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double consciousness

1. a condition in which two distinct, unrelated mental states coexist within the same person. This may occur, for example, in an individual with a dissociative identity disorder. Also called dual consciousness.

2. a condition described by U.S. educator, scholar, and activist W. E. B. Du Bois (1868–1963) as one in which African Americans experience themselves through their own consciousness as well as through their awareness of how they are perceived by White Americans.

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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–  )]