1. substitution or development of strength or capability in one area to offset real or imagined deficiency in another. This may be referred to as overcompensation when the substitute behavior exceeds what might actually be necessary in terms of level of compensation for the deficiency. Compensation may be a conscious or unconscious process. In his classical psychoanalytic theory, Sigmund Freud described compensation as a defense mechanism that protects the individual against the conscious realization of such deficiencies. The idea of compensation is central to Alfred Adler’s theory of personality, which sees all human striving as a response to feelings of inferiority (see also inferiority complex). However, many psychologists emphasize the positive aspects of compensation in mitigating the effects of a weakness or deficiency (see compensatory mechanism). For example, it can be regarded as an important component of successful aging because it reduces the negative effects of cognitive and physical decline associated with the aging process. See selective optimization with compensation.

2. in neuroscience, the recruitment of brain areas to substitute for the loss, due to injury or disease, of neural activity in other areas. See also brain reserve.

3. in Piagetian theory, a mental process—a form of reversibility—in which one realizes that for any operation there exists another operation that compensates for the effects of the first; that is, a change in one dimension can compensate for changes in another. Also called reciprocity. —compensate vb. —compensatory adj.