Chapter 15: High-Yield Cheat Sheet

This is the MCAT psych/soc cheat sheet you wish you had the week before test day. Every theory, every disorder, every bias, and every sociologist, compressed into one page. Piaget’s stages, Erikson’s stages, Kohlberg’s stages, the defense mechanisms, the DSM categories, the cognitive biases, the theories of emotion, the sociological perspectives, all on one reference sheet. Psych/soc is the most memorization-heavy section of the MCAT. If you can recall 80% of what is on this page, you will recognize almost every name, term, and classification a passage throws at you.

---

1. Biological Bases of Behavior

Neuron parts: dendrites receive, soma integrates, axon hillock triggers, axon conducts, terminal releases neurotransmitter. Myelin (oligodendrocytes in CNS, Schwann cells in PNS) speeds conduction via saltatory conduction at nodes of Ranvier. Resting potential ≈ -70 mV, threshold ≈ -55 mV, peak ≈ +35 mV.

Glial cells: astrocytes (blood-brain barrier, support), microglia (phagocytes of the CNS), ependymal cells (line ventricles, make CSF), oligodendrocytes/Schwann cells (myelin).

Lobes of the cerebral cortex:

Lobe	Function	Key Areas
Frontal	Executive function, planning, motor control	Prefrontal cortex, Broca’s area (speech production), primary motor cortex
Parietal	Somatosensation, spatial processing	Primary somatosensory cortex
Temporal	Hearing, language comprehension, memory	Primary auditory cortex, Wernicke’s area, hippocampus nearby
Occipital	Vision	Primary visual cortex

Broca’s aphasia = expressive (can understand, cannot produce fluent speech). Wernicke’s aphasia = receptive (fluent but nonsensical speech, impaired comprehension). Conduction aphasia = damage to arcuate fasciculus linking the two.

Subcortical structures:

• Thalamus = sensory relay (everything except smell).
• Hypothalamus = homeostasis, the “4 Fs” (feeding, fighting, fleeing, mating). Controls pituitary.
• Hippocampus = forms new long-term declarative memories. Damage causes anterograde amnesia (H.M.).
• Amygdala = fear, aggression, emotional memory.
• Basal ganglia = movement initiation, procedural learning. Degeneration causes Parkinson’s (dopamine loss in substantia nigra) and Huntington’s.
• Cerebellum = motor coordination, balance, motor learning.
• Brainstem (medulla, pons, midbrain) = vitals, arousal, reflexes.
• Reticular formation = arousal and sleep/wake.
• Corpus callosum = the bridge between hemispheres. Split-brain patients (Sperry, Gazzaniga) cannot name objects shown only to the right hemisphere because language is left-lateralized.

Peripheral nervous system:

• Somatic = voluntary movement, afferent sensory + efferent motor.
• Autonomic = involuntary. Splits into sympathetic (“fight or flight”, norepinephrine, dilated pupils, increased HR, bronchodilation) and parasympathetic (“rest and digest”, acetylcholine, constricted pupils, slowed HR, increased digestion).

Neurotransmitters and associated disorders (memorize cold):

Neurotransmitter	Role	Too High	Too Low
Dopamine	Reward, movement	Schizophrenia (positive symptoms)	Parkinson’s, anhedonia
Serotonin (5-HT)	Mood, sleep, appetite	Serotonin syndrome	Depression, OCD, anxiety
Norepinephrine	Arousal, alertness	Anxiety, mania	Depression, fatigue
Acetylcholine	NMJ, memory, parasympathetic	-	Alzheimer’s
GABA	Main inhibitory (CNS)	Sedation	Anxiety, seizures
Glutamate	Main excitatory; LTP	Excitotoxicity, seizures	-
Endorphins	Natural opioids	-	Pain sensitivity

Endocrine links to behavior:

• Cortisol from adrenal cortex: rises with chronic stress; impairs hippocampal memory, suppresses immunity.
• Epinephrine from adrenal medulla: fight-or-flight physiology.
• Oxytocin from posterior pituitary: bonding, uterine contraction, milk letdown, trust.
• Melatonin from pineal: circadian rhythm, sleep onset.
• Testosterone / estrogen / progesterone: sex drive, aggression, mood cycling.

Lesion and imaging methods: ablation destroys tissue (animal or stroke lesion evidence), CT shows structure, MRI shows finer structure, fMRI shows oxygen use during tasks, EEG shows electrical waveforms, PET uses radiolabeled tracer for metabolism.

Phineas Gage case: rod through the frontal lobe, personality change, core evidence that frontal cortex shapes personality and impulse control.

---

2. Sensation and Perception

Sensation = detecting physical stimuli. Perception = organizing and interpreting them. Transduction = converting a physical stimulus into a neural signal.

Thresholds:

• Absolute threshold = minimum stimulus detectable 50% of the time.
• Difference threshold (JND) = smallest detectable change.
• Weber’s law: JND is a constant proportion of the original stimulus:

$\frac{\Delta I}{I} = k$

• Signal detection theory: perception depends on signal, noise, and the observer’s response criterion. Yields hits, misses, false alarms, correct rejections. Useful when distinguishing low-intensity signals from background.

Sensory adaptation = decreased response to a constant stimulus (you stop noticing the smell in a room).

Visual receptors:

• Rods: rhodopsin, periphery of retina, low light, no color, high sensitivity.
• Cones: three types (S, M, L), fovea, color, high acuity.
• Ganglion cells → optic nerve → optic chiasm → LGN of thalamus → primary visual cortex (V1).

Feature detectors (Hubel and Wiesel): cortical cells fire to specific edge orientations. Parallel processing: brain handles color, form, motion, depth in separate streams.

Gestalt principles (we perceive wholes, not parts):

Principle	Definition
Proximity	Close items grouped
Similarity	Like items grouped
Continuity	Smooth lines preferred
Closure	Gaps filled in
Common fate	Items moving together grouped
Good form (prägnanz)	Simplest interpretation wins
Figure-ground	Object vs background

Bottom-up vs top-down: bottom-up starts from sensory input, top-down uses expectations, context, prior knowledge.

Depth cues:

• Monocular (one eye): relative size, interposition, linear perspective, texture gradient, motion parallax, light/shadow.
• Binocular (two eyes): retinal disparity, convergence.

Auditory path: outer ear → eardrum → ossicles (malleus, incus, stapes) → oval window → cochlea → basilar membrane → hair cells of organ of Corti → auditory nerve → primary auditory cortex.

Pitch encoding: place theory (high frequencies at base of basilar membrane) + frequency/temporal theory (low frequencies match firing rate, volley principle for medium).

Other senses: taste (five basics: sweet, sour, salty, bitter, umami); smell (olfactory bulb, direct to limbic, no thalamus relay); proprioception (body position); kinesthesia (movement); vestibular (semicircular canals for rotation, utricle/saccule for gravity).

---

3. States of Consciousness

Sleep stages and EEG waves (memorize cold):

Stage	EEG Wave	Notes
Awake, alert	Beta (high frequency, low amplitude)	Active thinking
Awake, relaxed	Alpha	Eyes closed, calm
Stage N1	Theta	Light sleep, hypnagogic jerks
Stage N2	Theta + sleep spindles, K-complexes	Most of total sleep
Stage N3 (SWS)	Delta (slow, high amplitude)	Deep sleep, night terrors, sleepwalking
REM	Beta-like (paradoxical sleep)	Vivid dreams, muscle atonia, rapid eye movements

Full cycle ≈ 90 min. REM lengthens across the night. Infants have much more REM. Circadian rhythm is driven by the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) of the hypothalamus, entrained by light through retinohypothalamic tract, output through pineal melatonin secretion.

Dream theories:

• Freud’s wish fulfillment (manifest vs latent content).
• Activation-synthesis (Hobson): cortex weaves a story around random brainstem activation.
• Information processing / consolidation: dreams reprocess the day’s memories.
• Cognitive / problem-solving: dreams extend waking thought.

Sleep disorders: insomnia, narcolepsy (sudden REM intrusion, cataplexy, hypocretin loss), sleep apnea, night terrors (N3), somnambulism (N3), REM sleep behavior disorder (atonia fails).

Psychoactive drug classes:

Class	Mechanism	Examples	Effects
Stimulants	Increase dopamine, NE	Caffeine, cocaine, amphetamines, MDMA, nicotine	Increased arousal, HR, BP
Depressants	Potentiate GABA or inhibit CNS	Alcohol, barbiturates, benzodiazepines	Sedation, impaired coordination
Opiates	μ-opioid receptor agonists	Morphine, heroin, codeine, oxycodone	Analgesia, euphoria, respiratory depression
Hallucinogens	Serotonin (5-HT2A) agonists	LSD, psilocybin, mescaline, marijuana (cannabinoid CB1)	Perceptual distortion, altered thought

Key addiction vocabulary:

• Tolerance: need more for same effect.
• Physiological dependence: body adapted, withdrawal on cessation.
• Psychological dependence: craving and compulsive use.
• Addiction: compulsive use despite harm.
• Withdrawal: opposite of the drug’s effect (stimulant crash, alcohol tremors/seizures, opiate flu-like misery).

Reward pathway: ventral tegmental area → nucleus accumbens via mesolimbic dopamine. All addictive drugs increase dopamine here.

---

4. Memory, Attention, and Cognition

Atkinson-Shiffrin model (three-stage):

Sensory memory (iconic ≈ 0.5 s for vision, echoic ≈ 3-4 s for hearing) → short-term memory (7 ± 2 items, ≈ 20-30 s without rehearsal) → long-term memory (effectively unlimited, lifetime).

Working memory (Baddeley): central executive + phonological loop (verbal) + visuospatial sketchpad (images) + episodic buffer (integrates).

Encoding types (most effective first): semantic (meaning) > visual imagery > acoustic (sound) > rote. Elaborative rehearsal beats maintenance rehearsal. Method of loci, chunking, mnemonics all boost encoding.

Retrieval cues: context-dependent (same physical environment), state-dependent (same mood/drug state), encoding specificity principle.

Serial position effect: primacy (first items, long-term memory) + recency (last items, short-term memory). Middle items forgotten.

Long-term memory types:

Type	Subtype	Definition
Explicit (declarative)	Semantic	Facts, general knowledge
	Episodic	Personal events
Implicit (nondeclarative)	Procedural	Skills (riding a bike)
	Priming	Prior exposure biases later response
	Classical conditioning	Learned associations

Forgetting curve (Ebbinghaus): forgetting is fast at first then levels off. Spaced repetition counters it. Decay (unused traces fade), interference (proactive = old blocks new, retroactive = new blocks old).

Amnesia:

• Anterograde: cannot form new memories (H.M., hippocampus).
• Retrograde: cannot recall old memories.
• Source amnesia: remember content, not source.

Memory distortion: Loftus misinformation effect (eyewitness testimony altered by wording), false memories, reconstructive memory.

Neural basis: long-term potentiation (LTP) at glutamate synapses (NMDA receptors) in the hippocampus is the cellular mechanism of learning.

Problem-solving strategies:

• Algorithm: step-by-step, guaranteed solution.
• Heuristic: mental shortcut, fast, sometimes wrong.
• Insight: sudden solution (“aha”).
• Trial and error.

Barriers: mental set (stuck in old strategy), functional fixedness (only one use for an object), confirmation bias.

Cognitive biases and heuristics (high-yield table):

Bias / Heuristic	Meaning
Availability	Judge by what comes to mind easily
Representativeness	Judge by resemblance to prototype
Anchoring	Over-rely on the first number seen
Framing effect	Choice shifts with wording (gains vs losses)
Confirmation bias	Seek evidence for existing belief
Overconfidence	Overestimate your accuracy
Belief perseverance	Hold belief despite contrary evidence
Hindsight bias	”I knew it all along”
Sunk cost fallacy	Continue because of prior investment
Gambler’s fallacy	Past independent events affect future odds

Dual-process theory (Kahneman): System 1 (fast, intuitive, heuristic) + System 2 (slow, deliberate, analytical).

Piaget stages of cognitive development:

Stage	Age	Key Feature
Sensorimotor	0-2	Object permanence develops
Preoperational	2-7	Symbolic thinking, egocentrism, no conservation
Concrete operational	7-11	Conservation, logical about concrete objects
Formal operational	12+	Abstract and hypothetical reasoning

Vygotsky: zone of proximal development (ZPD), what a child can do with help, scaffolding by a more knowledgeable other. Language shapes thought.

---

5. Learning

Non-associative learning:

• Habituation: decreased response to a repeated harmless stimulus.
• Sensitization: increased response after a strong/aversive stimulus.
• Dishabituation: recovery of response after a new stimulus.

Classical conditioning (Pavlov): associate two stimuli.

Term	Definition
UCS	Unconditioned stimulus (food)
UCR	Unconditioned response (salivation to food)
CS	Conditioned stimulus (bell)
CR	Conditioned response (salivation to bell)

• Acquisition: UCS paired with CS.
• Extinction: CS without UCS → CR fades.
• Spontaneous recovery: after a rest, CR reappears.
• Generalization: similar stimuli elicit CR.
• Discrimination: only the exact CS works.
• Little Albert (Watson): fear of white rat generalized to fluffy things.

Operant conditioning (Skinner): associate behavior with consequence.

	Positive (add)	Negative (remove)
Reinforcement (↑ behavior)	Give treat	Turn off alarm
Punishment (↓ behavior)	Spank	Take phone

Primary reinforcer (food, water, innate). Secondary reinforcer (money, praise, learned).

Schedules of reinforcement:

Schedule	Pattern	Response Rate
Fixed ratio	Reward every N responses	High, brief pause after reward
Variable ratio	Reward after unpredictable #	Highest, resistant to extinction (gambling)
Fixed interval	Reward for first response after N min	Scalloped (spike near reward time)
Variable interval	Reward after unpredictable time	Steady, moderate

Variable ratio is the hardest to extinguish. Continuous reinforcement learns fastest but extinguishes fastest.

Shaping = reinforce successive approximations. Chaining = build a sequence.

Observational learning (Bandura): Bobo doll experiment. Children imitate modeled aggression. Requires attention, retention, reproduction, motivation. Explains social transmission of behavior.

Biological constraints: preparedness (easy to condition fear of snakes/spiders, hard for flowers), instinctive drift (animals revert to species-typical behaviors), taste aversion (Garcia effect, one-trial learning).

---

6. Language and Intelligence

Language development milestones:

Age	Milestone
0-4 mo	Cooing
4-10 mo	Babbling (all phonemes, including those not in native language)
9-12 mo	First words
18-24 mo	Two-word telegraphic speech, vocabulary spurt
2-3 yr	Basic grammar, overregularization (“goed”)
5 yr	Near-adult fluency

Theories of language acquisition:

Theorist	Theory	Core Claim
Skinner	Behaviorist / nurture	Language learned through operant reinforcement
Chomsky	Nativist	Innate language acquisition device (LAD), universal grammar
Lenneberg	Critical period	Language must be learned by puberty
Social interactionist	Both	Biological readiness + caregiver interaction
Whorf (linguistic relativity)	Language shapes thought	Weak version: language influences cognition

Intelligence theories:

• Spearman: g factor (general intelligence) + s factors (specific abilities).
• Thurstone: seven primary mental abilities.
• Gardner: multiple intelligences (linguistic, logical-mathematical, spatial, musical, bodily-kinesthetic, interpersonal, intrapersonal, naturalist).
• Sternberg: triarchic theory (analytical, creative, practical).
• Fluid intelligence (novel problem-solving, declines with age) vs crystallized (stored knowledge, rises with age).

IQ basics: mean 100, SD 15. IQ = (mental age / chronological age) × 100 (Stern’s formula). Modern IQ uses deviation IQ. Flynn effect: IQ scores have risen across generations. Heritability ≈ 0.5 but influenced by environment, nutrition, schooling.

---

7. Emotion, Stress, and Motivation

Theories of emotion (side-by-side):

Theory	Sequence	Key Claim
James-Lange	Stimulus → physiology → emotion	”I’m afraid because I’m trembling”
Cannon-Bard	Stimulus → physiology AND emotion (simultaneous)	Thalamus sends to cortex + body together
Schachter-Singer (two-factor)	Stimulus → arousal + cognitive label → emotion	Arousal is nonspecific; context labels it
Lazarus (cognitive appraisal)	Stimulus → appraisal → emotion + physiology	Thinking precedes feeling
Zajonc	Some emotions precede cognition	Preferences need no inferences

Components of emotion: physiological (arousal), behavioral (expression), cognitive (interpretation).

Limbic system (emotion core): amygdala (fear), hippocampus (memory), hypothalamus (autonomic output), cingulate cortex (emotion regulation).

Facial expression universality (Ekman): six basic emotions universal across cultures, happiness, sadness, fear, anger, disgust, surprise (and contempt added later). Display rules vary by culture.

Motivation theories:

Theory	Key Idea
Instinct	Innate, species-specific behaviors
Drive reduction (Hull)	Behavior reduces physiological need (homeostasis)
Arousal theory	Seek optimal level of stimulation
Yerkes-Dodson	Performance peaks at moderate arousal (inverted U); easier tasks tolerate higher arousal
Incentive theory	Pulled by external rewards
Expectancy-value	Motivation = expectation of success × value
Self-determination (Deci, Ryan)	Autonomy, competence, relatedness
Intrinsic vs extrinsic	Internal satisfaction vs external reward; extrinsic can undermine intrinsic (overjustification)

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs (bottom to top): physiological → safety → love/belonging → esteem → self-actualization. Higher needs only activate after lower ones are met.

Stress:

• Selye’s General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS): alarm (fight-or-flight) → resistance (sustained cortisol) → exhaustion (resources depleted, illness risk).
• Lazarus appraisal: primary (is this a threat?) → secondary (can I cope?).
• Cataclysmic events, personal stressors, daily hassles.
• Chronic stress impairs immune function, hippocampal memory, cardiovascular health.

Coping: problem-focused (change the situation) vs emotion-focused (manage the feeling). Social support, exercise, mindfulness reduce stress.

---

8. Personality and the Self

Psychoanalytic (Freud):

• Id (unconscious, pleasure principle, immediate gratification).
• Ego (conscious, reality principle, mediator).
• Superego (morality, internalized parental standards).

Psychosexual stages (each with fixation risk): oral (0-1), anal (1-3), phallic (3-6, Oedipus/Electra), latency (6-puberty), genital (puberty+).

Defense mechanisms (high-yield table):

Mechanism	Meaning
Repression	Push threatening thought out of consciousness
Suppression	Deliberately avoid thinking about it
Denial	Refuse to accept reality
Projection	Attribute your feelings to someone else
Reaction formation	Act opposite of true feeling
Rationalization	Invent a logical excuse
Displacement	Shift emotion to a safer target
Regression	Revert to earlier developmental behavior
Sublimation	Channel urges into socially acceptable activity (mature)
Intellectualization	Focus on facts to avoid emotion
Identification	Take on traits of another

Neo-Freudians: Jung (collective unconscious, archetypes), Adler (inferiority complex, striving for superiority), Horney (basic anxiety, womb envy counter to penis envy).

Humanistic:

• Rogers: unconditional positive regard, self-concept (real vs ideal self), congruence.
• Maslow: self-actualization, peak experiences.

Trait theories:

• Allport: cardinal, central, secondary traits.
• Eysenck: extraversion, neuroticism, psychoticism (PEN).
• Big Five (OCEAN): Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, Neuroticism. Most empirically supported.

Social cognitive (Bandura): reciprocal determinism (person, behavior, environment), self-efficacy.

Locus of control (Rotter): internal (I control outcomes) vs external (fate, luck, others).

Behaviorist: Skinner, personality = learned patterns of behavior.

Biological: temperament is heritable; twin studies show ~40-50% heritability for personality traits.

Self-concept and identity:

• Self-concept: cognitive sense of self.
• Self-esteem: evaluative.
• Self-efficacy: belief in ability for a specific task.
• Self-schema: organized knowledge about self.
• Looking-glass self (Cooley): self built from others’ reactions.
• I vs Me (Mead): I = spontaneous, Me = internalized social expectations. Develops through preparatory → play → game stages → generalized other.

Erikson’s psychosocial stages (memorize all 8):

Age	Stage (Conflict)	Virtue
0-1	Trust vs mistrust	Hope
1-3	Autonomy vs shame/doubt	Will
3-6	Initiative vs guilt	Purpose
6-12	Industry vs inferiority	Competence
12-20	Identity vs role confusion	Fidelity
20-40	Intimacy vs isolation	Love
40-65	Generativity vs stagnation	Care
65+	Ego integrity vs despair	Wisdom

Identity formation (Marcia): diffusion (no exploration, no commitment), foreclosure (commitment without exploration), moratorium (exploring, not yet committed), achievement (explored and committed).

---

9. Psychological Disorders

Biopsychosocial model: biological factors (genes, neurotransmitters, brain structure) + psychological (thoughts, emotions) + social (environment, culture) jointly shape disorders.

DSM-5 categories (high-yield table):

Category	Key Disorders	Defining Feature
Anxiety	GAD, panic disorder, phobias, social anxiety	Excessive fear/worry
OCD and related	OCD, body dysmorphic, hoarding	Obsessions + compulsions
Trauma- and stressor-related	PTSD, acute stress, adjustment	Exposure to trauma
Depressive	Major depressive disorder, persistent depressive (dysthymia)	Low mood, anhedonia, SIG E CAPS
Bipolar and related	Bipolar I, II, cyclothymia	Mania (I) or hypomania (II) ± depression
Schizophrenia spectrum	Schizophrenia, schizoaffective, brief psychotic	Positive (hallucinations, delusions, disorganized) + negative (flat affect, avolition, alogia)
Dissociative	DID, dissociative amnesia, depersonalization	Disruption of identity/memory
Somatic symptom	Somatic symptom disorder, illness anxiety, conversion (functional neurological)	Physical symptoms with distress
Personality	Clusters A/B/C (10 disorders)	Enduring, pervasive maladaptive patterns
Neurodevelopmental	ADHD, autism spectrum, intellectual disability	Onset in developmental period
Feeding and eating	Anorexia, bulimia, binge-eating	Disordered eating behavior

Personality disorder clusters:

Cluster	Theme	Disorders
A (odd/eccentric)	“Weird”	Paranoid, schizoid, schizotypal
B (dramatic/erratic)	“Wild”	Antisocial, borderline, histrionic, narcissistic
C (anxious/fearful)	“Worried”	Avoidant, dependent, obsessive-compulsive PD

Schizophrenia highlights:

• Positive symptoms (added): hallucinations (auditory most common), delusions, disorganized speech/behavior.
• Negative symptoms (reduced): flat affect, avolition, alogia, anhedonia.
• Dopamine hypothesis (positive symptoms = mesolimbic hyperactivity).

Depression: SIG E CAPS mnemonic (Sleep, Interest, Guilt, Energy, Concentration, Appetite, Psychomotor, Suicide). ≥ 5 symptoms for ≥ 2 weeks, including low mood or anhedonia.

Alzheimer’s: progressive, cortical, amyloid plaques + tau tangles, ACh loss. Parkinson’s: subcortical, Lewy bodies, dopamine loss in substantia nigra, tremor + bradykinesia + rigidity.

---

10. Developmental Psychology

Piaget (see cognition table above).

Erikson (see personality table above).

Kohlberg’s moral development:

Level	Stage	Reasoning
Preconventional	1. Obedience / punishment	Avoid punishment
	2. Self-interest	”What’s in it for me?”
Conventional	3. Interpersonal (good boy/girl)	Approval
	4. Law and order	Authority, rules
Postconventional	5. Social contract	Rules are mutable, rights
	6. Universal ethical principle	Abstract moral principle

Vygotsky: sociocultural theory. Zone of proximal development, scaffolding, private speech.

Attachment (Ainsworth Strange Situation):

Type	Behavior
Secure	Distress at separation, comforted on return
Anxious / ambivalent	High distress, not comforted
Avoidant	Little distress, ignores caregiver
Disorganized	Inconsistent, often trauma-related

Harlow’s monkeys: contact comfort (cloth) over food (wire).

Bowlby: attachment is evolutionary; critical period.

Baumrind’s parenting styles:

Style	Demanding?	Responsive?
Authoritative	Yes	Yes (best outcomes)
Authoritarian	Yes	No
Permissive	No	Yes
Neglectful	No	No

Temperament: easy, difficult, slow-to-warm-up (Thomas and Chess).

---

11. Social Psychology

Attribution theory (Heider, Kelley): explaining behavior.

• Dispositional (internal): personality, traits.
• Situational (external): circumstance, environment.
• Fundamental attribution error: overweight dispositional causes for others.
• Actor-observer bias: for others → dispositional; for self → situational.
• Self-serving bias: take credit for success (internal), blame failure on situation (external).
• Just-world hypothesis: people get what they deserve.

Cognitive dissonance (Festinger): tension from inconsistent thoughts/behaviors drives attitude change to resolve the mismatch (e.g., $1 vs $20 boring-task experiment).

Attitude change (elaboration likelihood model):

• Central route: careful consideration of arguments, high motivation/ability, lasting change.
• Peripheral route: cues like attractiveness, emotion; weaker, shorter change.

Conformity:

• Asch line studies: ~33% conformed to obviously wrong group answer.
• Normative influence (fit in) vs informational influence (be right).

Obedience: Milgram shock experiments: ~65% obeyed an authority figure to deliver “lethal” shocks. Variables: proximity, legitimacy, diffusion.

Zimbardo Stanford prison experiment: situational power of roles.

Bystander effect (Darley, Latané): presence of others reduces helping. Steps: notice → interpret as emergency → take responsibility → decide to help → act. Diffusion of responsibility blocks step 3. Kitty Genovese case.

Group dynamics:

• Social facilitation: simple/well-learned tasks improve with audience; complex tasks worsen.
• Social loafing: reduced individual effort in a group.
• Deindividuation: loss of self-awareness in groups (crowds, anonymity).
• Group polarization: groups shift toward more extreme positions.
• Groupthink (Janis): desire for harmony overrides realistic appraisal (Bay of Pigs, Challenger).

Prejudice, stereotyping, discrimination:

• Stereotype: cognitive (belief).
• Prejudice: affective (attitude, usually negative).
• Discrimination: behavioral (action).
• In-group favoritism, out-group homogeneity.
• Stereotype threat (Steele): fear of confirming stereotype harms performance.
• Self-fulfilling prophecy (Rosenthal): expectations shape outcomes.
• Contact hypothesis: cooperation under equal status reduces prejudice.

Aggression: instrumental (means to a goal) vs hostile (emotional response). Frustration-aggression hypothesis: frustration breeds aggression.

Altruism (helping with no expected benefit). Kin selection (help relatives, inclusive fitness). Reciprocal altruism. Empathy-altruism hypothesis (Batson): empathy drives helping.

---

12. Social Interaction and Group Dynamics

Groups:

Type	Definition	Example
Primary	Close, enduring, emotional	Family, close friends
Secondary	Task-based, impersonal	Coworkers, classmates
In-group	”Us”	Your team
Out-group	”Them”	Rival team
Reference group	Used for comparison	Professionals you aspire to be
Dyad	2 people	Marriage
Triad	3 people	Roommates

Increasing group size reduces intimacy and individual responsibility.

Social networks: strong ties (close) vs weak ties (Granovetter: weak ties spread information farthest).

Statuses and roles:

• Ascribed status: assigned at birth (race, family).
• Achieved status: earned (profession, degree).
• Master status: dominant status shaping identity.
• Role: behavior expected of a status.
• Role conflict: between roles.
• Role strain: within a role.
• Role exit: leaving a role.

Norms, folkways, mores, taboos, laws: informal (folkways), strong moral (mores), forbidden (taboos), codified (laws). Sanctions enforce norms.

Self-presentation (Goffman’s dramaturgical approach): social life is theater. Front stage (performed self), backstage (private). Impression management. Face-work repairs failed performances.

Socialization: primary (childhood) vs secondary (adulthood). Agents: family, peers, school, media, workplace. Resocialization in total institutions (prison, military boot camp, Goffman).

Aggression and prosocial behavior (see Social Psych above).

Animal signals: honest vs deceptive. Foraging is energy cost/benefit.

---

13. Sociological Theories and Institutions

Theoretical perspectives (must-know side-by-side):

Theory	Scope	Key Claim
Functionalism (Durkheim, Parsons, Merton)	Macro	Society is an interdependent system; each part has a function. Manifest (intended) vs latent (unintended) functions. Dysfunction = disruptive.
Conflict theory (Marx)	Macro	Society is competition over scarce resources; power inequality drives change. Bourgeoisie vs proletariat.
Symbolic interactionism (Mead, Blumer, Cooley, Goffman)	Micro	Meaning is created through social interaction and symbols
Social constructionism	Varies	Reality (race, gender, money) is built through shared meanings
Feminist theory	Both	Gender inequality is central, structural, and pervasive
Rational choice / exchange	Micro	Actors weigh costs and benefits

Classical sociologists (name → contribution):

Name	Core Contribution
Émile Durkheim	Functionalism, anomie, social integration, Suicide
Karl Marx	Conflict theory, class struggle, alienation
Max Weber	Rationalization, bureaucracy, iron cage, Protestant Ethic, verstehen
Auguste Comte	Founded sociology, positivism
Herbert Spencer	Social Darwinism
W.E.B. Du Bois	Double consciousness, race and sociology
George Herbert Mead	Symbolic interactionism, I/Me, generalized other
Erving Goffman	Dramaturgy, stigma, total institutions

Social institutions:

Institution	Core Functions	Key Terms
Family	Reproduction, socialization, support	Nuclear, extended, monogamy, polygamy; kinship
Education	Socialization, credentialing, sorting	Hidden curriculum, teacher expectancy effect, tracking
Religion	Meaning, belonging, social control	Sacred vs profane (Durkheim); church/sect/denomination/cult; secularization
Government	Legitimate authority, public order	Traditional / charismatic / rational-legal authority (Weber)
Economy	Production, distribution	Capitalism, socialism; primary/secondary/tertiary sectors
Health care	Manage illness	Sick role (Parsons), medicalization

Durkheim’s types of suicide: egoistic (low integration), altruistic (high integration), anomic (low regulation), fatalistic (high regulation).

---

14. Demographics, Culture, and Inequality

Demographic variables: age, race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, immigration status, socioeconomic status.

Race vs ethnicity: race = socially constructed categories tied to physical traits; ethnicity = shared cultural heritage, language, religion.

Gender (socially constructed) vs sex (biological).

Demographic transition theory (four stages):

1. High birth, high death (preindustrial).
2. High birth, falling death (early industrial, population boom).
3. Falling birth, low death (modern, slowing growth).
4. Low birth, low death (stable/declining).

Urbanization: push factors (rural poverty) and pull factors (urban jobs). Suburbanization, gentrification, urban decay.

Globalization: economic integration, cultural homogenization, offshoring.

Culture:

• Material culture (objects) vs nonmaterial (beliefs, norms, language).
• Cultural transmission, diffusion, lag (material changes faster than nonmaterial).
• Ethnocentrism (judge others by your culture) vs cultural relativism (understand on own terms).
• Subculture (within), counterculture (against).
• Assimilation, amalgamation, multiculturalism.

Cultural capital (Bourdieu): non-financial assets (knowledge, tastes) that promote mobility. Social capital: networks.

Stratification:

• Caste (closed), class (open), estate.
• Socioeconomic status: income, education, occupation.
• Social mobility: intragenerational (within a life) vs intergenerational; horizontal (same level) vs vertical.
• Meritocracy, structural mobility.

Poverty: absolute (basic needs) vs relative (below societal norm). Feminization of poverty. Culture of poverty (Lewis, controversial). Social reproduction of inequality.

Globalization of inequality: first/second/third world classifications outdated; now core/periphery/semi-periphery (world systems theory, Wallerstein).

Health disparities and social determinants of health: education, income, neighborhood, social support, access to care. Life expectancy gaps correlate with SES and race.

Kübler-Ross stages of grief: Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, Acceptance (DABDA). Not strictly linear.

Fertility, mortality, migration drive population change. Crude birth rate, crude death rate, total fertility rate, infant mortality rate.

---

15. Research Methods and Statistics (Surface Reference)

For the full deep-dive, see Research Methods and Statistics. Must-memorize rows below.

Study designs:

Type	Description	Strength
Case study	One person/event	Hypothesis-generating
Cross-sectional	Snapshot of a population	Fast, no causation
Case-control	Look backward from outcome	Good for rare disease, recall bias
Cohort	Follow a group over time	Shows incidence, expensive
RCT	Randomized, controlled, blinded	Gold standard for causation
Meta-analysis	Pool many studies	Highest level of evidence

Validity vs reliability: validity = measures what it claims (internal, external, construct, content, criterion, ecological). Reliability = repeatable (test-retest, inter-rater, split-half). A measure can be reliable without being valid, but cannot be valid without being reliable.

Bias types: selection, sampling (convenience, voluntary response, undercoverage), recall, observer, response (acquiescence, social desirability), publication, confirmation, attrition.

Sampling: simple random, stratified, cluster, systematic, convenience.

Statistics:

• Mean (sensitive to outliers), median (robust), mode.
• Variance, standard deviation, SEM = σ/√n.
• Normal distribution: 68-95-99.7 within 1-2-3 SD.
• Correlation r from -1 to +1; does not imply causation.
• p-value: probability of the data if the null is true. p < 0.05 = “significant” by convention.
• Type I error (α): reject true null (false positive).
• Type II error (β): fail to reject false null (false negative).
• Power = 1 − β.

---

16. Master Reference Sheet

All theorists by name → claim to fame:

Name	Associated With
Piaget	Cognitive development (4 stages)
Erikson	Psychosocial development (8 stages)
Kohlberg	Moral development (3 levels, 6 stages)
Vygotsky	ZPD, scaffolding, sociocultural
Freud	Psychoanalysis, id/ego/superego, defense mechanisms
Jung	Collective unconscious, archetypes
Adler	Inferiority complex
Horney	Neo-Freudian feminist critique
Rogers	Humanistic, unconditional positive regard
Maslow	Hierarchy of needs, self-actualization
Skinner	Operant conditioning
Pavlov	Classical conditioning
Watson	Behaviorism (Little Albert)
Bandura	Observational learning, Bobo doll, self-efficacy
Thorndike	Law of effect, puzzle box
Ainsworth	Strange Situation, attachment types
Bowlby	Attachment theory
Harlow	Contact comfort (monkeys)
Baumrind	Parenting styles
Ekman	Universal facial expressions
Selye	General Adaptation Syndrome
Lazarus	Cognitive appraisal of stress and emotion
Schachter, Singer	Two-factor theory of emotion
James, Lange	Body-first theory of emotion
Cannon, Bard	Simultaneous theory of emotion
Festinger	Cognitive dissonance
Milgram	Obedience to authority
Asch	Conformity
Zimbardo	Stanford prison, deindividuation
Darley, Latané	Bystander effect
Janis	Groupthink
Sherif	Robbers Cave, realistic conflict
Allport	Trait theory, contact hypothesis
Eysenck	PEN model
Chomsky	Universal grammar, LAD
Whorf	Linguistic relativity
Spearman	g factor
Gardner	Multiple intelligences
Sternberg	Triarchic theory of intelligence
Hubel, Wiesel	Feature detectors
Loftus	Eyewitness misinformation
Ebbinghaus	Forgetting curve
Kahneman, Tversky	Heuristics, prospect theory
Rotter	Locus of control
Cooley	Looking-glass self
Mead	Symbolic interactionism, I/Me, generalized other
Goffman	Dramaturgy, stigma, total institutions
Durkheim	Functionalism, anomie, suicide
Marx	Conflict theory, class struggle
Weber	Rationalization, bureaucracy, authority types
Du Bois	Double consciousness
Bourdieu	Cultural capital
Wallerstein	World systems theory
Kübler-Ross	Stages of grief

All defense mechanisms (see Section 8 table).

All cognitive biases and heuristics (see Section 4 table).

All neurotransmitters (see Section 1 table).

All disorders by category (see Section 9 table).

All sociological theories (see Section 13 table).

---

17. Top 25 Facts to Memorize

1. OCEAN = Big Five: Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, Neuroticism.
2. Piaget’s 4 stages: sensorimotor → preoperational → concrete operational → formal operational.
3. Erikson’s 8 stages: trust, autonomy, initiative, industry, identity, intimacy, generativity, integrity.
4. Kohlberg’s 3 levels: preconventional → conventional → postconventional.
5. Sleep cycle EEG waves: alpha (relaxed) → theta (N1, N2) → delta (N3) → beta-like (REM).
6. Dopamine high = schizophrenia positive; dopamine low = Parkinson’s. Serotonin low = depression.
7. Classical conditioning terms: UCS, UCR, CS, CR. Acquisition, extinction, spontaneous recovery, generalization, discrimination.
8. Variable ratio schedule produces highest, most extinction-resistant responding (gambling).
9. Short-term memory ≈ 7 ± 2 items, ≈ 20-30 seconds.
10. Hippocampus forms new declarative memories; damage causes anterograde amnesia.
11. Amygdala drives fear and emotional memory.
12. Theories of emotion: James-Lange (body first), Cannon-Bard (simultaneous), Schachter-Singer (arousal + label), Lazarus (cognition first).
13. Maslow’s hierarchy bottom to top: physiological, safety, love, esteem, self-actualization.
14. Selye’s GAS: alarm, resistance, exhaustion.
15. Yerkes-Dodson: performance peaks at moderate arousal (inverted U).
16. Defense mechanisms high-yield: repression, projection, displacement, sublimation, reaction formation, rationalization, regression.
17. DSM personality clusters: A = odd, B = dramatic, C = anxious.
18. Schizophrenia: positive (hallucinations, delusions) vs negative (flat affect, avolition, alogia).
19. Attachment types (Ainsworth): secure, anxious-ambivalent, avoidant, disorganized.
20. Parenting styles (Baumrind): authoritative (best), authoritarian, permissive, neglectful.
21. Fundamental attribution error: overemphasize disposition for others’ behavior.
22. Cognitive dissonance drives attitude change to match behavior.
23. Milgram: 65% obedience to authority; Asch: ~33% conformity on line task; bystander effect = diffusion of responsibility.
24. Big three sociology perspectives: functionalism (macro, parts serve whole), conflict (macro, power competition), symbolic interactionism (micro, meaning).
25. Durkheim, Marx, Weber: anomie/functionalism, class conflict, rationalization/bureaucracy.

---

18. Test-Day Mnemonics

---

Next Steps

If a row on this page feels unfamiliar, open the corresponding chapter and read through it. If two ideas keep getting mixed up, jump to the Confusable Concepts Reference. If a passage question hinges on study design or statistics, see the Research Methods and Statistics chapter. This cheat sheet gets you to 80% recall on test day. Bookmark it and review it the night before every practice exam and on the morning of the real test.