MCAT Psychology 5 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: The phenomenon where people perform better on well-practiced tasks in the presence of others but worse on novel or complex tasks is called:
- Deindividuation
- Social loafing
- Social facilitation (Correct answer)
- Groupthink
Correct answer: Social facilitation
Social facilitation (Zajonc) describes increased arousal in the presence of others that enhances dominant (well-learned) responses but impairs non-dominant (complex) responses.
Question 2: A doctor notices that patients in a clinical trial who received a sugar pill improved as much as those on the active drug. This improvement in the placebo group is best attributed to:
- Regression to the mean only
- Natural disease remission
- Placebo effect driven by expectancy and conditioning (Correct answer)
- Hawthorne effect from researcher attention
Correct answer: Placebo effect driven by expectancy and conditioning
The placebo effect involves expectancy (patients anticipate improvement) and classical conditioning (treatment context triggers learned healing responses).
Question 3: Which of the following is an example of a negative reinforcement schedule?
- Giving a child candy for completing homework
- Removing a loud alarm when a driver buckles their seatbelt (Correct answer)
- Sending a child to time-out for misbehavior
- Taking away TV privileges for poor grades
Correct answer: Removing a loud alarm when a driver buckles their seatbelt
Negative reinforcement increases a behavior by removing an aversive stimulus; buckling the seatbelt (behavior) is reinforced by stopping the alarm (removal of aversive stimulus).
Question 4: According to the gate control theory of pain, which neural mechanism can reduce the perception of pain?
- Activation of C fibers transmitting slow, burning pain
- Opening of pain gates by emotional distress signals from the cortex
- Stimulation of large-diameter A-beta fibers that activate inhibitory interneurons (Correct answer)
- Decreased serotonin in the dorsal horn of the spinal cord
Correct answer: Stimulation of large-diameter A-beta fibers that activate inhibitory interneurons
Large-diameter A-beta fibers activate inhibitory interneurons in the dorsal horn that 'close the gate,' reducing transmission of pain signals to the brain.
Question 5: A person who has experienced a traumatic car accident now feels intense anxiety whenever they hear screeching brakes, even in safe contexts. From a behavioral perspective, this anxiety represents:
- An operantly conditioned avoidance response
- A classically conditioned fear response (CR) to a conditioned stimulus (CS) (Correct answer)
- A generalization of instrumental behavior
- Observational learning from watching others' accidents
Correct answer: A classically conditioned fear response (CR) to a conditioned stimulus (CS)
The screeching brakes (CS) were paired with the trauma (UCS), producing a conditioned fear response (CR) through classical conditioning.
Question 6: The concept of 'stereotype threat,' introduced by Steele and Aronson, refers to:
- The tendency to unconsciously adopt stereotyped behavior when primed with group identity
- Performance impairment arising from awareness of a negative stereotype about one's group (Correct answer)
- Explicit prejudice that blocks access to opportunities for stigmatized groups
- Unconscious bias in evaluators who rate in-group members more favorably
Correct answer: Performance impairment arising from awareness of a negative stereotype about one's group
Stereotype threat occurs when individuals fear confirming a negative group stereotype, creating anxiety and cognitive load that impairs performance on relevant tasks.
Question 7: Broca's area and Wernicke's area are connected by which white matter tract, and damage to this tract produces which language disorder?
- Internal capsule; global aphasia
- Arcuate fasciculus; conduction aphasia (Correct answer)
- Corpus callosum; disconnection syndrome
- Corona radiata; transcortical motor aphasia
Correct answer: Arcuate fasciculus; conduction aphasia
The arcuate fasciculus connects Broca's and Wernicke's areas; damage causes conduction aphasia, marked by poor repetition but relatively preserved comprehension and fluency.
MCAT Psychology 5
The phenomenon where people perform better on well-practiced tasks in the presence of others but worse on novel or complex tasks is called: