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dysfunctional family

a family in which relationships or communication are impaired and members are unable to attain closeness and self-expression. Members of a dysfunctional family often develop symptomatic behaviors, and often one individual in the family presents as the identified patient.

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Psychology term of the day

January 29th 2025

emic

emic

adj.

1. denoting an approach to the study of human cultures that interprets behaviors and practices in terms of the system of meanings created by and operative within a particular cultural context. Such an approach would generally be of the kind associated with ethnography rather than ethnology. Compare etic. [introduced by U.S. linguist Kenneth Pike (1912–2000); first used in anthropology by U.S. cultural anthropologist Marvin Harris (1927–2001)]

2. in linguistics, see emic–etic distinction.