descriptive statistics

procedures for depicting the main aspects of sample data, without necessarily inferring to a larger population. Descriptive statistics usually include the mean, median, and mode to indicate central tendency, as well as the range and standard deviation that reveal how widely spread the scores are within the sample. Descriptive statistics could also include charts and graphs such as a frequency distribution or histogram, among others. Compare inferential statistics.

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Psychology term of the day

December 19th 2024

regression in the service of the ego

in psychoanalytic theory, the adaptive circumvention of normal ego functioning in order to access primitive material (see primary process), often associated with the creative process. [first described by Swiss-born U.S. psychoanalyst Ernst Kris (1900–1957)]