Chapter 1 The Science of Psychology

Chapter 1: The Science of Psychology Chapter 1 includes information to support Foundational Concept 7. Biological, psychological, and sociocultural factors influence behavior and behavior change, specifically: Content Category 7A. Individual Influences on Behavior  personality (PSY) o theories of personality  psychoanalytic perspective  humanistic perspective  social cognitive perspective  biological perspective  behavioral perspective Skills (from the MCAT2015): 1. Knowledge of scientific concepts and principles 2. Scientific reasoning and problem solving a. Bringing together theory, observations, and evidence to draw conclusions 3. Reasoning about the design and execution of research 4. Data-based and statistical reasoning a. Interpreting patterns in data presented in tables, figures, and graphs b. Reasoning about data and drawing conclusions from them This chapter contains five questions. PROBLEM: Questions 1–5: Statins are a class of drugs that when used as prescribed in certain patient populations, greatly lower LDL cholesterol levels and decrease the risk for cardiovascular disease. Yet patient compliance to maintain statin treatment is extremely low, with more than half of those prescribed discontinuing treatment within the first year (Maningat et al., 2013). While the most common reason for noncompliance by patients is adverse side effects of the drug, a large number of patients refuse or stop treatment for other reasons, including a failure to understand the benefit of the drug, a lack of overt physical symptoms, negative attitudes toward drug-taking, age, gender, and concerns over the effectiveness of the treatment (Maningat et al., 2013). Questions: 1) Failing to take a drug because of a lack of overt physical symptoms could best be 1 explained by which of the following approaches to psychology? A. cognitive, because the patient fails to understand the benefit of the drug B. behavioral, because the patient is receiving no reinforcement for taking the drug—no symptoms are being alleviated nor improved because no overt symptoms exist C. humanistic, because the person is exercising free will to remain drug-free D. none of the above Answer: B. behavioral, because the patient is receiving no reinforcement for taking the drug—no symptoms are being alleviated nor improved because no overt symptoms exist Foundational Concept: 7 Content Category: 7A Skills: 1. Knowledge of scientific concepts and principles; 2. Scientific reasoning and problem solving; 2a. Bringing together theory, observations, and evidence to draw conclusions 2) Failing to take the drug because of negative attitudes toward drug-taking could best be explained by which of the following approaches to psychology? A. cognitive, because the patient thinks taking drugs is bad B. behavioral, because the patient is receiving negative reinforcement C. humanistic, because the person is exercising free will to ignore the symptoms D. none of the above Answer: A. cognitive, because the patient thinks taking drugs is bad Foundational Concept: 7 Content Category: 7A Skills: 1. Knowledge of scientific concepts and principles; 2. Scientific reasoning and problem solving; 2a. Bringing together theory, observations, and evidence to draw conclusions 3) A psychologist believes she can increase patient compliance by allowing her patients to track their progress through an online program that can be accessed from a computer or smartphone. When patients take their medicine, they can log in to record it. The program is set up like a chart that gives patients virtual “stickers” to make it easier to see the days and times they’ve taken their medicine. Furthermore, stickers can be accumulated like virtual coins and exchanged for small rewards like applications or music downloads. What type of psychologist might advocate using a program like this? A. biological B. humanistic C. behavioral D. psychoanalytic Answer: C. behavioral 2 Foundational Concept: 7 Content Category: 7A Skills: 1. Knowledge of scientific concepts and principles; 2. Scientific reasoning and problem solving; 2a. Bringing together theory, observations, and evidence to draw conclusions 4) Which controversial approach to psychology might suggest that patient noncompliance was due to unconscious psychological factors? A. behaviorism B. cognitive C. psychoanalytic D. Gestalt Answer: C. psychoanalytic Foundational Concept: 7 Content Category: 7A Skill: 1. Knowledge of scientific concepts and principles 5) If this study were modified to assess the effects of a specific type of intervention on patient compliance, what would have to change? A. An independent variable would have to be added. B. Patients would have to be divided into an experimental group that received the intervention and a control group that did not receive the intervention. C. An intervention would have to be included. D. All of the above should be done. Answer: D. All of the above should be done. Foundational Concept: 7 Content Category: 7A Skill: 3b. Reasoning about data and drawing conclusions from them 3