MCAT Missed Psych

Limbic System

Emotion + Memory + Motivation

This includes:

• Amygdala (PTSD occurs): fear + emotion

• Hippocampus: memory

• Hypothalamus: hunger, hormones, homeostasis

• Thalamus: Sensory relay station

Basal Ganglia

Coordinates smooth muscle movements + involved in habit learning

• motor cortex + cerebellum

Primary Reinforcer

Satisfies biological + basic need with no learning required.

🧠 You don’t need to learn to like it—you’re born craving it.

💳 Secondary Reinforcer

Gets its power through association with primary reinforcer. It’s learned, not biological.

💅 Examples:

• Money 💸 (you can't eat it, but it buys food!)

• Praise 🏆 (“Good job!” = feels amazing)

• Gold stars ⭐

🧠 It’s valuable because you’ve learned what it gets you.

Cerebellum

🤸 Balance, coordination, & fine motor skills

Reference group

🔍 Group you compare yourself to

• can influence your beliefs, behaviors, goals

💅 “Who you look at when you ask, ‘Am I doing this right?’”

In-group

Group you identify with “my people, my crew”

🚫 Out-group

🙅 Group you don’t identify with

Majority Group

👥 Group with the most power/status

• not always about #

• Controls norms + resources

Independent vs. Dependent Variable

🔬 Independent Variable (IV):

👉 The thing you change or manipulate
💅 “I control this. I’m the experiment boss.”

📈 Dependent Variable (DV):

👉 The thing you measure—the outcome
💅 “I react to the IV. I spill the tea.”

Observational Study

👀 Watch, don’t touch! Just records behaviors w/o manipulating variables

• Can be naturalistic, structured, or participant

Like reality TV: I’m watching the drama unfold, but I’m not interfering with the storyline. 💅📺

Apparent Movement

👀 Movement illusion from still images

• Like a flipbook or animation

• Brain fills in the motion

Induced Movement

🎢 Stationary object looks like it’s moving

• Caused by movement of something nearby

Real Movement

🏃‍♀ Actual motion of an object

• Detected by the visual system directly

• No illusion—just pure movement

Movement Aftereffect

🌊 Illusion of motion after watching real movement

• Example: Waterfall illusion

• Neurons get “tired” and trick your brain

Internal Locus of Control

🧍‍♀ “I’m in control.”

• Belief that you control your life outcomes

• Success/failure = due to your own actions

💅 “I make my own destiny, honey.”

External Locus of Control

🌪 “It’s out of my hands.”

• Belief that outside forces (luck, fate, other people) control what happens
  💅 “The universe is driving this car, not me.”

Attribution Theory

🧠 How we explain causes of behavior (ours & others)

• Internal attribution = it’s their personality

• External attribution = it was the situation

💅 “Did they do it ‘cause they’re a mess—or was the situation messy?”

Borderline personality disorder

🎭 Instability in mood, relationships, and self-image

• Fear of abandonment

• Intense mood swings

• Impulsive & self-destructive behavior

• “I love you—DON’T LEAVE ME!” vibes

🌗Manic-depressive disorder (aka bipolar disorder)

⚡ Episodes of mania + depression

• Mania = high energy, impulsive, sleepless

• Depression = low mood, fatigue, hopelessness

• Bipolar I: full mania

• Bipolar II: hypomania + depression

🧙Schizotypal personality disorder

🌀 Odd thoughts, behaviors, and beliefs

• Magical thinking, paranoia

• Social anxiety, eccentric clothes

• Not full psychosis—but real weird

💅 “I’m not hallucinating, I’m just... mystical.”

🌧Major depressive disorder

😞 Persistent sadness & loss of interest

• 2+ weeks of low mood, fatigue, appetite/sleep changes

• Can’t feel joy (anhedonia)

• Not just “feeling down”—this is clinical

Alpha waves

😌 Awake but relaxed (eyes closed, meditating)

Lower frequency than beta
💅 “Chillin’ but still conscious.”

🧠Beta Waves

🧠 Awake & alert

• High frequency, low amplitude
  💅 “I’m focused, alert, and caffeinated.”

Theta waves

💤 Light sleep (Stage 1 & 2)

Slower frequency
💅 “I’m drifting off… gently.”

Sleep spindles

🔒 Bursts of rapid brain activity

• Found in Stage 2

• Helps with memory consolidation
  💅 “My brain’s filing the tea while I nap.”

K-Complex

💥 Single large wave spike in Stage 2

• Blocks out external stimuli
  💅 “Shhh, I’m staying asleep.”

Delta Waves

😴 Deep sleep (Stage 3)

• Low frequency, high amplitude
  💅 “Full blackout mode—body healing.”

REM Sleep (Rapid Eye Movement)

🌈 Dreaming stage

• Brain looks awake (beta waves!)

• Body is paralyzed
  💅 “Eyes moving, dreams booming, body frozen.”

Sleep Cycle Stages (in order)

🛏 N1 → N2 → N3 → N2 → REM

• N1 = theta

• N2 = sleep spindles + K-complex

• N3 = delta (deep)

• REM = vivid dreams, beta-like

💅 “Light → deeper → dream → repeat.”

Cognitive

🧠 Thoughts, beliefs, and knowledge

• What you think or believe
  💅 “What’s going on in my brain, not my face.”

Behavioral

🚶‍♀ Actions and behaviors

• What you do
  💅 “Don’t tell me—show me.”

Affective

❤ Feelings and emotions

• What you feel
  💅 “It’s giving vibes and mood swings.”

Group polarization

📢 Group discussion = stronger opinions

• Group leans one way → ends up more extreme
  💅 “We came in spicy, left on FIRE.”

Deindividuation

🎭 Loss of self-awareness in a group

• Anonymity → impulsive or deviant behavior
  💅 “In a crowd, I forget who I am—and I get wild.”

Peer Pressure

👯‍♀ Influence from people your age/status

• Can be direct or subtle
  💅 “Come on, EVERYONE’S doing it.”

Social Loafing

😴 Less effort in a group task

• Especially when individual effort isn’t tracked
  💅 “Why try hard when no one’s watching me?”

Groupthink

🤐 Desire for harmony = poor decisions

• Members suppress dissent to keep peace
  💅 “Nobody wants to rock the boat, so we sink together.”

Self-Categorization Theory

👯‍♀ We classify ourselves into social categories

• Identity shifts based on context

• Influences how we act & see others
  💅 “Who am I in this moment?”

Identity Salience

💡 Most "active" identity at a given time

• The identity that guides behavior in that moment

• Can shift across settings
  💅 “Which role am I leading with right now?”

Nucleus accumbens

💥 Part of reward system

• Releases dopamine

• Involved in pleasure & motivation
  💅 “Feels good? Blame me.”

Ventral tegmental area (VTA)

🎯 Dopamine-producing area

• Sends dopamine to nucleus accumbens

• Key player in addiction & reward
  💅 “I’m the plug for pleasure.”

Medial forebrain bundle

🛣 Pathway that connects VTA to nucleus accumbens

• Major dopamine highway
  💅 “I deliver the dopamine drama.”

Halo Effect (sees a hot person)

😇 One good trait makes us assume they’re good at everything

• “Attractive = smart/kind/capable”
  💅 “Hot people get bonus points for free.”

Hawthorne effect

👀 People change behavior when they know they’re being observed

• Not because of the treatment—just the attention
  💅 “Oh, you’re watching? Lemme act brand new.”

Confirmation Bias

🔎 Favoring info that confirms your beliefs (like that one antivaxxer)

• Ignoring evidence that contradicts you
  💅 “I only hear what supports my drama.”

Just-world hypothesis (like karma)

⚖ People get what they deserve

• Good things happen to good people

• Bad = punishment, good = reward
  💅 “If you suffered, you must’ve earned it.

Stereotype Threat

⚠ Fear of confirming a negative stereotype

• Can hurt performance when you feel judged

Endemic prejudice

🌍 Prejudice that's deeply rooted in a culture

• Widespread, long-term bias
  💅 “It’s baked into the system, not just a few bad apples.”

Cognitive sexual dimorphism

🧠 Differences in thinking between sexes

• Biological sex differences in cognition,

💅 “Brains wired a little differently, not better or worse.”

Anomie 😶

Breakdown of social norms

• Individual feels disconnected from society

• Caused by rapid change, weak social bonds, or normlessness
  💅 “Lost, isolated, and society isn’t giving me direction.”

Deviance

🚫 Breaking social norms

• Not always bad—just different from what's expected
  💅 “I’m not wrong… I’m just not what you expected.”

Labeling Theory

🏷 Society labels people as "deviant" → they act that way

• Self-fulfilling prophecy
  💅 “Call me a rebel? Fine, I’ll be one.”

Strain Theory

💸 Deviance = result of gap between goals & means

• Can’t reach success the "right" way → break rules
  💅 “You blocked the path—so I took a shortcut.”

Primary vs Secondary Deviance

🔹 Primary = 1-time deviant act, not labeled
🔸 Secondary = labeled deviant → internalizes it
💅 “Slip-up vs. full-on reputation.”

Differential Association Theory 👯‍♂

👯‍♂ Deviance is learned through interactions

• Hang with rule-breakers → become one
  💅 “You are the company you keep, boo.”

Korsakoff’s Syndrome

🍷 Memory disorder caused by thiamine (B1) deficiency

• Common in chronic alcoholics

• Anterograde amnesia = can’t form new memories

• Often confabulation (making up memories)

Schizophrenia

Prolonged dopamine and unable to reuptake dopamine.

🌀 Chronic brain disorder with psychosis

• Positive symptoms = hallucinations, delusions, disorganized speech

• Negative symptoms = flat affect, lack of motivation

• Linked to ↑ dopamine

Parvocellular cells

🎨 Fine detail + color vision

• High spatial resolution (sharpness)

• Low temporal resolution (bad with motion)

Magnocellular Cells

🎥 Motion detection + big shapes

• High temporal resolution (motion)

• Low spatial resolution (blurry, no color)

Horizontal Cells

🔄 Modulate signals between photoreceptors

• Integrate info from rods + cones

• Help with contrast + edge detection
  💅 “I’m the backstage editor—cleaning up the visual drama before it goes to the brain.”

Escape reinforcement (part of operant)

🏃‍♀ Ends an ongoing unpleasant stimulus

You're already in it → you do something to stop it

Avoidance reinforcement (part of operant)

🚫 Prevents the unpleasant stimulus from happening

• You act before it starts

Appraisal

🧐 Your interpretation of a situation

• Determines your emotional response

Heuristics

⚡ Mental shortcut for decision-making

• Fast, not always accurate
  💅 “When in doubt, guess ‘C’.”

Retrieval cues

🔑 A hint or trigger that helps you recall a memory

• Can be a smell, word, location, etc.
  💅 “Ohhh that song reminds me of high school.”

Spreading activation

🧠 Activating one memory triggers related concepts

• Happens in a semantic network

Stage 1: Pre-industrial

⚰ High birth + high death rates

Stage 2: Early industrial

💉 Death rate drops, birth rate stays high

Stage 3: Mature Industrial

📉 Birth rate starts to drop

Stage 4: Post-industrial

⚖ Low birth + low death rates

Impression management

🎭 Controlling how others see you

• Adjusting behavior to influence perception
  💅 “I act chill, even if I’m screaming inside. Gotta protect the brand.”

Self-serving bias

👑 Success = because of me. Failure = not my fault.

• Credit the wins, deflect the losses

Belief perseverance

🧱 Holding onto a belief even after it’s been disproven

• Facts? Irrelevant. Belief still standing.
  💅 “Don’t confuse me with evidence—I’ve made up my mind.”

🌊The “Big Five” Model

🌊 5 Core traits:

• O: Openness (creative vs. conventional)

• C: Conscientiousness (organized vs. careless)

• E: Extraversion (outgoing vs. reserved)

• A: Agreeableness (friendly vs. suspicious)

• N: Neuroticism (anxious vs. calm)

Somatotype Personality Theory (Sheldon)

🏋‍♀️ Body shape = personality:

• Endomorph: soft/round → sociable, relaxed

• Mesomorph: muscular → bold, aggressive

• Ectomorph: thin → shy, introverted

  
  💅 “Your body predicts your personality… allegedly.”

The 3 Dichotomies of Personality (Jung/Myers-Briggs)

🌗 Jung’s personality splits:

1. Introversion ↔ Extraversion

2. Sensing ↔ Intuition

3. Thinking ↔ Feeling

   
   💅 “How you charge, gather info, and make decisions.”

PEN model (Eysenck)

🧠 Personality has 3 major traits:

• P: Psychoticism (nonconformity, impulsivity)

• E: Extraversion (social vs. reserved)

• N: Neuroticism (emotional stability)

It is thought to be biologically based and influences temperament + personality traits

💅 “I’m loud, moody, and I break the rules. Call me PEN-tastic.”

Biopsychosocial approach

🧬🧠🌍 Health = biological + psychological + social factors

Social cognitive perspective

👁‍🗨️ Behavior = learned by watching others + internal thoughts

Includes self-efficacy & reciprocal determinism
💅 “I see it, I believe it, I do it.”

Life course perspective

📆 Health = shaped by life events from birth to now

• Childhood, environment, trauma, SES—all matter
  💅 “You can’t understand me without my full life story.”

Age Dependency Ratio

👶🧓 Ratio of dependents (ages 0–14 & 65+) to the working-age population (15–64)

Higher age dependency ratio

= more economic burden on workers

Low Age Dependency Ratio

📉 Fewer dependents (kids + elders) compared to working-age adults

Can be a sign of economic growth—or could mean birth rates are dropping

Sensitization

Sensitization = increased response to a repeated stimulus.

Example: Repeatedly hearing an annoying noise and getting more irritated each time.

Operant Conditioning

Operant = behavior influenced by consequences

✅ It’s voluntary
✅ It’s reinforced with dopamine
✅ It leads to increased behavior

Actual Self

🪞 Who you currently believe you are

• Your real, present self

Ought Self

📋 Who you think you should be, based on obligations or societal expectations

Self-efficacy

💪 Belief in your ability to succeed or perform a task

Primary/secondary vs Intrinsic/Extrinsic

Primary/Secondary = WHAT drives you (biological or learned)
Intrinsic/Extrinsic = WHY you do it (internal joy or external reward)

Primacy effect

Primacy = early items → more rehearsal → long-term memory

• 💅 “The first impress, the last linger—everything in the middle? Meh.”

Recency effect

Recency = recent items → still in short-term memory

💅 “The first impress, the last linger—everything in the middle? Meh.”

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

• Physiological – food, water, sleep, shelter 🥖

• Safety – security, health, job stability 🛡

• Love/Belonging – relationships, family, community 💞

• Esteem – confidence, achievement, respect 🏆

• Self-Actualization – purpose, creativity, full potential 🌟

Freud’s Id, Ego, & Superego

🧠 The 3-part structure of personality:

• Id 😈 – Pleasure principle
  Primitive, impulsive, wants instant gratification (unconscious)
  “I want it now.”

• Ego 🧠 – Reality principle
  Rational, mediates between id and superego
  “Let’s be smart about this.”

• Superego 👼 – Moral compass
  Internalized ideals & societal rules
  “Is this the right thing to do?”

Altruism

Altruism = helping others at a cost to yourself.

Situational Approach to Behavior

🎭 Behavior is influenced by the environment or context, not just personality

• Think: “People act differently in different situations.”
  💅 “It’s not who you are—it’s where you are.”

Family as a Social Institution

👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 A structured system that regulates reproduction, socialization, and emotional support

• Transmits culture, values, and norms

Authoritarian Personality

🚔 Rigid, obedient to authority, intolerant of outgroups

• Linked to harsh upbringing and fear of change

Education as a Social Institution

🏫 Transmits knowledge, skills, and cultural values

• Teaches norms, promotes meritocracy (in theory), and maintains social order

Urban Renewal 🧱

Revamping or rebuilding rundown parts of a city