MCAT Behavioral Sciences P1

Part 1 of MCAT Psych/Sociology from 132 Scorer

Biopsychosocial approach to health and illness

• Illness is determined by a variety of influences, rather than a single cause.

• The causes and effects of illness can be examined at multiple levels in the life of an individual

  • No single level provides the whole picture.

• Collecting info about psychosocial context is key to the understanding of physical health and illness.

Biomedical approach to health and illness

• Disease is studied by examining only the biological factors of illness

• Neglects contributing factors of psychological life and sociological context.

Models

Provide an approximation (physical/conceptual representation) of a scientific phenomenon that cannot be observed directly.

Theories

Provides the conceptual framework for understanding objects of study.

Social constructionism

• Human actors actively construct their "reality", rather than discovering a reality that has inherent validity, through their social interactions.

• The beliefs and shared understandings of individuals create social realities.

• In the context of illness, there is a gap b/t the biological reality of a medical condition and the societally created meaning of the condition.

  • e.x. changing conceptualizations of mental illness results in changes to the DSM).

  • It is a dynamic, ongoing process.

Brute facts vs Institutional Facts

• Part of WEAK social constructionism

• Brute facts are physical realities that exist outside of human input

• Institutional facts only exist as a function of society's structures and beliefs

Symbolic interactionism

• Micro social perspective.

• Focuses on the smaller scale interactions between individuals in small groups.

  • E.x. thru social interactions, individuals develop shared meanings and labels for various symbols.

  • Allows for human agency in creating and changing meaning in society, rather than society acting upon the individual.

• Meaning can change with a single interaction, so addresses subjective meanings.

• Humans ascribe meaning to things, act based on those meanings, use language to generate meaning through social interaction, and modify meanings through thought processes.

• However, ignores larger societal forces that shape people's lives.

Symbols

• Terms, concepts, or items that represent specific meanings by accepted convention.

• Meanings ascribed to symbols are determined by social norms and cultural values.

Functionalism

• Founder: Emile Durkheim

• Macrosocial perspective

• Factions of society work together to maintain stability.

• Society is a system that consists of different components working together, with distinct institutions that contribute to functioning.

• Seeks to understand what different structures in society contribute to society at large.

• When disruptions occur, the interacting systems respond to get back to a stable state.

  • Explains societal stability but NOT societal change (assumes stability is the ideal)

Conflict Theory

• Founder: Karl Marx

• Macrosocial perspective

• Views society in terms of competing groups that act according to their own self-interests, rather than according to the need for societal equilibrium.

• Society is a competition for limited resources.

  • Explains societal changes but NOT societal societal stability (assumes stability is undesirable to societal groups that are oppressed).

• Views human actions in terms of larger forces of inequality, but leaves motivations choices of individuals unexamined.

• Ignores the non-forceful ways in which people reach agreement, and approaches society more from those who lack power.

  • Tends to be too economically focused.

Culture

All of the beliefs, assumptions, objects, behaviors, and processes that make up a shared way of life. Has a pervasive effect on worldview.

Culture shock

The discomfort and ensuring reevaluation of personal cultural assumptions when an individual experiences a culture different from her own

Material culture

Objects involved in a certain way of life.

Nonmaterial culture

Encompasses the elements of cultures that are not physical. Includes shared ideas, knowledge, assumptions, values, and beliefs that unify a group of people.

Social norms

Expectations that govern what behavior is acceptable within a group. Social interactions help define a culture by establishing these

Social group

A subset of a population that maintains social interactions. Alternatively, includes a collection of shared experiences that create a group identity among a set of individuals

Symbolic culture

• Non-material culture that consists of the elements of culture that only have meaning in the mind.

• Based on a shared system of collective beliefs in the form of symbols.

  • Includes the meanings ascribed to: rituals, gestures, and objects.

Language

The use of symbols to represent ideas

Society

• Two or more individuals living together in a definable area and/or sharing elements of a culture.

• A society can encompass multiple cultures.

Social institutions

• Stable hierarchical systems that bring order to interpersonal interactions, structuring society.

  • E.x. Government/economy, education, religion, family, and health/medicine.

• Provides predictability and organization for individuals within a society, and mediate social behavior between people.

Government/economy as a social institution

Provides order to a society through the services it provides and the making and enforcement of law

Education as a social institution

• Provides a formal structure during childhood and the transition to adulthood, and an opportunity to instruct youth on social norms, expectations for behavior, knowledge, and skills needed to operate within society.

  • MANIFEST FUNCTION = systematically pass down knowledge and give status to those who have been educated.

  • LATENT FUNCTION = socialization, serving as agents of change, and maintaining social control.

• Serves to reinforce and perpetuate social inequalities.

  • E.x. educational segregation because of differential funding of schools based on residential segregation.

Religion as a social institution

• Acts as an organized structure of behaviors and social interactions that addresses the spiritual needs of society.

• Functionalist POV: Can create social cohesion/dissent, social change/control, and provide believers with meaning and purpose.

Religion

A system of beliefs that affects how people make sense of their experiences and provides a framework for questions about life, death, and the purpose of existence

Family as a social institution

Creates a social group in which to procreate, rear children, pass on cultural knowledge, and cooperate to better meet life's challenge.

The nuclear family

• The concept of family in which one man and one woman live together with their children.

• Most common concept of family in the US.

  • Consists of DIRECT blood relations.

Polygamy

An individual married to more than one individual

Polyandry

More than one man married to one woman

Health/medicine as a social institution

Fulfills the need for healthcare in an organized manner, with beliefs about diseases and approaches to healing varying between societies and cultures

Demographics

• Statistics used to examine the nature of a specific population by quantifying subsets of that population.

• They are a statistical snapshot in time, and do not capture the ever-changing nature of society.

Quantified demographic parameters include:

Age, gender, nationality, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, SES, immigration status, education level

Demographic transition

A demographic change that takes place over time

Fertility

The production of offspring within a population

Cohort study

Following a subset of a population over a lifetime

Period study

Examining the number of offspring produced during a specific time period

Mortality

The death rate within a population.

Migration

The relocation of people from one place to another; influences population size

Immigration

The influx of new people to a specific area; increases population size

Emigration

The outflow of people to other areas; reduces population size

Social movement

Group of people who share an ideology and work together toward a specific set of goals

Urbanization

Increase in the proportion of people living in specified urban areas, due to industrialization

Globalization

Increasing amount of interaction and integration on the international scale through exchange of products, services, ideas and information

Social inequality

The unequal distribution of opportunities or treatment of individuals within a society based on various demographic categories

Spatial inequality

• Unequal access to resources and variable quantity of life within a population or geographical distribution.

  • E.x. residential segregation, grocery stores not available in POC neighborhood only liquor stores.

• Can be affected by income, unemployment, and unequal access to resources.

  • Influences health by affecting access to healthcare

Environmental justice

The equal treatment of all people regardless of race, gender, or other social grouping with regard to prevention and relief from environmental and health hazards.

Residential segregation

Instance of social inequality on the local scale, where demographic groups are separated into different locations with unequal access to resources

Food deserts

• Areas where it is difficult to find affordable, healthy food options.

• More common in highly populated low-income urban neighborhoods where there are fewer grocery stores/transportation options to seek out other food choices.

  • Contributes to obesity in these areas b/c people resort to buying cheap, highly processed, and caloric foods.

Social class

System of stratification that groups members of society according to similarities in social standing. Multifaceted, and tied to status within a community and power

Power

Influence over a community

People in higher social class tend to have more:

Power, Privilege, and Prestige

Socioeconomic status (SES)

Defines the economic and social position of a person in terms of income, wealth, education, and occupation

Income vs wealth

Income is assets EARNED while wealth is assets already OWNED.

Prestige

the relative value assigned to something within a particular society

White-collar work

Jobs that are professional, administrative, or managerial in nature; defines the middle class

Blue-collar work

Occupations that require skilled or unskilled manual labor

Caste system

Hierarchy of society is strictly defined, position is inherited, and movement or marriage between castes is prohibited

Upward mobility

The movement of an individual up the class hierarchy. Achieved through education, marriage, career, or financial success

Downward mobility

The movement of an individual down the class hierarchy. Due to unemployment, underemployment, reduced household income, lack of education, or health issues

Intragenerational mobility

Movement of a young person from a lower social class to a higher social class through merit (achieving the "American dream")

Intergenerational mobility

Movement through the class system between generations (old generation is poor/rich, sets up environment for new generation to become rich/poor)

Meritocracy

Society in which advancement is based solely on the abilities and achievements of the individual

Cultural capital

The set of non-monetary social factors that contribute to social mobility. Examples include dress, accent, vernacular, manners, education, cultural knowledge, intellectual pursits

Social capital

• Investment people make in their society in return for economic or collective rewards.

  • E.g. Individual’s social networks/connections that may confer economic or personal benefits

Social reproduction

Transmission of social inequality from one generation to the next

Poverty

an insufficiency of material goods, monetary wealth, and access to resources

Isolation

Also known as social exclusion. Describes how impoverished people are often excluded from opportunities available to others.

Absolute poverty

Lack of essential resources (food, shelter, clothing, hygiene). More extreme form of poverty

Relative poverty

Social inequality in which people are relatively poor compared to other members of society in which they live

Health disparity

Aka health inequity. Differences in health and healthcare that occur between groups of people

Sociology

The study of how individuals interact with, shape, and are subsequently shaped by the society in which they live. Attempts to understand the behavior of GROUPS.

Emile Durkheim

• Father of sociology, pioneer of modern social research and established the field as separate and distinct from psychology and politics

• Major proponent of functionalism

• Argued that modern society was more complex than primitive societies because they were all similar, shared a common language.

  • Even when people were dissimilar, they relied on each other to make society function.

Dynamic equilibrium

Aspect of functionalism. Complex societies contain many different but interdependent parts working together to maintain stability. Unhealthy cites are unable to maintain this.

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

Intended and obvious consequences of a social structure

Latent functions

Unintended or less recognizable consequence of a social structure. Can be considered beneficial, neutral, or harmful

Social dysfunction

Social process that has undesirable consequences, reducing the stability of society

Karl Marx

• Father of sociology.

• Associated with Conflict Theory.

• Looked at the economic conflict between different social classes, and argued that societies progress through class struggle.

  • Conflict b/t bourgeoise, owners of and control production vs the proletariat, whose labor provide the manpower for production.

• Believed that capitalism would ultimately lead to self-destruction of society due to internal tensions.

Ludwig Gumplowicz

Proposed that society is shaped by war and conquest, and that cultural and ethnic conflicts lead to certain groups becoming dominant over other groups.

Max Weber

Father of sociology. Argued that in a capitalist society inequalities would lead to conflict, but that there would be more than one source of conflict. Argued that there were several factors that moderated people's reaction to inequality.

Dramaturgical approach

• Assumes that people are theatrical performers and that everyday life is a stage, where people choose what kind of image they want to communicate verbal and nonverbally to others.

• Critics say this research may not be objective, and the theory is focused too narrowly on symbolic interaction.

Social construct

A concept or practice that is construct of a group. Everybody in society agrees to treat a certain aspect a certain way regardless of its inherent value in nature.

Family

A set of people related by blood, marriage, adoption, or some other agreed-upon relationship that signifies some responsibility to each other.

• Serves five functions:

  • Reproduction and the monitoring of sexual behavior

  • Protection

  • Socialization

  • Affection and companionship

  • Social status

Socialization

The process by which people learn customs and values of their culture. It is the way that children learn the culture into which they have been born

Polygyny

A man married to more than one woman

Endogamy

The practice of marrying within a particular group

Exogamy

A requirement to marry outside a particular group, with it being the norm in almost all cultures to prohibit sexual relationships between certain relatives

Assisted marriage

Parents provide children with possible mates, out of which the child can choose

Kinship/kin

How we think about who we are related to. Considered a cultural group rather than biological

Bilateral descent

Kin groups that involve both maternal and paternal relations

Patrilineal descent

Preference for paternal relations in the kin group

Matrilineal descent

Preference for maternal relations in the kin group

Egalitarian family

Spouses are treated as equals and may be involved in negotiation when making decisions

Social class in America is largely determined by ________.

Financial wealth

Upper vs Lower Class Families

• Upper class families concerns over continuing a larger family tradition and properly training children.

  • Upper class parents are more permissive/authoritative

  • Authoritative involves setting clear expectations, providing explanations, and fostering open communication.

• Lower class families are focused on completing the everyday tasks necessary for survival.

  • Lower class parents are more authoritarian.

  • Authoritarian emphasizes strict rules, obedience, and control with little room for discussion or explanation

Divorce rate in America

Has increased due to social and religious acceptance, more opportunities for women's autonomy, and lessened financial and legal barriers.

Ecclesia

A dominant religious organization that includes most members of society, is recognized as the national or official religion, and tolerates no other religions.

Church

• A type of religious organization that is well-integrated into the large society. Membership teds to occur by birth, but most churches allow people to join.

• Can be tied to the state or independent of it.

Sect

• A religious organization that is distinct from that of the larger society.

• Formed from breaking away from larger religious institutions.

• Membership may be by birth or through conversion.

Cult/New religious movement

• A religious organization that is far outside society's norms and often involves a very different lifestyle.

• Many major world religions originated as cults.

Religiosity

The extent of influence of religion in a person's life