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MCAT content in sociology and psychology in foundational concepts biological, psychological and sociocultural factors and define in self determination.
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Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................... 1
Textbooks Included in This Road Map ............................................................................... 2
Foundational Concept 6: Biological, psychological, and sociocultural factors
influence the ways that individuals perceive, think about, and react to the world. .... 3
Content Category 6A: Sensing the environment ................................................................ 4 Content Category 6B: Making sense of the environment ................................................... 6 Content Category 6C: Responding to the world ................................................................ 9
Foundational Concept 7: Biological, psychological, and sociocultural factors
influence behavior and behavior change. ...................................................................... 11
Content Category 7A: Individual influences on behavior .................................................. 12 Content Category 7B: Social processes that influence human behavior ............................ 16
Content Category 7C: Attitude and behavior change ...................................................... 18
Foundational Concept 8: Psychological, sociocultural, and biological factors
influence the way we think about ourselves and others, as well as how
we interact with others. ................................................................................................... 20
Content Category 8A: Self Identity ................................................................................. 21 Content Category 8B: Social thinking ............................................................................. 22 Content Category 8C: Social interactions ........................................................................ 23
Foundational Concept 9: Cultural and social differences influence well-being ........... 25
Content Category 9A: Understanding social structure...................................................... 26 Content Category 9B: Demographic characteristics and processes ................................... 28
Foundational Concept 10: Social stratification and access to resources influence
well-being.......................................................................................................................... 30
Content Category 10A: Social inequality.......................................................................... 31
Textbooks Included in This Road Map
Foundational Concept 6: Biological, psychological, and sociocultural factors
influence the ways that individuals perceive, think about, and react to the world.
The ways we sense, perceive, think about, and react to stimuli affect our experiences. Foundational concept 6 focuses on these components of
experience, starting with the initial detection and perception of stimuli through cognition and continuing to emotion and stress.
Content Categories:
- Category 6A focuses on the detection and perception of sensory information. - Category 6B focuses on cognition, including our ability to attend to the environment, think about and remember what we experience, and
use language to communicate with others.
- Category 6C focuses on how we process and experience emotion and stress.
With these building blocks, medical students will be able to learn about the ways cognitive and perceptual processes influence their
understanding of health and illness.
Topic Our Social World
Introduction to Sociology
Sociology: Exploring the Architecture of Everyday Life Exploring Psychology
Other Senses (PSY, BIO)
Ch. 6, pp. 220-
Perception (PSY)
Ch. 6, pp. 189-
Content Category 6B: Making sense of the environment
The way we think about the world depends on our awareness, thoughts, knowledge, and memories. It is also influenced by our ability to solve
problems, make decisions, form judgments, and communicate. Psychological, sociocultural, and biological influences determine the development
and use of these different yet convergent processes.
Biological factors underlie the mental processes that create our reality, shape our perception of the world, and influence the way we perceive and
react to every aspect of our lives.
The content in this category covers critical aspects of cognition — including consciousness, cognitive development, problem-solving and decision-
making, intelligence, memory, and language.
Topic Our Social World
Introduction to Sociology
Sociology: Exploring the Architecture of Everyday Life Exploring Psychology
Attention (PSY)
Ch. 3, pp. 81-
Cognition (PSY)
Ch. 1, pp. 16- Ch. 2, pp. 70- Ch. 4, pp. 119- Ch. 5, pp. 168- Ch. 8, pp. 268- Ch. 9, pp. 315-332, 336- Ch. 10, pp. 378- Ch. 13, pp. 489-
Topic Our Social World
Introduction to Sociology
Sociology: Exploring the Architecture of Everyday Life Exploring Psychology
Language (PSY)
Ch. 3, Building Reality: The Social Construction of Knowledge, pp. 50- (“Culture and language”)
Ch. 5, Building Identity: Socialization, pp. 113-118 (“The acquisition of self”)
Ch. 9, pp. 311-
Content Category 6C: Responding to the world
We experience a barrage of environmental stimuli throughout the course of our lives. In many cases, environmental stimuli trigger physiological
responses, such as an elevated heart rate, increased perspiration, or heightened feelings of anxiety. How we perceive and interpret these
physiological responses is complex and influenced by psychological, sociocultural, and biological factors.
Emotional responses, such as feelings of happiness, sadness, anger, or stress, are often born out of our interpretation of this interplay of
physiological responses. Our experience with emotions and stress not only affects our behavior, but also shapes our interactions with others.
The content in this category covers the basic components and theories of emotion and their underlying psychological, sociocultural, and
biological factors. It also addresses stress, stress outcomes, and stress management.
Topic Our Social World
Introduction to Sociology
Sociology: Exploring the Architecture of Everyday Life Exploring Psychology
Emotion (PSY)
Ch. 4, Building Order: Culture and History, pp. 95-96 (“Can Culture tell you what to feel?”
Ch. 2, pp. 55- Ch. 4, p. 142 Ch. 8, pp. 277- Ch. 10, pp. 367-
Foundational Concept 7: Biological, psychological, and sociocultural factors
influence behavior and behavior change.
Human behavior is complex and often surprising, differing across individuals in the same situation and within an individual across different
situations. A full understanding of human behavior requires knowledge of the interplay between psychological, sociocultural, and biological
factors related to behavior. This interplay has important implications for the way we behave and the likelihood of behavior change.
Foundational Concept 7 focuses on individual and social determinants of behavior and behavior change.
Content Categories:
- Category 7A focuses on the individual psychological and biological factors that affect behavior. - Category 7B focuses on how social factors, such as groups and social norms, affect behavior. - Category 7C focuses on how learning affects behavior, as well as the role of attitude theories in behavior and behavior change.
With these building blocks, medical students will be able to learn how behavior can either support health or increase risk for disease.
Content Category 7A: Individual influences on behavior
A complex interplay of psychological and biological factors shapes behavior. Biological structures and processes serve as the pathways by
which bodies carry out activities. They also affect predispositions to behave in certain ways, shape personalities, and influence the likelihood of
developing psychological disorders. Psychological factors also affect behavior and, consequently, health and well-being.
The content in this category covers biological bases of behavior, including the effect of genetics and how the nervous and endocrine systems
affect behavior. It also addresses how personality, psychological disorders, motivation, and attitudes affect behavior. Some of these topics are
learned in the context of nonhuman animal species.
Topic Our Social World
Introduction to Sociology
Sociology: Exploring the Architecture of Everyday Life Exploring Psychology
Personality (PSY)
Ch. 13, pp. 461-
Psychological Disorders (PSY)
Ch. 8, Constructing Difference: Social Deviance, pp. 236-241 (“The medicalization of deviance”)
Ch. 2, pp. 44, 64 Ch. 8, p. 279 Ch. 14, pp. 493-
Topic Our Social World
Introduction to Sociology
Sociology: Exploring the Architecture of Everyday Life Exploring Psychology
Motivation (PSY)
Ch. 3, pp. 101- Ch. 5, pp. 165- Ch. 10, pp. 348-
Attitudes (PSY)
Ch. 12, pp. 415-
Topic Our Social World
Introduction to Sociology
Sociology: Exploring the Architecture of Everyday Life Exploring Psychology
Socialization (PSY, SOC)
Ch. 4: Socialization Ch. 9: Gender Stratification
Socialization Ch. 5, Building Identity: Socialization Ch. 4, pp. 132-140, 145- Ch. 5, pp. 168-171, 177- Ch. 10, pp. 352- Ch. 12, pp. 443-445, 455
Content Category 7C: Attitude and behavior change
Learning is a relatively permanent change in behavior brought about by experience. There are a number of different types of learning, which
include habituation as well as associative, observational, and social learning.
Although people can learn new behaviors and change their attitudes, psychological, environmental, and biological factors influence whether
those changes will be short-term or long-term. Understanding how people learn new behaviors and change their attitudes and which conditions
affect learning helps us understand behavior and our interactions with others.
The content in this category covers learning and theories of attitude and behavior change. This includes the elaboration likelihood model and
social cognitive theory.
Topic Our Social World
Introduction to Sociology
Sociology: Exploring the Architecture of Everyday Life Exploring Psychology
Habituation and Dishabituation (PSY) Ch. 5, pp. 540-
Associative Learning (PSY)
Ch. 7, pp. 236- Ch. 11, pp. 396- Ch. 15, pp. 540-