ego-defensive function of an attitude

the role an attitude can play in enhancing or maintaining the self-esteem of the person holding that attitude. For example, people may hold very positive attitudes toward their social group as a means of maintaining their positive self-regard. See also functional approach to attitudes.

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Psychology term of the day

February 25th 2025

psychometric model

any theoretical and statistical framework describing how respondents generate their answers to items on a scale or instrument and explaining associated sources of error, which in turn provides a means to determine the reliability of test scores across different testing situations. There are three major approaches: classical test theory, generalizability theory, and item response theory.