(Psychological, Social, and Biological) Flashcards
7 cards from real MCAT practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 7 (Psychological, Social, and Biological) flashcards as text
Conformity experiments by Solomon Asch demonstrated that individuals often conform to group judgments even when those judgments are clearly incorrect. Which factor most increases conformity in these situations?
Answer: Increased group size beyond three members
Asch found that conformity increased with group size up to about 3–5 members, after which additional members provided diminishing increases in conformity pressure.
A patient with damage to Wernicke's area would most likely present with:
Answer: Fluent but nonsensical speech with poor comprehension
Wernicke's aphasia results in fluent, grammatically intact but semantically incoherent speech and impaired language comprehension.
Which of the following is an example of negative reinforcement?
Answer: Taking ibuprofen to relieve a headache, increasing the likelihood of future ibuprofen use
Negative reinforcement involves removing an aversive stimulus (pain) following a behavior (taking ibuprofen), which increases the probability of that behavior recurring.
The diathesis-stress model of mental illness proposes that:
Answer: A biological predisposition combined with environmental stressors leads to mental illness
The diathesis-stress model posits that a genetic or biological vulnerability (diathesis) interacts with environmental stressors to produce psychological disorders.
According to the James-Lange theory of emotion, emotions arise from:
Answer: Awareness of one's own physiological responses to stimuli
The James-Lange theory holds that we experience emotion by perceiving our bodily physiological responses (e.g., 'I am afraid because I am trembling').
Which of the following best characterizes an institutional review board's (IRB) primary concern in research with human subjects?
Answer: Ensuring participant welfare, informed consent, and ethical treatment
IRBs exist to protect human research participants by reviewing studies for ethical standards, including informed consent, risk minimization, and voluntary participation.
A health disparity is observed where Black Americans have significantly higher rates of hypertension than white Americans. Which social determinant most directly explains this difference?
Answer: Chronic stress from racial discrimination and socioeconomic inequality
Chronic psychosocial stress from racism, discrimination, and socioeconomic disadvantage is a major driver of hypertension disparities in Black Americans.