bereavement

n. the condition of having lost a loved one to death. The bereaved person may experience emotional pain and distress (see grief; traumatic grief) and may or may not express this distress to others (see mourning; disenfranchised grief); individual grief and mourning responses vary. Bereavement may also signify a change in social status (e.g., from wife to widow). —bereaved adj.

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Psychology term of the day

January 13th 2025

discontinuity hypothesis

in Gestalt psychology, the viewpoint that emphasizes the role of sudden insight and perceptual reorganization in successful discrimination learning and problem solving. According to this view, a correct answer is only recognized when its relation to the issue as a whole is discovered. Also called discontinuity theory. Compare continuity hypothesis. See also aha experience; all-or-none learning; eureka task.