MCAT Psychology and Sociology Review

Sensing the environment

• Sensory Processing
  • Sensation
    • Threshold
    • Weber's Law
    • Signal detection theory
    • Sensory adaptation
    • Psychophysics
  • Sensory receptors
    • Sensory pathways
    • Types of sensory receptor
• Vision
  • Structure and function of the eye
  • Visual processing
    • Visual pathways in the brain
    • Parallel processing
    • Feature detection
• Hearing
  • Structure and function of the ear
  • Auditory processing (e.g., auditory pathways in the brain)
  • Sensory reception by hair cells
• Other Senses
  • Somatosensation (e.g., pain perception)
  • Taste (e.g., taste buds/chemoreceptors that detect specific chemicals)
  • Smell
    • Olfactory cells/chemoreceptors that detect specific chemicals
    • Pheromones
    • Olfactory pathways in the brain
  • Kinesthetic sense
  • Vestibular sense
• Perception
  • Bottom-up/Top-down processing
  • Perceptual organization (e.g., depth, form, motion, constancy)
  • Gestalt principles

Making sense of the environment

• Attention
  • Selective attention
  • Divided attention
• Cognition
  • Information-processing model
  • Cognitive development
    • Piaget’s stages of cognitive development
    • Cognitive changes in late adulthood
    • Role of culture in cognitive development
    • Influence of heredity and environment on cognitive development
  • Biological factors that affect cognition
  • Problem solving and decision making
    • Types of problem solving
    • Barriers to effective problem solving
    • Approaches to problem solving
    • Heuristics and biases (e.g., overconfidence, belief perseverance)
  • Intellectual functioning
    • Theories of intelligence
    • Influence of heredity and environment on intelligence
    • Variations in intellectual ability
• Consciousness
  • States of consciousness
    • Alertness
    • Sleep
      • Stages of sleep
      • Sleep cycles and changes to sleep cycles
      • Sleep and circadian rhythms
      • Dreaming
      • Sleep-wake disorders
    • Hypnosis and meditation
  • Consciousness-altering drugs
    • Types of consciousness-altering drugs and their effects on the nervous system and behavior
    • Drug addiction and the reward pathway in the brain
• Memory
  • Encoding
    • Process of encoding information
    • Processes that aid in encoding memories
  • Storage
    • Types of memory storage (e.g., sensory, working, long-term)
    • Semantic networks and spreading activation
  • Retrieval
    • Recall, recognition, and relearning
    • Retrieval cues
    • The role of emotion in retrieving memories
    • Processes that aid retrieval
  • Forgetting
    • Aging and memory
    • Memory dysfunctions (e.g., Alzheimer’s disease, Korsakoff’s syndrome)
    • Decay
    • Interference
    • Memory construction and source monitoring
  • Changes in synaptic connections underlie memory and learning
    • Neural plasticity
    • Memory and learning
    • Long-term potentiation
• Language
  • Theories of language development (e.g., learning, Nativist, Interactionist)
  • Influence of language on cognition
  • Brain areas that control language and speech

Responding to the world

• Emotion (PSY)
• Three components of emotion (i.e., cognitive, physiological, behavioral)
• Universal emotions (i.e., fear, anger, happiness, surprise, joy, disgust, and sadness)
• Adaptive role of emotion
• Theories of emotion
• James-Lange theory
• Cannon-Bard theory
• Schachter-Singer theory
• The role of biological processes in perceiving emotion (PSY, BIO)
• Brain regions involved in the generation and experience of emotions
• The role of the limbic system in emotion
• Emotion and the autonomic nervous system
• Physiological markers of emotion (signatures of emotion)
• Stress (PSY)
• The nature of stress
• Appraisal
• Different types of stressors (e.g., cataclysmic events, personal)
• Effects of stress on psychological functions
• Stress outcomes/response to stressors
• Physiological (PSY, BIO)
• Emotional
• Behavioral
• Managing stress (e.g., exercise, relaxation, spirituality)

Individual influences on behavior

• Biological Bases of Behavior (PSY, BIO)
• Biological Bases of Behavior (PSY, BIO)
• The nervous system
• Neurons (e.g., the reflex arc)
• Neurotransmitters
• Structure and function of the peripheral nervous system (PNS)
• Structure and function of the central nervous system (CNS)
• The brain
• Forebrain
• Midbrain
• Hindbrain
• Lateralization of cortical functions
• Methods used in studying the brain
• The spinal cord
• Neuronal communication and its influence on behavior (PSY)
• Influence of neurotransmitters on behavior (PSY)
• The endocrine system
• Components of the endocrine system
• Effects of the endocrine system on behavior
• Behavioral genetics
• Genes, temperament, and heredity
• Adaptive value of traits and behaviors
• Interaction between heredity and environmental influences
• Influence of genetic and environmental factors on the development of behaviors
• Experience and behavior (PSY)
• Regulatory genes and behavior (BIO)
• Genetically based behavioral variation in natural populations
• Human physiological development (PSY)
• Prenatal development
• Motor development
• Developmental changes in adolescence
• Personality (PSY)
• Theories of personality
• Psychoanalytic perspective
• Humanistic perspective
• Trait perspective
• Social cognitive perspective
• Biological perspective
• Behaviorist perspective
• Situational approach to explaining behavior
• Psychological Disorders (PSY)
• Understanding psychological disorders
• Biomedical vs. biopsychosocial approaches
• Classifying psychological disorders
• Rates of psychological disorders
• Types of psychological disorders
• Anxiety disorders
• Obsessive-compulsive disorder
• Trauma- and stressor-related disorders
• Somatic symptom and related disorders
• Bipolar and related disorders
• Depressive disorders
• Schizophrenia
• Dissociative disorders
• Personality disorders
• Biological bases of nervous system disorders (PSY, BIO)
• Schizophrenia
• Depression
• Alzheimer's disease
• Parkinson's disease
• Stem cell-based therapy to regenerate neurons in the central nervous system (BIO)
• Motivation (PSY)
• Factors that influence motivation
• Instinct
• Arousal
• Drives (e.g., negative feedback systems) (PSY, BIO)
• Needs
• Theories that explain how motivation affects human behavior
• Drive reduction theory
• Incentive theory
• Other theories (e.g., cognitive, need-based)
• Biological and sociocultural motivators that regulate behavior (e.g., hunger, sex drive, substance addiction)
• Attitudes (PSY)
• Components of attitudes (i.e., cognitive, affective, and behavioral)
• The link between attitudes and behavior
• Processes by which behavior influences attitudes (e.g., foot-in-the door phenomenon, role-playing effects)
• Processes by which attitudes influence behavior
• Cognitive dissonance theory

Social processes that influence human behavior

• How the Presence of Others Affects Individual Behavior (PSY)
  • Social facilitation
  • Deindividuation
  • Bystander effect
  • Social loafing
  • Social control (SOC)
  • Peer pressure (PSY, SOC)
  • Conformity (PSY, SOC)
  • Obedience (PSY, SOC)
• Group Decision-making Processes (PSY, SOC)
  • Group polarization (PSY)
  • Groupthink
• Normative and Non-normative Behavior (SOC)
  • Social norms (PSY, SOC)
    • Sanctions (SOC)
    • Folkways, mores, and taboos (SOC)
    • Anomie (SOC)
  • Deviance
    • Perspectives on deviance (e.g., differential association, labeling theory, strain theory)
  • Aspects of collective behavior (e.g., fads, mass hysteria, riots)
• Socialization (PSY, SOC)
  • Agents of socialization (e.g., the family, mass media, peers, workplace)

Attitude and behavior change

• Habituation and Dishabituation (PSY)
• Associative Learning (PSY)
  • Classical conditioning (PSY, BIO)
    • Neutral, conditioned, and unconditioned stimuli
    • Conditioned and unconditioned response
    • Processes: acquisition, extinction, spontaneous recovery, generalization, discrimination
  • Operant conditioning (PSY, BIO)
    • Processes of shaping and extinction
    • Types of reinforcement: positive, negative, primary, conditional
    • Reinforcement schedules: fixed-ratio, variable-ratio, fixed-interval, variable-interval
    • Punishment
    • Escape and avoidance learning
  • The role of cognitive processes in associative learning
  • Biological processes that affect associative learning (e.g., biological predispositions, instinctive drift) (PSY, BIO)
• Observational Learning (PSY)
  • Modeling
  • Biological processes that affect observational learning
    • Mirror neurons
    • Role of the brain in experiencing vicarious emotions
  • Applications of observational learning to explain individual behavior
• Theories of Attitude and Behavior Change (PSY)
  • Elaboration likelihood model
  • Social cognitive theory
  • Factors that affect attitude change (e.g., changing behavior, characteristics of the message and target, social factors)

Self-identity

• Self-Concept, Self-identity, and Social Identity
  • The role of self-esteem, self-efficacy, and locus of control in self-concept and self-identity
  • Different types of identities (e.g., race/ethnicity, gender, age, sexual orientation, class)
• Formation of Identity
  • Theories of identity development (e.g., gender, moral, psychosexual, social)
  • Influence of social factors on identity formation
    • Influence of individuals (e.g., imitation, looking-glass self, role-taking)
    • Influence of groups (e.g., reference group)
  • Influence of culture and socialization on identity formation

Social thinking

• Attributing Behavior to Persons or Situations
  • Attributional processes (e.g., fundamental attribution error, role of culture in attributions)
  • How self-perceptions shape our perceptions of others
  • How perceptions of the environment shape our perceptions of others
• Prejudice and Bias
  • Processes that contribute to prejudice
    • Power, prestige, and class
    • The role of emotion in prejudice
    • The role of cognition in prejudice
  • Stereotypes
  • Stigma
  • Ethnocentrism
    • Ethnocentrism vs. cultural relativism
• Processes Related to Stereotypes
  • Self-fulfilling prophecy
  • Stereotype threat

Social interactions

• Elements of Social Interaction
  • Status
    • Types of status (e.g., achieved, ascribed)
  • Role
    • Role conflict and role strain
    • Role exit
  • Groups
    • Primary and secondary groups
    • In-group vs. out-group
    • Group size (e.g., dyads, triads)
  • Networks
  • Organizations
    • Formal organization
    • Bureaucracy
      • Characteristics of an ideal bureaucracy
      • Perspectives on bureaucracy (e.g., iron law of oligarchy, McDonaldization)
• Self-presentation and Interacting with Others
  • Expressing and detecting emotion
    • The role of gender in the expression and detection of emotion
    • The role of culture in the expression and detection of emotion
  • Presentation of self
    • Impression management
    • Front stage vs. back stage self (Dramaturgical approach)
  • Verbal and nonverbal communication
  • Animal signals and communication
• Social Behavior
  • Attraction
  • Aggression
  • Attachment
  • Altruism
  • Social support
    • Biological explanations of social behavior in animals
    • Foraging behavior
    • Mating behavior and mate choice
    • Applying game theory
    • Altruism
    • Inclusive fitness
• Discrimination
  • Individual vs. institutional discrimination
  • The relationship between prejudice and discrimination
  • How power, prestige, and class facilitate discrimination

Understanding social structure

• Theoretical Approaches
  • Microsociology vs. macrosociology
  • Functionalism
  • Conflict theory
  • Symbolic interactionism
  • Social constructionism
  • Exchange-rational choice
  • Feminist theory
• Social Institutions
  • Education
    • Hidden curriculum
    • Teacher expectancy
    • Educational segregation and stratification
  • Family
    • Forms of kinship
    • Diversity in family forms
    • Marriage and divorce
    • Violence in the family (e.g., child abuse, elder abuse, spousal abuse)
  • Religion
    • Religiosity
    • Types of religious organizations (e.g., churches, sects, cults)
    • Religion and social change (e.g., modernization, secularization, fundamentalism)
  • Government and economy
    • Power and authority
    • Comparative economic and political systems
    • Division of labor
  • Health and medicine
    • Medicalization
    • The sick role
    • Delivery of health care
    • Illness experience
    • Social epidemiology
• Culture
  • Elements of culture (e.g., beliefs, language, rituals, symbols, values)
  • Material vs. symbolic culture
  • Culture lag
  • Culture shock
  • Assimilation
  • Multiculturalism
  • Subcultures and countercultures
  • Mass media and popular culture
  • Evolution and human culture
  • Transmission and diffusion

Demographic characteristics and processes

• Demographic Structure of Society
  • Age
    • Aging and the life course
    • Age cohorts
    • Social significance of aging
  • Gender
    • Sex versus gender
    • The social construction of gender
    • Gender segregation
  • Race and ethnicity
    • The social construction of race
    • Racialization
    • Racial formation
  • Immigration status
    • Patterns of immigration
    • Intersections with race and ethnicity
  • Sexual orientation
• Demographic Shifts and Social Change
  • Theories of demographic change (i.e., Malthusian theory and demographic transition)
  • Population growth and decline (e.g., population projections, population pyramids)
  • Fertility, migration, and mortality
    • Fertility and mortality rates (e.g., total, crude, age-specific)
    • Patterns in fertility and mortality
    • Push and pull factors in migration
  • Social movements
    • Relative deprivation
    • Organization of social movements
    • Movement strategies and tactics
  • Globalization
    • Factors contributing to globalization (e.g., communication technology, economic interdependence)
    • Perspectives on globalization
    • Social changes in globalization (e.g., civil unrest, terrorism)
  • Urbanization
    • Industrialization and urban growth
    • Suburbanization and urban decline
    • Gentrification and urban renewal

Social inequality

• Spatial Inequality
  • Residential segregation
  • Neighborhood safety and violence
  • Environmental justice (location and exposure to health risks)
• Social Class
  • Aspects of social stratification
    • Social class and socioeconomic status
    • Class consciousness and false consciousness
    • Cultural capital and social capital
    • Social reproduction
    • Power, privilege, and prestige
    • Intersectionality (e.g., race, gender, age)
    • Socioeconomic gradient in health
    • Global inequalities
  • Patterns of social mobility
    • Intergenerational and intragenerational mobility
    • Vertical and horizontal mobility
    • Meritocracy
  • Poverty
    • Relative and absolute poverty
    • Social exclusion (segregation and isolation)
• Health Disparities (e.g., class, gender, and race inequalities in health)
• Healthcare Disparities (e.g., class, gender, and race inequalities in health care)
Source: Official MCAT topics for the psychological, social and biological foundations of behavior obtained directly from the AAMC.