biological determinism

the concept that psychological and behavioral characteristics are entirely the result of constitutional and biological factors. Environmental conditions serve only as occasions for the manifestation of such characteristics. Compare environmental determinism. See determinism; genetic determinism; nature–nurture.

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Psychology term of the day

May 9th 2024

psychonomic

adj. denoting an approach to psychology that emphasizes quantitative measurement, experimental control, and operational definitions, especially in the area of experimental, laboratory psychology. The word was coined to provide a name for the Psychonomic Society, which was created in 1959 by a number of experimental psychologists who were opposed to what they regarded as a swing in the American Psychological Association toward an emphasis on the mental health concerns of psychology. See experimental psychology.