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MCAT Psych/Sociology from 132 Scorer.
Exam Questions And Correct Answers
Biopsychosocial approach to health and illness - answer✔✔Illness is determined by a variety of
influences, rather than a single cause. The causes and effects of illness can be examined at
multiple levels in the life of an individual, and no single level provides the whole picture.
Collecting info about psychosocial context is key to the understanding of physical health and
illness.
Biomedical approach to health and illness - answer✔✔Disease is studied by examining only the
biological factors of illness, neglecting contributing factors of psychological life and sociological
context.
Models - answer✔✔Provide an approximation (physical/conceptual representation) of a
scientific phenomenon that cannot be observed directly
Theories - answer✔✔Provides the conceptual framework for understanding objects of study
Social constructionism - answer✔✔Human actors actively construct their "reality", rather than
discovering a reality that has inherent validity, through their social interactions. The beliefs and
shared understandings of individuals create social realities.
In the context of illness, there is a gap b/t the biological reality of a medical condition and the
societally created meaning of the condition. (ex. changing conceptualizations of mental illness
results in changes to the DSM). It is a dynamic, ongoing process.
Brute facts vs Institutional Facts - answer✔✔-Part of WEAK social constructionism
-Brute facts are physical realities that exist outside of human input
-Institutional facts only exist as a function of society's structures and beliefs
Symbolic interactionism - answer✔✔Micro social perspective. Focuses on the smaller scale
interactions between individuals in small groups. Through social interactions, individuals
develop shared meanings and labels for various symbols. Allows for human agency in creating
and changing meaning in society, rather than society acting upon the individual. Meaning can
change with a single interaction, so addresses subjective meanings. Humans ascribe meaning to
things, act based on those meanings, use language to generate meaning through social
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interaction, and modify meanings through thought processes. However, ignores larger societal
forces that shape people's lives.
Symbols - answer✔✔Terms, concepts, or items that represent specific meanings by accepted
convention. Meanings ascribed to symbols are determined by social norms and cultural values.
Functionalism - answer✔✔Founder: Emile Durkheim
Macrosocial perspective
-Factions of society work together to maintain stability. Society is a system that consists of
different components working together, with distinct institutions that contribute to functioning.
Seeks to understand what different structures in society contribute to society at large. When
disruptions occur, the interacting systems respond to get back to a stable state. Explains societal
stability but NOT societal change (assumes stability is the ideal)
Conflict Theory - answer✔✔Founder: Karl Marx
Macrosocial perspective
Views society in terms of competing groups that act according to their own self-interests, rather
than according to the need for societal equilibrium. Society is a competition for limited
resources. Explains societal changes but NOT societal societal stability (assumes stability is
undesirable to societal groups that are oppressed) Views human actions in terms of larger forces
of inequality, but leaves motivations choices of individuals unexamined. Ignores the non-forceful
ways in which people reach agreement, and approaches society more from those who lack
power. Tends to be too economically focused.
Culture - answer✔✔All of the beliefs, assumptions, objects, behaviors, and processes that make
up a shared way of life. Has a pervasive effect on worldview.
Culture shock - answer✔✔The discomfort and ensuring reevaluation of personal cultural
assumptions when an individual experiences a culture different from her own
Material culture - answer✔✔Objects involved in a certain way of life
Nonmaterial culture - answer✔✔Encompasses the elements of cultures that are not physical.
Includes shared ideas, knowledge, assumptions, values, and beliefs that unify a group of people.
Social norms - answer✔✔Expectations that govern what behavior is acceptable within a group.
Social interactions help define a culture by establishing these
Social group - answer✔✔A subset of a population that maintains social interactions.
Alternatively, includes a collection of shared experiences that create a group identity among a set
of individuals
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Symbolic culture - answer✔✔Non-material culture that consists of the elements of culture that
only have meaning in the mind. Based on a shared system of collective beliefs in the form of
symbols. Includes the meanings ascribed to rituals, gestures, and objects.
Language - answer✔✔The use of symbols to represent ideas
Society - answer✔✔Two or more individuals living together in a definable area and/or sharing
elements of a culture. A society can encompass multiple cultures.
Social institutions - answer✔✔Stable hierarchical systems that bring order to interpersonal
interactions, structuring society. Examples are government/economy, education, religion, family,
and health/medicine. Provide predictability and organization for individuals within a society, and
mediate social behavior between people.
Government/economy as a social institution - answer✔✔Provides order to a society through the
services it provides and the making and enforcement of law
Education as a social institution - answer✔✔Provides a formal structure during childhood and
the transition to adulthood, and an opportunity to instruct youth on social norms, expectations for
behavior, knowledge, and skills needed to operate within society. Its manifest function is to
systematically pass down knowledge and give status to those who have been educated. Its latent
function is socialization, serving as agents of change, and maintaining social control. Serves to
reinforce and perpetuate social inequalities. Experience educational segregation because of
differential funding of schools based on residential segregation.
Religion as a social institution - answer✔✔Acts as an organized structure of behaviors and social
interactions that addresses the spiritual needs of society. From a functionalist standpoint, can
create social cohesion/dissent, social change/control, and provide believers with meaning and
purpose.
Religion - answer✔✔A system of beliefs that affects how people make sense of their experiences
and provides a framework for questions about life, death, and the purpose of existence
Family as a social institution - answer✔✔Creates a social group in which to procreate, rear
children, pass on cultural knowledge, and cooperate to better meet life's challenge
The nuclear family - answer✔✔The concept of family in which one man and one woman live
together with their children; most common concept of family in the US. Consists of DIRECT
blood relations.
Polygamy - answer✔✔An individual married to more than one individual
Polyandry - answer✔✔More than one man married to one woman
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Health/medicine as a social institution - answer✔✔Fulfills the need for healthcare in an
organized manner, with beliefs about diseases and approaches to healing varying between
societies and cultures
Demographics - answer✔✔Statistics used to examine the nature of a specific population by
quantifying subsets of that population. They are a statistical snapshot in time, and do not capture
the ever-changing nature of society.
Quantified demographic parameters include: - answer✔✔Age, gender, nationality, race,
ethnicity, sexual orientation, SES, immigration status, education level
Demographic transition - answer✔✔A demographic change that takes place over time
Fertility - answer✔✔The production of offspring within a population
Cohort study - answer✔✔Following a subset of a population over a lifetime
Period study - answer✔✔Examining the number of offspring produced during a specific time
period
Mortality - answer✔✔The death rate within a population.
Migration - answer✔✔The relocation of people from one place to another; influences population
size
Immigration - answer✔✔The influx of new people to a specific area; increases population size
Emigration - answer✔✔The outflow of people to other areas; reduces population size
Social movement - answer✔✔Group of people who share an ideology and work together toward
a specific set of goals
Urbanization - answer✔✔Increase in the proportion of people living in specified urban areas,
due to industrialization
Globalization - answer✔✔Increasing amount of interaction and integration on the international
scale through exchange of products, services, ideas and information
Social inequality - answer✔✔The unequal distribution of opportunities or treatment of
individuals within a society based on various demographic categories
Spatial inequality - answer✔✔Unequal access to resources and variable quantity of life within a
population or geographical distribution. Can be affected by income, unemployment, and unequal
access to resources. Influences health by affecting access to healthcare
