anticathexis

n. in psychoanalytic theory, a process in which the ego withdraws psychic energy from certain unconscious wishes and ideas and uses it to strengthen other wishes and ideas capable of blocking the decathected material’s entrance into consciousness. The anticathected material may be similar to the original or opposite but related to it: For example, philanthropy may neutralize an unconscious wish to hoard. Also called countercathexis. See also cathexis. —anticathected adj.

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Psychology term of the day

December 23rd 2024

thermography

n. a diagnostic technique in which thermally sensitive liquid crystals or infrared photography are used to detect temperature changes over the surface of the body. Thermography functions on the basis that diseased tissues, such as tumors, produce more heat than surrounding tissues and the heat can be measured in terms of infrared radiation.