actual self

in various psychodynamic writings, the real self or true self as it exists at a particular point in time, as opposed to an idealized, grandiose, or otherwise distorted self. The term is also used by client-centered therapists to describe the self untainted by societal constraints and parental expectations.

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Psychology term of the day

February 28th 2025

common metric

a unit or scale of measurement that is applied to data from different sources. In a meta-analysis, for instance, the results from multiple studies may need to be placed on a common metric so that they may be meaningfully compared.