cluster analysis

a method of multivariate data analysis in which individuals or units are placed into distinct subgroups based on their strong similarity with regard to specific attributes. For example, one might use cluster analysis to form groups of individual children on the basis of their levels of anxiety, aggression, delinquency, and cognitive difficulties so as to identify useful typologies that could increase understanding of co-occurring mental disorders and lead to more appropriate treatments for specific individuals. There are several different forms of cluster analysis—including hierarchical clustering and latent class analysis—and each is appropriate for use with different types of data. Results of a cluster analysis often are presented in a dendrogram. Also called clustering.

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Psychology term of the day

March 17th 2025

enactment

1. the acting out of an important life event rather than expressing it in words. See psychodrama.

2. in some forms of psychoanalytic psychotherapy, the patient’s reliving of past relationships in the transference relationship with the therapist and, conversely, the therapist’s move away from active neutrality to unwittingly intertwine personal issues into symbolic interactions with the patient (a countertransference phenomenon). Attunement to the relational patterns that emerge in this therapeutic relationship offers the therapist an opportunity to help the patient acknowledge and work through similar patterns in the patient’s relationships with others. See also relational psychoanalysis; self psychology.

3. in some forms of couples therapy, a technique in which the therapist recreates areas of conflict between partners in order to facilitate bonding moments.

4. see structural family therapy.