MCAT - Behavioral

Ethnocentrism is the practice of making judgements about other cultures based on the values and beliefs of one's own culture, especially when it comes to languages, customs, and religion.

A self-fulfilling prophecy is when an expectation can create conditions that lead to the confirmation of those expectations. For example, beginning medical students are stereotyped as incompetent. The stress of being seen as incompetent piles on medical students, and so they make mistakes, thus reinforcing the stereotype of medical students being incompetent.

Selfishness is when the donor benefits while the recipient is negatively impacted.

Altruism is a form of helping behavior in which the person's intent is to benefit someone else at a cost to him or herself. This behavior can be moviated by selflessness or ulterior motives such as public recognition.