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centering

n. a technique whose aim is to increase and focus attention and energy, to provide relief from stress and anxiety, or both. Various practices (e.g., meditation, yoga) emphasize centering as a way of focusing attention on the process of breathing in order to slow it down or regularize it. Sometimes this state of concentration is an end in itself. In other instances, at the point of concentration, negative thoughts and emotions are released and positive thoughts and emotions are encouraged. In sport psychology, the technique is used by athletes to assist them in achieving an ideal performance state.

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Psychology term of the day

January 14th 2025

Kruskal–Shepard scaling

Kruskal–Shepard scaling

a type of multidimensional scaling applied to judgments of similarity or dissimilarity for pairs of items (e.g., cities). The dissimilarities are represented by distances between items in a highly dimensional space: Larger distances indicate greater dissimilarity. [William Henry Kruskal (1919–2005), U.S. statistician; Roger N. Shepard (1929–  ), U.S. experimental and cognitive psychologist]