MCAT 2015: A Sample Psychology Passage
Prospective medical students anticipating taking the new MCAT, set to debut in 2015, can look at the following sample passage, questions and explanation to help prepare for the new "Psychological, Social, and Biological Foundations of Behavior" section. The new section will draw from psychology, sociology and biology, and is part of changes that will make the exam two hours longer.
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Passage and Explanation
Traditionally, organizational approaches to stress management in the workplace have been focused on addressing employee stress at the secondary level of intervention and fostering secondary-level interventions for managing stress.
An example of a secondary-level intervention in managing stress is an employee training program for learning skills for handling customer complaints at a retail store. The goals of the program are for the employees to be able to manage the complaints effectively, which will ideally reduce the stress they experience from this activity.
The burden on stress reduction in this framework is on the employee. It is viewed that given the proper skills, the employee should be able to reduce his stress in reaction to the situation he is experiencing. Research in regards to the effectiveness of secondary-level stress reduction programs has found that they can provide some benefit to the employees. However, these benefits typically subside over time, though this may also be an artifact of the extinction of the learned skills, indicating the need for booster sessions.
-- Note: Key terms to know in the above section of the passage include "stress management" and "secondary-level." Important points are: cause and effect, that a secondary-level approach makes stress reduction the employee's job; and the opinion, that these types of efforts do some good, but the effect fades over time.
Another issue with this view of stress reduction is that it is a reactive approach. As in the example, employees are taught how to effectively manage stress in reaction to stress that is initiated from the customer.
The source of the stress is not addressed and there is no focus on how to proactively reduce it. In addition, secondary-level stress interventions are typically reactive, with employers often waiting until there is a problem before initiating a training to address it.
This is problematic because this necessitates there being an employee issue, the occurrence of which is bad for the employee and the organization.
-- Note: A key takeaway from the above part is the opinion that secondary-level approaches aren't as good because they require that there's already a problem and the source of the stress isn't dealt with.
An alternative level of intervention besides secondary-level interventions is primary-level interventions. The goal in primary-level interventions is to try to proactively address the source of the stress to attempt to eliminate it before it arises.
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A broad primary-level intervention is to consider the organizational culture and how it impacts stress. Factors to be considered in the organizational culture are the policies and practices of management and how these contribute to employee stress levels.
Management style should be considered as well as the organizational level of cooperation. Policies should be implemented and managers should be trained to foster employee cooperation.
-- Note: Key terms to know in the preceding section include "primary-level intervention," "culture" and "management style." The major takeaway is the opinion that companies should focus on increasing cooperation.
Another primary-level facet of stress to consider is the employee perception of control. Employees not feeling in control of their work output has been identified as a salient source of stress.
Employees should be encouraged to feel empowered in their contribution to the organization and should also feel creative control over their work. Policies to encourage employee contributions and eliciting feedback from employees can be done to foster a sense of employee control.
Allowing employees as much creative control over their work as can be allowed can improve their feelings of control over their work product.
-- Note: The cause and effect in the above section is that employee stress can be reduced by increasing employee's sense of control over their work.
A final primary-level strategy for addressing workplace stress is to manage employee stress from work demand. Employees feeling overloaded with work is a significant source of stress. Organizations should first consider the reality of the expectations imposed on employees and consider the impact that staff reduction and increased expectations might have on employee stress and concomitant employee performance.
Immediate gains in increased profits might be mitigated by employee burnout and eventual decreases in productivity. The balance between work expectations and employee ability can be monitored by encouraging employees to communicate about their capacity to handle tasks. Related to the amount of work, employers should also consider the environment at work, such as the noise level, as this has also shown to have an impact on employee stress levels.
-- Note: In the part above, overloading work demands increase stress and can ultimately harm profits when employees start to burn out is a cause and effect.
To evaluate the impact of primary and secondary-level interventions on employee satisfaction -- a broad measure encompassing employee retention, productivity and other measures identified as salient to employee satisfaction, rated from 0 to 100, a study was conducted at an organization. At this organization, employees were randomly assigned to participate in either a primary or secondary-level intervention. Measures of employee satisfaction were reported over time. January was an initial reading of employee satisfaction, before the interventions were implemented. The results are presented in the graphic above.
-- Note: Figure 1 shows us that the secondary level interventions lead to a quick increase in employee satisfaction but then lead to a gradual decrease, whereas the primary-level interventions had little effect at first but created bigger overall gains.
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Questions and Answers
Question 1: What could account for the initial increase in employee satisfaction followed by the gradual decrease in the secondary-level intervention group?
A. Skill knowledge and use is decreasing over time
B. Reduced initial work expectations
C. Increased initial health care, followed by gradual reductions
D. Reductions in noise level, lessening in impact as time passes
Answer: A. This is an example of a secondary-level intervention and how its effect can lessen over time, leading to a tapering of effect.
Question 2: What could be done to increase the effects of a secondary - level intervention in the later months?
A. A refresher class in the skills that were taught
B. Focusing on optimizing employee time
C. Have a training after an employee problem
D. Have a stress needs assessment
Answer: A. This is an example of a booster class, in which skills are refreshed via another training.
Question 3: What term indicates a beneficial type of stress which can motivate employees?
A. Distress
B. Constress
C. Cathartic stress
D. Eustress
Answer: D. Eustress is a term which is used to refer to stress that can be motivational. Distress is stress that is in excess and harmful.
Find more sample questions and answers on Next Step Test Prep's website.
Bryan Schnedeker is the national MCAT director at Next Step Test Preparation, which provides one-on-one MCAT tutoring programs. He has scored a 41 on the exam and taught the test for over a decade.
