

Definition:
Organizations people join voluntarily for a specific material reward (e.g., a diploma, income).

Key features:

• Members are typically compensated in some way (money, credentials).

• Entry is voluntary but often driven by practical needs.

MCAT Example:
A religious-affiliated university or faith-based charity that provides employment or education—people join primarily for a practical benefit, not purely ideological alignment.

🟢 1. Utilitarian Organizations

(You didn’t list this one, but it’s often paired with Utilitarian on the MCAT.)

Definition:
Organizations people join voluntarily based on shared morals or values.

Key features:

• No material incentive.

• People are motivated by shared ethical, religious, or political goals.

MCAT Example:
A church or faith group that someone joins to practice and promote shared beliefs. FBLDs often fall here.

🔵 2. Normative Organizations🔑 MCAT Trick to Remember:

"Utilitarian = Utility → You get something useful (pay, diploma, etc.)"
"Normative = Norms & values → You're there because you share beliefs or morals"

Definition:
Groups that exist within a larger culture, but maintain distinct norms, values, or beliefs.

Key features:

• Compatible with broader culture (not oppositional).

• Differences might be in dress, language, behaviors.

MCAT Example:
A sect of Christianity that wears distinctive clothing and promotes gender roles differing from broader American norms.

🔴 3. Subcultures

Definition:
Collections of people who are in the same place at the same time, but do not identify as a group.

Key features:

• No lasting connection or shared identity.

• Coincidental proximity.

MCAT Example:
A crowd of people waiting in line at a church food pantry—they are present together but not a defined group.

🟣 5. Aggregates

People join voluntarily because they:

• Believe in the organization’s goals

• Want to promote a moral, religious, or political cause

🧠 Motivation: Shared values or purpose

📘 Example (MCAT-style):

• A person volunteers with a religious mission group or a non-profit like Habitat for Humanity because they believe in helping others — even though they don’t get paid.

✅ Normative Organizations🔑 MCAT Trick to Remember:

"Utilitarian = Utility → You get something useful (pay, diploma, etc.)"
"Normative = Norms & values → You're there because you share beliefs or morals"

People join voluntarily because:

• They expect a tangible reward like money, certification, or training

• They’re there for practical benefits, not just shared beliefs

🧠 Motivation: Incentive-based participation

📘 Example (MCAT-style):

• A person works at a faith-based hospital or attends a religious university — they might still believe in the mission, but they're primarily there to get a job or a degree.

🔑 MCAT Trick to Remember:

"Utilitarian = Utility → You get something useful (pay, diploma, etc.)"
"Normative = Norms & values → You're there because you share beliefs or morals"

✅ Utilitarian Organizations

Key traits:

• Membership is involuntary

• Members are forced to join (often as punishment or treatment)

• Have strict rules, often use resocialization techniques

🧠 Motivation: You don’t choose to be there

📘 MCAT-style example:

• A prison, military boot camp, or involuntary psychiatric hospital

✅ Coercive Organizations

• refers to how much a person integrates religion into their daily life (e.g., prayer, values, behavior).

🙏 Concept Assessed: Religiosity

is just the label (e.g., Catholic, Muslim, Hindu), which doesn’t capture degree of involvement.

• Religious affiliation

• Definition: Power legitimized by long-standing customs, traditions, or cultural practices.

• Example: A monarch (e.g., a king or queen); tribal leaders.

• MCAT Tip: Based on history and inheritance, not on laws or charisma.

🔑 3 Types of Authority (Max Weber)1. Traditional Authority

• Definition: Power legitimized by an individual’s extraordinary personality, inspiration, or emotional appeal.

• Example: Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., Jesus, cult leaders.

• MCAT Tip: Can be unstable, as it relies heavily on the individual.

2. Charismatic Authority

• Definition: Power legitimized by rules, laws, and formal procedures.

• Example: A judge, police officer, doctor, president.

• MCAT Tip: Rooted in the system or role, not the person.

3. Rational-Legal Authority

• Involved in arousal and wakefulness (sleep-wake cycle).

• Part of the brainstem

• Think "alertness"

Reticular Activation System

• Regulates emotions, memory, and motivation.

• Structures like the amygdala and hippocampus are involved.

. Limbic System

• Controls voluntary movement (skeletal muscle).

• Transmits sensory information from skin/muscles.

• Deals with external stimuli (e.g., touching a hot stove

Somatic Nervous System

• (inside scala media): high K⁺, low Na⁺ → unusual!

• This gradient allows K⁺ to rush into hair cells when channels open.

• Endolymph

• (in scala vestibuli and scala tympani): similar to extracellular fluid (high Na⁺, low K⁺).

• This gradient allows K⁺ to rush into hair cells when channels open.

• Perilymph

• : detects high frequencies (short, stiff fibers).

• detects low frequencies (long, floppy fibers).

• Base of cochlea

• Apex of cochlea:

🧪 MCAT Relevance:You may see ———— content in questions about:

• Motor coordination (→ cerebellum)

• Autonomic control (→ medulla)

• Sleep/arousal disorders (→ pons)

• Neural pathways (pons connects upper brain to spinal cord and cerebellum)

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✅ Example Question:

Damage to which ———- structure would most likely result in loss of respiratory regulation?

Answer: Medulla oblongata

hindbrain

• The ———— includes (medulla, pons, cerebellum) + is more involved in basic life support

• hindbrain

what is th term fir this?

• It's part of the inner ear.

• Responsible for transducing sound waves into electrical signals that the brain can process.

• Contains the basilar membrane and organ of Corti, which are essential for detecting sound frequencies.

cochlea

• Hair cells in the organ of Corti detect mechanical vibrations.

• These hair cells sit on the basilar membrane and are topped by the tectorial membrane.

• Different parts of the cochlea respond to different frequencies:

  • Base: high frequency

  • Apex: low frequency
    → This is called tonotopic organization (💯 high yield!).

🧠 High-Yield MCAT Facts:

— is Positively skewed , outliers On the higher end and most of the data points are lower

Mean > Median,

— is ,Negatively skewed , outliers On the lower end

Mean < Median

— involve the extended, systematic observation and detailed study of people in their natural social environments. Researchers immerse themselves in the community or social setting to understand behaviors, interactions, and cultures from an insider’s perspective.Systematic observation tends to be one of the key features of ——

Ethnographic methods

• About 68% of all values fall within 1 standard deviation above or below the mean.

• About 95% of values fall within 2 standard deviations.

• About 99.7% of values fall within 3 standard deviations.

standard deviation breakdown

dopamine, serotonin, and norepinephrine , all are key—-

key neurotransmitters.

— is Simple repetition; keeps info in short-term memory.

— is Deep processing; leads to long-term storage.

• Maintenance rehearsal:

• Elaborative rehearsal:

— is (awareness/control over your memory) can decline with age, especially in attention and working memory.

Metamemory

= the real thing in the world

➡ Example: the actual cat outside

Distal stimulus

= the light from the cat that hits your eye

➡ What your eye really senses

Proximal stimulus

(birds flying together) —- is what Gestalt principle , grouping by movement.

shows the common fate, Common fate: Objects moving in the same direction are grouped together.

A researcher gradually increases the brightness of a light until the subject can detect a difference. This method is best described as: A. Sensory adaptation B. Absolute threshold measurement C. Psychophysical discrimination testing D. Signal detection theory ✅

Psychophysical discrimination testing also known as JND jsut ntoicible diff

are specialized neurons in the brain (primarily in the visual cortex) that respond to specific aspects of visual stimuli such as:

• Shape

• Color

• Motion

• Edges

• Orientation

Feature detectors - "Parvo is for Patterns, Magno is for Motion."

🔷:
is the value of social networks — the relationships and connections that can help people get access to resources, support, jobs, or information.

Social CapitalDefinition

refers to knowledge, skills, education

Cultural capital

suggests that behaviors are learned through observing others and modeling their actions.

Social cognitive theory (originally referred to as social learning theory)

✅ MCAT-Style Question:

Which scenario best illustrates a key component of Social Cognitive Theory?

A. A student practices math problems repeatedly to improve performance.
B. A child imitates their parent's use of polite language after seeing them praised.
C. A person avoids a behavior after experiencing punishment.
D. A student memorizes information for an exam through repetition.

✅ Correct Answer: B — Observational learning with vicarious reinforcement. social cogntiive theory

suggests that behaviors are learned through observing others and modeling their actions.

According to the ——- , our self-concept is shaped by:

1. How we think others see us

2. How we imagine others are judging us

3. How we feel about those perceived judgments

looking-glass self

1. Stage 1 – Pre-Industrial:

   • High birth rates

   • High death rates

   • Stable or slow population growth

2. Stage 2 – Early Industrial:

   • Birth rates remain high

   • Death rates fall (due to better sanitation, medicine)

   • Rapid population growth

3. Stage 3 – Mature Industrial:

   • Birth rates start to fall

   • Death rates remain low

   • Slowing population growth

4. Stage 4 – Post-Industrial:

   • Low birth and death rates

   • Population growth stabilizes or declines

5. (Sometimes) Stage 5 – Decline:

   • Birth rate falls below replacement

   • Population may decline

📊 Stages of Demographic Transition: birth and death rates

• — indirectly measures neural activity via changes in local blood oxygenation (BOLD).

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

• fMRI

because—-is the fear of strangers (or other-race faces in the case of this passage) that infants commonly begin to express around 8 months of age

stranger anxiety

• 
  ✅ A valid depth cue—one object blocking part of another signals which object is closer. While not central to face recognition, it can help interpret depth in visual scenes .

• B. Interposition

This explains pitch perception in the auditory system (how different frequencies activate different cochlear regions)

 Place theory

• — activation = automatic sympathetic response (e.g., increased heart rate).

• —activation = controlled, parasympathetic-mediated recovery

• Amygdala

• Frontal cortex

For example, if you were told to ignore a red object in one trial, and then asked to respond to that same red object in the next trial, your response would likely be slower — that’s ——

This effect happens without conscious awareness, which makes it a form of —-memory — memory that influences behavior without requiring conscious recall.

negative priming.

implicit

—- 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. 

neuroleptics also called typical antipsychotics or Typical Neuroleptics

• = better for both positive and negative symptoms if schtizocphrneia

• Atypical antipsychotics

• : Events outside a person's control (e.g., natural disasters, death in the family).

• : Events that are partially influenced by the individual's behavior or characteristics (e.g., relationship conflicts, job issues).

• Independent Stressors’

• Dependent Stressors

Proponents of the SG hypothesis would expect that, compared to others, an individual prone to depression is:

just as likely to experience independent stressors and more likely to experience dependent stressors.

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.

general adaptation syndrome (GAS)

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

General adaptation syndrome

• What it is: A theory of dreaming — it says dreams are the brain’s attempt to make sense of random neural activity during sleep.

C. Activation-synthesis model

• What it is: A process where neurons strengthen their connections after repeated stimulation — it’s key for learning and memory.

D. Long-term potentiation (LTP)

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

The need for reassurance

Interpersonal tension caused by the need for reassurance

The isolation resulting from others being driven away

The depression that results from the isolation

A dependent stressor is a stressful life event that happens because of a person’s own behavior or characteristics.

Think stressful event caused by you vs stressful event caused by nature 

A dependent stressor is a stressful life event that happens because of a person’s own behavior or characteristics.

• 
  Unidirectional = One-way street
  → One thing affects the other, but not the other way around.
  Example:
  A tornado (independent stressor) can make you sad.
  But you didn’t cause the tornado.
  So:
  Tornado → Depression ✅
  Depression → Tornado ❌

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Reciprocal = Two-way street
→ Both things affect each other.
Example:
You feel depressed, so you push people away.
Now you’re lonely (a stressful situation), which makes your depression worse.
So:
Depression → Stress ✅
Stress → Depression ✅
(They feed into each other!)

the —theory focuses on:

• Hit (correctly identifying a present signal)

• Miss, false alarm, correct rejection

Signal detection

—- refers to increased responsiveness, not decreased.(ex ike water dripping)

Sensitization

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.

because 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. 

So, only information sent to the right visual field (processed by the left hemisphere) can be verbalized.

Remembering to do something in the future

Prospective memory

• Excessive anxiety and worry about multiple events for at least 6 months.

• Physical symptoms less acute, more chronic and mild, e.g., fatigue, muscle tension, irritability.

• Not typically sudden and intense like panic attacks.

Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD)

• Excessive focus on one or more physical symptoms that cause distress.

• Symptoms may or may not have a medical explanation.

• Preoccupation with symptoms and excessive health-related behaviors.

Key distinction: SSD is not acute panic-like episodes — it's about long-term preoccupation with health and physical symptoms.

Somatic Symptom Disorder

In response to stress, what part of the brain initiates signals to the endocrine system?

• Hypothalamus

• When your body perceives stress, the hypothalamus initiates the hormonal cascade:

  1. Hypothalamus releases CRH (Corticotropin-releasing hormone)

  2. CRH stimulates the pituitary gland to release ACTH (Adrenocorticotropic hormone)

  ACTH acts on the adrenal cortex, which releases cortisol — the primary stress hormone

• —-(fast) → activates the sympathetic nervous system

  • Adrenal medulla → epinephrine, norepinephrine

• —- stress (slow) → activates the HPA axis

Hypothalamus → Pituitary → Adrenal cortex → Cortisol

• Acute stress

• Chronic