MCAT (Medical College Admission Test) Psychological, Social, and Biological Foundations of Behavior Syllabus

Psychological, Social, and Biological Foundations of Behavior syllabus — full chapter and topic list

Expand any chapter to see its topics and sub-topics. This is the whole examinable outline for Psychological, Social, and Biological Foundations of Behavior in MCAT (Medical College Admission Test), not a summary of it.

1. 1

   Sensation, Perception, and Consciousness

   3 topics

   • Sensory Processing
     • Thresholds, signal detection, and Weber's law
     • Vision, hearing, and the chemical and somatosensory senses
   • Perception and Attention
     • Bottom-up and top-down processing
     • Gestalt principles and perceptual organization
   • States of Consciousness
     • Sleep stages and circadian rhythms
     • Drugs, addiction, and altered states
2. 2

   Learning, Memory, and Cognition

   4 topics

   • Learning
     • Classical and operant conditioning
     • Observational learning and habituation
   • Memory
     • Encoding, storage, and retrieval
     • Memory systems and forgetting
   • Cognition and Language
     • Problem solving, heuristics, and biases
     • Intelligence and language development
   • Motivation and Emotion
     • Theories of motivation and drives
     • Theories of emotion and stress
3. 3

   Identity, Personality, and Psychological Disorders

   3 topics

   • Self and Identity
     • Self-concept, self-esteem, and identity formation
     • Social and cultural influences on identity
   • Theories of Personality
     • Psychoanalytic, humanistic, and trait theories
     • Behaviorist and social-cognitive perspectives
   • Psychological Disorders
     • Mood, anxiety, and personality disorders
     • Schizophrenia and biological bases of disorders
4. 4

   Social Processes and Behavior

   3 topics

   • Social Cognition and Attitudes
     • Attribution theory and cognitive dissonance
     • Prejudice, stereotypes, and discrimination
   • Social Interaction
     • Conformity, obedience, and group dynamics
     • Attraction, aggression, and altruism
   • Biological Bases of Behavior
     • Nervous system and behavior
     • Genetics, evolution, and behavior
5. 5

   Social Structure, Stratification, and Demographics

   3 topics

   • Sociological Theory and Institutions
     • Functionalism, conflict theory, and symbolic interactionism
     • Family, education, religion, and government
   • Social Inequality and Stratification
     • Class, status, and social mobility
     • Health disparities and access to care
   • Demographics and Social Change
     • Population dynamics and demographic transition
     • Urbanization, globalization, and social movements

Psychological, Social, and Biological Foundations of Behavior flashcards for MCAT (Medical College Admission Test)

24 of 51 cards from the Psychological, Social, and Biological Foundations of Behavior deck — real questions with worked answers.

1. What is the difference between absolute threshold and difference threshold (just-noticeable difference)?

   Absolute threshold is the minimum stimulus intensity detectable 50% of the time; difference threshold (JND) is the minimum change in stimulus needed to detect a difference 50% of the time.

2. State Weber's law and what it describes.

   The just-noticeable difference is a constant proportion (k) of the original stimulus: ΔI/I = k. The change needed to notice a difference is proportional to stimulus magnitude, not absolute.

3. What does signal detection theory explain, and what are its four outcome categories?

   It explains how we detect stimuli amid noise based on sensitivity and response criterion (bias). Outcomes: hit, miss, false alarm, and correct rejection.

4. Distinguish bottom-up from top-down processing.

   Bottom-up (data-driven) builds perception from raw sensory input; top-down uses prior knowledge, expectations, and context to interpret sensory input.

5. What is the difference between sensation and perception?

   Sensation is detection and transduction of physical stimuli by sensory receptors; perception is the brain's organization and interpretation of that sensory information.

6. Define transduction in sensory processing.

   The conversion of physical/chemical stimulus energy into electrical neural signals (action potentials) by sensory receptors.

7. Compare selective attention with divided attention, and name a key model of each.

   Selective attention focuses on one stimulus while filtering others (e.g., cocktail party effect; Broadbent's filter model); divided attention splits resources across multiple tasks (resource model), limited by automaticity.

8. What characterizes the brain waves of the four NREM/REM sleep stages?

   Stage 1 (N1): theta waves; Stage 2 (N2): sleep spindles and K-complexes; Stage 3 (N3): delta waves (slow-wave/deep sleep); REM: low-amplitude beta-like waves resembling wakefulness with vivid dreaming and muscle atonia.

9. Contrast the activation-synthesis hypothesis with the information-processing theory of dreaming.

   Activation-synthesis: dreams are the cortex's attempt to interpret random brainstem (pons) neural activity during REM. Information-processing: dreams consolidate and process the day's memories and emotions.

10. Differentiate classical from operant conditioning.

    Classical conditioning associates two stimuli to elicit an involuntary response (Pavlov); operant conditioning links voluntary behavior with consequences (reinforcement/punishment; Skinner).

11. Define and give an example of negative reinforcement vs. positive punishment.

    Negative reinforcement removes an aversive stimulus to increase a behavior (e.g., taking aspirin to stop pain). Positive punishment adds an aversive stimulus to decrease a behavior (e.g., a spanking).

12. Compare the four schedules of partial reinforcement and which produces the most resistant behavior.

    Fixed-ratio, variable-ratio, fixed-interval, variable-interval. Variable-ratio produces the highest, steadiest response rate and is most resistant to extinction.

13. What are the three stages of memory in the modal (Atkinson-Shiffrin) model?

    Sensory memory, short-term/working memory, and long-term memory, with encoding, storage, and retrieval processes moving information between them.

14. Contrast explicit (declarative) and implicit (nondeclarative) memory, including subtypes.

    Explicit memory is conscious: episodic (events) and semantic (facts). Implicit memory is unconscious: procedural skills, priming, and conditioned responses.

15. What is the difference between proactive and retroactive interference?

    Proactive interference: old information disrupts recall of new information. Retroactive interference: new information disrupts recall of old information.

16. Which brain structures are central to forming new long-term memories versus storing procedural/motor memories?

    The hippocampus consolidates new declarative long-term memories; the cerebellum and basal ganglia store procedural and motor memories.

17. Name and briefly describe Piaget's four stages of cognitive development.

    Sensorimotor (0-2, object permanence), preoperational (2-7, egocentrism, no conservation), concrete operational (7-11, conservation/logic on concrete items), formal operational (12+, abstract reasoning).

18. Distinguish an algorithm from a heuristic in problem solving.

    An algorithm is a step-by-step procedure guaranteeing a correct solution; a heuristic is a mental shortcut that is faster but does not guarantee correctness.

19. Define the availability heuristic and the representativeness heuristic.

    Availability: judging likelihood by how easily examples come to mind. Representativeness: judging likelihood by how well something matches a prototype, often ignoring base rates.

20. What are Chomsky's nativist theory and the language acquisition device?

    Chomsky proposed language is innate; the language acquisition device (LAD) is a hypothesized inborn mechanism letting children acquire grammar via a universal grammar during a critical period.

21. State the Whorfian (linguistic relativity) hypothesis.

    Language shapes or influences thought and perception; speakers of different languages may perceive and think about the world differently.

22. Compare Maslow's hierarchy of needs from bottom to top.

    Physiological, safety, love/belonging, esteem, and self-actualization (with self-transcendence added later); lower needs are generally met before higher ones motivate behavior.

23. Contrast drive-reduction theory with arousal theory (Yerkes-Dodson law) of motivation.

    Drive-reduction: behavior reduces internal tension to restore homeostasis. Arousal theory: we seek an optimal arousal level; Yerkes-Dodson states performance peaks at moderate arousal (lower optimum for difficult tasks).

24. Compare the James-Lange, Cannon-Bard, and Schachter-Singer theories of emotion.

    James-Lange: physiological arousal precedes and causes emotion. Cannon-Bard: arousal and emotion occur simultaneously and independently. Schachter-Singer (two-factor): emotion = physiological arousal + cognitive label of that arousal.

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