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distortion

n.

1. any inaccuracey of perception, cognition, memory, and so forth.

2. either the unconscious process of altering emotions and thoughts that are unacceptable in the individual’s psyche or the conscious misrepresentation of facts, which often serves the same underlying purpose of disguising that which is unacceptable to or in the self.

3. in psychoanalytic theory, the outcome of the dream-work that modifies forbidden thoughts and wishes to make them more acceptable to the ego. Such distortion of the dream wish through the use of substitutes and symbols means that only an act of interpretation can uncover the true meaning of the dream.

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Psychology term of the day

January 5th 2025

common region

common region

a recently introduced gestalt principle of organization, stating that objects sharing a common bounded region of space appear to belong together and tend to be perceived as a distinct group. For example, animals in a fenced-in enclosure are more likely to be seen as a group than are the same distribution of animals arrayed in open space. Also called law of common region; principle of common region. [proposed in 1992 by U.S. psychologist Stephen E. Palmer (1948–  )]