MCAT Practice Exams Questions
and Answers 100% Correct
Erikson's eight stages of psychosocial development - ANSWER -
Piaget's stages of cognitive development - ANSWER -
Reliability and Validity - ANSWER - consistency; accuracy
symbolic interactionism - ANSWER - Symbolic interactionism focuses on the
symbolic meaning that people develop and rely upon in the process of social
interactions. Smoking is an excellent example, because the social symbolism of
smoking is a point of contention across social groups. In previous years—and to
some extent in certain social circles now—smoking was seen as trendy, whereas in
others it may be seen negatively as a symbol of poor self-regard and ignorance
Conflict Theory - ANSWER - Conflict theory instead emphasizes the role of coercion
and power in producing social order. It sees society as fragmented into groups that
compete for social and economic resources. Social order is maintained by those with
the most power, usually those with the greatest political, economic, and social
capital.
Functionalism - ANSWER - Finally, functionalism views society as a system of
interconnected parts that carry out a specific role that enables them to cooperate to
maintain social equilibrium for society as a whole. An important point is that these
perspectives do not contradict each other; instead, the MCAT tends to ask which
theoretical approach is exemplified by a given statement.
Conflict Theory - ANSWER - D is correct. Conflict theory asserts that bias and
inequality are underlying aspects of education.
,cultural relativism - ANSWER - Cultural relativism is the principle that a person's
beliefs and health behaviors should be understood in the context of their own
culture. The researcher tried to increase cultural relativism with his curriculum.
A. Folkways
B. Mores
C. Taboos
D. Laws - ANSWER - B is correct. Mores are norms that are deemed highly
necessary to the welfare of a society and have consequences if violated. Health
behaviors (like seeking help for an acute medical illness) are standards of behavior
that are necessary for the well-being of everyone; if a person does not seek help,
they may be shunned by family members or friends.
A: Folkways are norms that govern everyday behavior (like holding a door open).
C: Taboos are considered unacceptable by almost every culture (like cannibalism or
incest).
D: Laws are established standards of behavior that are written down and have very
clear consequences.
. Social desirability bias
B. Test-retest bias
C. Researcher bias
, D. Attrition bias - ANSWER - A is correct. In this study especially, participants may
have felt pressured to respond in a way that minimizes ethnocentrism and promotes
cultural relativism, because that may be the more socially acceptable response. This
could cause a social desirability bias. This type of bias is most likely to affect
research on cultural relativism and ethnocentrism.
B: Test-retest bias can happen when participants take the same exam over and over
again, which affects their responses. Based on the information given in the passage,
this probably did not happen.
C: Researcher bias occurs when a study's design is biased. There is no evidence that
this happened in the study.
D: Attrition bias is when participants drop out of a study over time, which affects the
results.
A. Availability heuristic;
B. Negativity bias;
C. Social desirability bias;
D. Self-serving bias; - ANSWER - B is correct. This is an incorrect pairing of bias and
description. Negativity bias is when the negative aspects of a situation are focused
upon, not the good aspects.
A: This is an accurate description of the availability heuristic, in which people make
judgments overly based on information that is immediately available to them.
, C: This is an accurate description of social desirability bias, in which people answer
questions in a way they think is socially beneficial to them.
D: This is an accurate description of self-serving bias, in which a person interprets
things in a way to bolster self-esteem, including how they carry out attribution.
external validity.
B. face validity.
C. internal validity.
D. content validity. - ANSWER - Internal validity refers to the degree to which causal
conclusions can be drawn from a study, which can include accounting for potential
confounding variables. Adding the additional measurement point of pre-intervention
condom use and controlling for that variable statistically would considerably
improve the degree to which one could make conclusions about how Truvada use
affected participants' behavior.
A: External validity describes the degree to which the findings of a study are
generalizable to the population as a whole. Typically, this involves issues regarding
the size and representativeness of the sample.
B: Face validity describes the extent to which a study appears to assess what it is
intended to assess—that is, more or less, the degree to which it "seems right" to
participants and researchers.
and Answers 100% Correct
Erikson's eight stages of psychosocial development - ANSWER -
Piaget's stages of cognitive development - ANSWER -
Reliability and Validity - ANSWER - consistency; accuracy
symbolic interactionism - ANSWER - Symbolic interactionism focuses on the
symbolic meaning that people develop and rely upon in the process of social
interactions. Smoking is an excellent example, because the social symbolism of
smoking is a point of contention across social groups. In previous years—and to
some extent in certain social circles now—smoking was seen as trendy, whereas in
others it may be seen negatively as a symbol of poor self-regard and ignorance
Conflict Theory - ANSWER - Conflict theory instead emphasizes the role of coercion
and power in producing social order. It sees society as fragmented into groups that
compete for social and economic resources. Social order is maintained by those with
the most power, usually those with the greatest political, economic, and social
capital.
Functionalism - ANSWER - Finally, functionalism views society as a system of
interconnected parts that carry out a specific role that enables them to cooperate to
maintain social equilibrium for society as a whole. An important point is that these
perspectives do not contradict each other; instead, the MCAT tends to ask which
theoretical approach is exemplified by a given statement.
Conflict Theory - ANSWER - D is correct. Conflict theory asserts that bias and
inequality are underlying aspects of education.
,cultural relativism - ANSWER - Cultural relativism is the principle that a person's
beliefs and health behaviors should be understood in the context of their own
culture. The researcher tried to increase cultural relativism with his curriculum.
A. Folkways
B. Mores
C. Taboos
D. Laws - ANSWER - B is correct. Mores are norms that are deemed highly
necessary to the welfare of a society and have consequences if violated. Health
behaviors (like seeking help for an acute medical illness) are standards of behavior
that are necessary for the well-being of everyone; if a person does not seek help,
they may be shunned by family members or friends.
A: Folkways are norms that govern everyday behavior (like holding a door open).
C: Taboos are considered unacceptable by almost every culture (like cannibalism or
incest).
D: Laws are established standards of behavior that are written down and have very
clear consequences.
. Social desirability bias
B. Test-retest bias
C. Researcher bias
, D. Attrition bias - ANSWER - A is correct. In this study especially, participants may
have felt pressured to respond in a way that minimizes ethnocentrism and promotes
cultural relativism, because that may be the more socially acceptable response. This
could cause a social desirability bias. This type of bias is most likely to affect
research on cultural relativism and ethnocentrism.
B: Test-retest bias can happen when participants take the same exam over and over
again, which affects their responses. Based on the information given in the passage,
this probably did not happen.
C: Researcher bias occurs when a study's design is biased. There is no evidence that
this happened in the study.
D: Attrition bias is when participants drop out of a study over time, which affects the
results.
A. Availability heuristic;
B. Negativity bias;
C. Social desirability bias;
D. Self-serving bias; - ANSWER - B is correct. This is an incorrect pairing of bias and
description. Negativity bias is when the negative aspects of a situation are focused
upon, not the good aspects.
A: This is an accurate description of the availability heuristic, in which people make
judgments overly based on information that is immediately available to them.
, C: This is an accurate description of social desirability bias, in which people answer
questions in a way they think is socially beneficial to them.
D: This is an accurate description of self-serving bias, in which a person interprets
things in a way to bolster self-esteem, including how they carry out attribution.
external validity.
B. face validity.
C. internal validity.
D. content validity. - ANSWER - Internal validity refers to the degree to which causal
conclusions can be drawn from a study, which can include accounting for potential
confounding variables. Adding the additional measurement point of pre-intervention
condom use and controlling for that variable statistically would considerably
improve the degree to which one could make conclusions about how Truvada use
affected participants' behavior.
A: External validity describes the degree to which the findings of a study are
generalizable to the population as a whole. Typically, this involves issues regarding
the size and representativeness of the sample.
B: Face validity describes the extent to which a study appears to assess what it is
intended to assess—that is, more or less, the degree to which it "seems right" to
participants and researchers.
