MCAT Social and Behavioral Sciences : Group Behavior and Sociological Phenomena
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Example Questions
Example Question #1 : Cultural Phenomena
Jimmy and Nate both volunteer at the dog pound. Jimmy loves animals of all kinds and loves the chance to be around dogs. Nate doesn’t particularly like animals, but he needs service hours for a club he is in at school.
Jimmy recently watched a television program about Korea. The show ran a segment on a restaurant that served dog meat as a main dish. When jimmy saw this part of the program, he was horrified. Which of the following best describes Jimmy’s viewpoint and subsequent reaction?
Stereotype
None of these
Ethnocentric
Discrimination
Ethnocentric
“Ethnocentrism” can be described as the act of judging another culture by one’s own standards. Jimmy’s horror associated with viewing Koreans eating dogs in the program is based on his own experiences and his inability to view the world through the eyes of those individuals in the program. If this situation described a stereotype, then it would have detailed over-generalized notions or ideas about a group, position or other thing. Discrimination is treating someone differently than others because of a characteristic, such as religion or race, and not necessarily merits.
Example Question #2 : Cultural Phenomena
Excerpt from "The Social Problems of American Farmers" by Kenyon L. Butterfield, 1905
Butterfield, Kenyon L. "The Social Problems of American Farmers." American Journal of Sociology 10.5 (1905): 606-22.
Perhaps the one great underlying social difficulty among American farmers is their comparatively isolated mode of life. The farmer's family is isolated from other families. A small city of perhaps twenty thousand population will contain from four hundred to six hundred families per square mile, whereas a typical agricultural community in a prosperous agricultural state will hardly average more than ten families per square mile. The farming class is isolated from other classes. Farmers, of course, mingle considerably in a business and political way with the men of their trading town and county seat; but, broadly speaking, farmers do not associate freely with people living under urban conditions and possessing other than the rural point of view. It would be venturesome to suggest very definite generalizations with respect to the precise influence of these conditions, because, so far as the writer is aware, the psychology of isolation has not been worked out. But two or three conclusions seem to be admissible, and for that matter rather generally accepted.
The well-known conservatism of the farming class is doubtless largely due to class isolation. Habits, ideas, traditions, and ideals have long life in the rural community. Changes come slowly. There is a tendency to tread the well-worn paths. The farmer does not easily keep in touch with rapid modern development, unless the movements or methods directly affect him. Physical agencies which improve social conditions, such as electric lights, telephones, and pavements, come to the city first. The atmosphere of the country speaks peace and quiet. Nature's routine of sunshine and storm, of summer and winter, encourages routine and repetition in the man who works with her…
There is time to brood over wrongs, real and imaginary. Personal prejudices often grow to be rank and coarse-fibered. Neighborhood feuds are not uncommon and are often virulent. Leadership is made difficult and sometimes impossible. It is easy to fall into personal habits that may mark off the farmer from other classes of similar intelligence, and that bar him from his rightful social place.
It would, however, be distinctly unfair to the farm community if we did not emphasize some of the advantages that grow out of the rural mode of life. Farmers have time to think, and the typical American farmer is a man who has thought much and often deeply. A spirit of sturdy independence is generated, and freedom of will and of action is encouraged. Family life is nowhere so educative as in the country. The whole family cooperates for common ends, and in its individual members are bred the qualities of industry, patience, and perseverance. The manual work of the schools is but a makeshift for the old-fashioned training of the country-grown boy. Country life is an admirable preparation for the modern industrial and professional career.
The tendency of a farmer to “not easily keep in touch with rapid modern development” may seem strange to a teenage boy raised in a suburban community where technology is utilized in almost all daily actions. This labelling of the farmer’s actions as “strange” would be due to which of the following?
Discrimination
Cultural relativism
Ethnocentrism
Affluenza
Ethnocentrism
The teenager’s judgement of the farmer’s tendency is based on his own suburban cultural experience. Judging the actions of another in the context of one’s own culture is known as ethnocentrism. Discrimination would drive the boy to make an institutional policy against the farmer, not merely think he was strange. Cultural relativism would meant that the boy would judge the farmer by a farmer’s standards. Affluenza is a legal term describing an inability to understand one’s actions because of a privileged upbringing.
Example Question #1 : Deindividuation
A protest that started peacefully eventually turned violent, leading to the arrest of several demonstrators. During an interview at the police station, a 24-year-old male gave the following statement: "Everyone sort of erupted and I got caught up in the moment. I stopped thinking and never really considered what I was doing. I guess I got carried away with the group."
The young man's statement best describes which phenomenon?
Social Facilitation
Deindividuation
Bystander Effect
Groupthink
Group Polarization
Deindividuation
Deindividuation describes the phenomenon when an individual loses certain aspects of self-awareness within a group environment. Mostly commonly applied to situations of group violence or negative behaviors, deindividuation can arguably cause a group member to lose sense of his or her personal obligations, morals, and sense of responsibility. In this example, the young man describes getting "caught up" and "carried away" with the group while failing to consider his personal role in the events. Such a description would be considered characteristic of deindividuation.
The bystander effect refers to the inverse relationship between the number of people witnessing a negative event and the number of people that will assist in alleviating the negative outcome. As the young man described was a participant in the riot, rather than a bystander, we can eliminate this answer choice.
Social facilitation describes the likelihood for individuals to perform well on simple tasks when being watched by a group. Essentially, when one's talents are being evaluated by others, one tends to perform their existing talents better. This phenomenon is relatively unlinked to the situation described in the question.
Groupthink is a decision-making phenomenon driven by the desire for harmony within a group, and is used to justify irrational decisions and choices. A certain outcome may be reached solely to stabilize group loyalty and cohesion, rather than based on the consequences and effects of the outcome. While the situation described in the question outlines an instance of a group acting cohesively, the young man's response stems from a lack of cognitive awareness rather than a conscious desire to adhere to the group's actions.
Group polarization is another decision-making trend, and describes the tendency for group decisions to be more polarized toward given extremes than the viewpoints of the individual members. While the situation described certainly outlines a shift from moderate to extreme, there is again the issue of cognitive awareness and intention that allow us to eliminate this answer choice.
Example Question #1 : Behavioral Phenomena Within A Group
Which of these groups would we be most likely to experience deindividuation?
Primary group
Secondary group
Counter-culture
Aggregates
Out-group
Aggregates
Deindividuation occurs when people are in a situation with a high degree of arousal and low feelings of responsibilities. In other words, it is a situation where individuals experience a loss of restraint and individual identity that is replaced with mob mentality. It can be described as a lack of self-awareness and results from disconnection of behavior from attitudes. Several factors create ideal conditions for deindividuation: group size, physical anonymity, and arousing activities.
Aggregates are groups of people who frequently exist in the same space but have little interactions. A person would be likely to experience deindividuation in this setting because of concepts like the bystander effect- people assume less responsibility because they believe someone else will take care of whatever issue is at hand, that someone else will do the right thing.
On the other hand, the other choices are incorrect. “Primary groups” are those close to you that you bond and interact heavily with; they serve expressive functions (i.e. where emotional needs are being met). We are closer and feel more generally responsible with these people. “Secondary groups” are usually task-oriented, impersonal, temporary, business-like relationships with instrumental purposes. We would be less likely to experience deindividuation with these groups because we would have a high feeling of responsibility for the tasks the group has been formed to tackle. “Counter-cultures” are distinct subcultures focused on stopping some dominant aspect of mainstream culture (like "anti-vaxxers"). Like an “out-group,” they are not a group with which someone would generally find common values, so they would be unlikely to induce deindividuation.
Example Question #121 : Mcat Social And Behavioral
If a person is assaulted on the street of a large city in the middle of the day with many people around, the likelihood that someone will call for help will actually decrease in relation to the larger crowds. This phenomenon is known as which of the following?
Bystander effect
Groupthink
Deviance
Self-serving bias
Conformity
Bystander effect
According to the bystander effect, there is diffusion of responsibility; thus, most people assume, often mistakenly, that “someone else” will take the necessary actions such as calling the police or ambulance. The likelihood of someone taking appropriate action is inversely correlated with the number of people at the scene.
While intriguing, the other choices are incorrect. A self-serving bias is the tendency to attribute successes to ourselves and failures to external causes. Conformity is where one adjusts one’s thinking or behavior because of that of others. Deviance is described as a violation of society’s standards of conduct or expectations. Groupthink is a psychological phenomenon that occurs within a group of people, in which the desire for harmony or conformity in the group results in an irrational or dysfunctional decision-making outcome.
Example Question #1 : Bystander Effect
Diana takes the subway to and from school every day. Her family’s apartment, situated in a low-income neighborhood of New York City, is a thirty-minute walk from the subway station. During her trips to the subway, Diana loves to watch people work, play, and socialize. She feels very safe in her community because she trusts the people around her.
Diana sees a large man yelling at a woman. He shoves the woman and she tries to run away, but the man grabs her. Even though she is yelling, none of the other pedestrians pay any attention. Which of the following social terms describes the scene that Diana is observing?
Anomie
Domestic exclusivity
Conformity principle
Bystander effect
Bystander effect
Also called bystander apathy, the “bystander effect” describes cases where individuals do nothing to help someone in need when other people are around. Many think that if no one else is reacting, then it must mean that the problem is not worth solving. A landmark case occurred in New York when Kitty Genovese was stabbed to death in a public area. Although 38 people witnessed the murder, no one stepped in to help. This scenario is a classic example of the bystander effect. Although the people could be described as conforming to one another, bystander effect is a more specific description.
Example Question #1 : Group Polarization And Groupthink
The facilitator said, "Any other ideas before we move on and make a decision?" As Laila raised her hand, she could see people sigh and roll their eyes. She was always suggesting something that went against the grain; moreover, the longer it takes to make a decision, the hungrier people will get. Laila puts her hand down, thinking that moving the group forward is more important than getting her idea on the table. Given that it was a significant departure from what everyone else was saying, they might miss both lunch and dinner!
The example above is best described as an illustration of what concept?
Hallow Effect
Groupthink
Bystander Effect
Stockholm Syndrome
Group Polarization
Groupthink
The correct answer is "groupthink," the concept that individuals stifle their ideas in the group to achieve concensus. Group polarization is not the correct answer, because it means that groups might select options that are more extreme than individual members of that group might select, and this is not illustrated in the example above. The other concepts are concepts of psychology, but are not related to group processes.
Example Question #1 : Group Polarization And Groupthink
As they embarked upon deliberations, nine jurors were leaning towards finding a defendant guilty while three jurors thought the defendant was not guilty. It was observed that during deliberations, the nine who believed the defendant was guilty tended to confer, while the three who believed he was innocent also discussed more with each other. This resulted in the jury members each becoming more entrenched in their initial positions than they had been before. This scenario exemplifies which of the following concepts in social psychology?
Informational influence
Social categorization
Group polarization
Cognitive appraisal
Self-serving bias
Group polarization
Group polarization describes the phenomenon when individuals make more extreme decisions when acting together as a group than they would by themselves. In this scenario, as individuals—the jurors—believed in their respective points of view from the beginning; however, after they formed oppositional groups, they became even more entrenched in their points of view.
The other choices are incorrect due to various reasons. Cognitive appraisal is a process where a physiological arousal is assessed in the brain and processed for the appropriate physiological and psychological coping strategies. It has nothing to do with the juror situation. Informational influence is a group effect arising from a group’s desire to be correct and to understand how to act best in a given situation. While this may play a role here—because the jury may be trying to be correct and act in the interest of justice—it has split into two opposing camps and one group will not “act correctly." Social categorization is the process by which people sort themselves into categories. This may be happening in this situation when the jury broke into two camps—those who believe the defendant is guilty and those who believe the defendant is not guilty—but it is not the primary effect. The self-serving bias describes the attribution of positive experiences to our own character and actions but negative experiences to factors external to our own character and actions. While this may affect the jurors’ interpretations of their own opinions and actions, it does not explain why they are more entrenched in their beliefs after discussing the matter with others who believe the same thing they do.
Example Question #1 : Attribution, Discrimination, And Stereotype
Excerpt from “Institutional Competition,” Edward A. Ross, American Journal of Sociology 1919 25:2, 171-184
The first impulse of any organization or institution on the appearance of a serious competitor is to destroy competition. The "trust" regularly cuts the prices of its products to a point below cost of production in localities in which an "independent" seeks to sell. A shipping combine will have "fighting ships" which are called into play when a new steamship line enters their trade. As soon as the competitor announces a sailing date the combine advertises a steamer to sail on or near this date and offers a freight rate below the actual cost of carriage. In this way the competitor is prevented from securing a cargo.
The highest social class hobbles by minute sumptuary regulations the classes, which aspire to come up abreast of it. In feudal Japan, for example, one might not use his money as he pleased. The farmer, craftsman, or shopkeeper could not build a house as he liked or procure himself such articles of luxury as his taste might incline him to buy. The richest commoner might not order certain things to be made for him, might not imitate the habits or assume the privileges of his betters. Although urged on economic grounds, sumptuary restrictions are doubtless intended to protect the monopoly of prestige by the higher social orders.
The spread of anti-slavery feeling among the producing people of the North during the generation before the American Civil War was due to their perception that slavery is a menace to the free-labor system. In accounting for the early abolition of slavery in Massachusetts John Adams remarks: "Argument might have had some weight ... but the real cause was the multiplication of laboring white people who would not longer suffer the rich to employ these sable rivals so much to their injury."
The whole history of religious persecution is the history of an organization trying to establish itself as a monopoly by ruthless destruction of the spokesmen of competing doctrines and movements. In Diocletian's time Roman religious beliefs were weak while the Christian beliefs were vigorous and spreading. In desperation the old system made a ferocious attempt to exterminate all Christians. A thousand years later the church stamped certain sects out of existence and strangled heresies in the cradle. Says Coulton:
…What Darwin took at first for a smooth unbroken grassland proved, on nearer examination, to be thick-set with tiny self-sown firs, which the cattle regularly cropped as they grew. Similarly, that which some love to picture as the harmonious growth of one great body through the Middle Ages is really a history of many divergent opinions violently strangled at birth; while hundreds more, too vigorous to be killed by the adverse surroundings, and elastic enough to take something of the outward color of their environment, grew in spite of the hierarchy into organisms which, in their turn, profoundly modified the whole constitution of the Church. If the mediaeval theory and practice of persecution had still been in full force in the eighteenth century in England, nearly all the best Wesleyans would have chosen to remain within the Church rather than to shed blood in revolt; and the rest would have been killed off like wild beasts. The present unity of Romanism so far as it exists, is due less to tact than to naked force.
Suppose that Joe grew up in a society in which slavery was very common. Lance was raised in a society outlawing slavery. Lance has a poor opinion of Joe because of Joe’s pro-slavery positions. Lance’s judgment best demonstrates which sociological phenomenon?
Ethnocentrism
Advocacy for human rights
Cultural relativism
Jingoism
Ethnocentrism
Lance views Joe’s beliefs through his own (Lance) cultural viewpoints. This is the definition of ethnocentrism. Had he put Joe’s beliefs in context of Joe’s culture, that would have been an example of cultural relativism. Jingoism is more extreme, often demonstrated by extreme or aggressive action. Although it could be argued that Lance is advocating for human rights, ethnocentrism is a more precise answer that accurately describes the whole scenario and is not subject to more information about how the slaves are treated.
Example Question #1 : Prejudice
Which of the following most accurately represents prejudice?
An opinion drawn from personal experience with a subject
Emotion-based bias in favor of one's own cultural identity
Negative emotion centered on a person different from oneself
Development of an opinion without knowledge or consideration of pertinent facts
An innate bias, either for or against a subject, present from birth
Development of an opinion without knowledge or consideration of pertinent facts
Prejudice forms when an opinion is made without consideration of relevant facts.
Prejudices can be positive or negative, despite their common association with negative bias, and generally involve the equation of a group-identity to a single individual. Opinion about the individual is formed based on the perceived association with the group. Personal experience with a subject is inherently absent from the formation of a prejudicial opinion. Examples of prejudice include racism, sexism, agism, and classism.
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