MCAT Science Workbook 2015 Princeton Review

I decided to do 7 passages from the Princeton Review Book and I am writing down all the notes and important topics that were discusses. Expect terms and strategies and I found a really good one, stay tuned to the end ;)

Symbolic Culture: intangible culture that exists in society such as norms, beliefs and ideas. Social networks is a non-material concept
Material Culture: all things related to a given culture like clothes or food while a symbolic culture
Human Capital: collective  skills, knowledge, intangible assets of individuals that can be used to create economic value for the individual's or their community. Example is education or experiences
Cultural Capital:  Social assets that promote social mobility beyond economic means that from networks and people.
Symbolic Capital: Resources given to an individual due to power or prestige
Symbolic Interactionism: smoking, race, gender, and interpersonal relationships can all function within the framework interactionism
Conflict Theory: the parts of society do not work together harmoniously so society's parts are competing with one another for limited resources.  From the conflict perspective, social problems are the natural and inevitable outcome of social struggle. The basis of all social problems is the conflict over limited resources between the more and less powerful. The more powerful exploit society's resources and oppress the less powerful.
Prejudice: inflexible and irrational attitudes a opinions held by members of one group about another
Discrimination: refers to behaviors directed against another group.
Weber's three component theory of stratification: includes the components of class, power, and status: prejudice is not a component of stratification. Power: the ability to implement one's decisions
Class: defined as one's economic position in society. Status: one's reputation often associated with their class.
Social facilitation: the tendency for people to perform differently when in the presence of others when when alone.
Agents of Socialization: family school and peers, mass media
Social Identity: a person's sense of who they are based on their group status
Self-schema: long lasting and stable set of beliefs experiences and generalizations about the self that is important to one's own self definition
Self-esteem: overall emotional evaluation of one's own worth.
Self-Efficacy: is the belief in one's ability to succeed at a given task.
Social Learning Theory (By Albert Bandura): learning is a cognitive process that takes place in a social context that can occur purely through observation and direct instruction in the absence of motor reproduction or direct reinforcement.
Cognitive Dissonance Theory (By Leon Festinger): individuals seek consistency among their cognitions (beliefs ideals)
Groupthink: phenomenon where people tend to conform with group decisions to avoid feeling outcast, leading to errors in decision making.
Foot in the door Phenomenon example: A passerby gives a panhandler a small amount of money after the panhandler requests and receives a cigarette from him
Ethnocentrism: the emotional attitude that one's own race, nation, or culture is superior to all others

Kohlberg Morality Chart
Level 1: Preconventional morality <9 years old
Moral code shaped by standards of adults and the consequences of following or breaking their rules
Stage 1: Obedience and Punishment Orientation
The child/individual is good in order to avoid being punished.
Stage 2: Individualism and Exchange
Different individuals have different viewpoints, not one right view that is handed down
Level 2: Conventional morality (Teenagers and adults)
internalize moral standards of valued adult role models
Stage 3: Good Intrapersonal Skills 
Individual is good in order to be seen as being a good person by others (approval)
Stage 4: Maintaining the Social Order
The individual becomes aware of the wider rules of society so judgements cern obeying the rules in order to uphold the law and to avoid guilt
Level 3: Postconventional Stage (10-15% of the population)
Stage 5: Social Contract and Individual Rights
rules and laws are good for the greater number and there are times when they will work against the interest of particular individuals.
Stage 6: Universal Principles
People at this stage have developed their own set of moral guidelines which may or may not fit the law. The principles apply to everyone.

So I'm posting this the day before the Inauguration and right now I am in the airport ready to take off back for the Spring Semester

2014 AP Psychology Exam Questions Review

Compulsion: Ex- people who habitually wash their hands numerous times before going to bed

Bipolar disorder/Manic Depression: Composed of Depressive stage and Mania stage: high self esteem and doing things that did not know there was consequence like promiscuity Mood: long term emotional states. People have psychotic symptoms which include delusions, auditory and visual hallucinations There are genetic links to bipolar disorder. Fugue can occur in mania

Feelings: fleeting state

Mood disorder/Affective Disorders: characterized by emotional extremes and challenges in regulating mood and tend to be longer term disturbances

Major Depressive Disorder: DSM V states to be diagnosed a person needs to show at least five signs of depression for more than two weeks. Physical Activity can increase serotonin and medication can increase epinephrine to treat depression. 

• significant weight or appetite loss or gain
• too much or too little sleep
• decreased interest in activities
• feeling worthless fatigued or lethargic
• difficulty concentrating or making decisions
• recurrent thoughts of death or suicide

Reconstructive Memory/Reconstruction: The process of assembling information from stored knowledge when a clear or coherent memory of a specific event does not exist. An interviewer may work with crime victim to assemble a memory of the traumatic events surrounding a crime. 

Proactive Interference: people who have difficulty remembering recently learned materials because of similar information learned earlier in life

Left Brain Activities

• sequential
• detail
• words
• logical
• numbers
• measurements
• recall of past
• gramar
• patterns
• literal meaning
• content
• name recall
• time awareness
• math and science

Right Brain Activities

• simultaneous
• holistic and accents
• pictures and face recognition  
• intuitive
• shapes and spatial awareness
• motion
• imaginative

Just World Hypothesis: assumption that a person’s actions are inherently inclined to bring morally fair and fitting consequences to that person, to the end of all noble actions being eventually rewarded and all evil actions punished. Thinks the world is a fair place. Ex: rape case

Pluralistic Ignorance: majority of group members privately reject a norm, but incorrectly assume that most others accept it and therefore go along with it. Ex: communism people assumed they supported so no one was uprising 

Intellectualization: defense mechanism, where the person avoids uncomfortable emotions by focusing on facts and logic. 

Social Loafing: when a person exerts less effort to achieve a goal when they work in a group than when they work alone

Groupthink: a situation where members desire for complete consensus overrides their motivation to disagree with an argument or critically realistically evaluate other available alternatives. 

Introspection: part of structuralism and is described as immediate sensation when looking at a rose. 

Dementia: is not a disease and is treatable at times, loss of memory, problem solving, decision making, and attention. 

Dissociative disorders: conditions that involve disruptions or breakdowns of memory, awareness, identity, or perception

Amnesia: memory is lost or disturbed and there is childhood amnesia which Freud calls sexual repression. (Lacunar amnesia is forgetting a specific event) Dissociative amnesia 

is in regards to psychological or traumatic events. 

Fugue: temporarily loss their sense of personal identity and impulsively wander or travel away from their homes 

Identity Disorder: appearance of at least two distinct, relatively enduring identities or dissociated personality states that alternately control a person’s behavior accompanied by memory impairment not explained by ordinary forgetfulness

Somatoform Disorder: mental illness that causes one or more bodily symptoms including pain. They may or may not be traceable to a physical cause including general medical conditions. 

Somatoform disorder is a category that encompasses all disorders that are characterized by physical complaints that cannot be explained by a medical diagnosis. Somatoform disorders include the following diagnoses:

1) Conversion Disorder - Neurological symptoms without a neurological explanation. This diagnosis is restricted to motor and sensory symptoms. Include Numbness, paralysis, seizure, blindness, etc. May be preceded by an acute stressor. Also cannot be part of a somatization disorder (see below).

2) Somatization disorder - A patient who consistently complains of a variety of physical symptoms without a physiological explanation. The DSM requires that the onset must be before age 30, that there is pain in at least 4 different parts of the body, 2 GI problems (not including pain), one sexual symptom, and one neurological symptom.

3) Hypochondriasis - Excessive preoccupation or worry about illness that persists even after evaluation by a physician is negative. Fears that minor symptoms are indicative of a serious condition.

4) Body Dysmorphic Disorder - Excessive concern and preoccupation with physical flaws - either imagined or extremely minor - that cause significant psychological distress  (and cannot be accounted for by another disorder, such as anorexia nervosa)

5) Pain Disorder - chronic pain in one or more area that cannot be otherwise explained.

I also think that that first aid includes Pseudocyesis on their list, which is the false belief of being pregnant - although it is usually associated with clinical signs and symptoms of pregnancy

Schachter and Singer Emotion: the same physiological response can produce different emotions, depending on the context within which the response occurs and a person’s interpretation of that context.

Retroactive Interference: occurs when new information interferes with information already in memory

Proactive Interference: occurs when information already in memory interferes with new information 

Stages of Sleep

N1: the individual loses sensation of his or her environment and becomes more relaxed, both mentally and physiologically. Brain waves slowly transition from alpa waves (wakefulness) to lower frequency theta waves

N2: Environmental awareness completely disappeared. Brain waves are characterized by sleep spindles and K complexes, which are short bursts of higher frequency waves if not then normal theta waves. 

N3: Deep sleep. Brain activity is characterized by a high presence of very low frequency delta waves. Parasomnias, such as sleepwalking and night terrors, occur here. 

REM: neutral acetylcholine secretions, which cause brain waves to increase in frequency and resemble alpha waves like in N1. Body’s muscles are paralyzed though brain activity increased. 

Conductive Hearing loss: when sound is not conducted through the external auditor canal to the tympanic membrane and the ossicles. Causes include acute otits media, performated eardrum, impacted cerumen (ear wax), or a foreign body in the external canal. 

Sensorineural Hearing loss: when there is damage to the fine hairs in the cochlea caused by loud noise. 

Aqueous humor: liquid medium between the cornea and the lens of the eye. 

Vitreous humor: the liquid medium between the lens and the retina at the back of the eye. 

People to Know

Kay Redfield Jamison: bipolar disorder psychologist 

Melvin Lerner: Developed the Just World Hypothesis 

Elizabeth Loftus: study of memory reconstruction and viewing films an automobile accident