conflict

n. the occurrence of mutually antagonistic or opposing forces, including events, behaviors, desires, attitudes, and emotions. This general term has more specific meanings within different areas of psychology. For example, in psychoanalytic theory, it refers to the opposition between incompatible instinctual impulses or between incompatible aspects of the mental structure (i.e., the id, ego, and superego) that may be a source of neurosis if it results in the use of defense mechanisms other than sublimation. In interpersonal relations, conflict denotes the disagreement, discord, and friction that occur when the actions or beliefs of one or more individuals are unacceptable to and resisted by others.

Browse dictionary by letter

a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z

Psychology term of the day

May 10th 2024

ether

n. a drug introduced into medicine as a general anesthetic in the mid-1800s. The effects of ether include a progressive series of physical and psychological reactions, beginning with a feeling of suffocation, bodily warmth, visual and auditory aberrations, and a feeling of stiffness and inability to move the limbs. A second stage may be marked by some resistance to the sense of suffocation of the anesthetic, but the muscles relax, blood pressure and pulse increase, and pupils dilate. In the third stage, pulse and blood pressure return to normal, pupils contract, and reflexes are absent. If additional ether is administered beyond the third stage, there is danger of paralysis of the medullary centers, followed by shock and death. In clinical practice, ether has been replaced by safer anesthetics.