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Bedlam

n. the popular name for the Hospital of Saint Mary of Bethlehem in Bishopsgate, London, founded as a monastery in 1247 and converted into an asylum for the insane by Henry VIII in 1547. Many of the inmates were in a state of frenzy, and as they were shackled, starved, beaten, and exhibited to the public for a penny a look, general turmoil prevailed. The word itself thus became synonymous with wild confusion or frenzy. Sometimes the term bedlamism was used for psychotic behavior, and the term bedlamite for a psychotic individual.

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Psychology term of the day

May 9th 2024

hierarchically nested design

hierarchically nested design

any research design that involves several levels of sampling, such that the entities on the lower levels of the design are nested or subsumed within higher order groups. For example, a hierarchically nested design for an educational study might involve students (A), who are nested within classrooms (B), which are nested within schools (C), which are further nested within school districts (D). Several statistical procedures (e.g., analysis of variance, regression analysis, hierarchical linear models) also incorporate a hierarchical aspect. Also called hierarchical design; nested design.