egocentric predicament

a problematic condition arising from the assumption that each person’s experience is essentially private. The problem is commonly expressed in terms of one or more of the following propositions: (a) It is difficult to explain how any person could know anything about another person’s experience; (b) it is likewise difficult to understand how general knowledge of the external world is possible apart from one’s individual experience; and (c) given that experience is essentially private, it is difficult to understand how genuine communication between two people might be possible, since both the content and symbols of any communication will be similarly private. The egocentric predicament is often said to be an unavoidable consequence of the Cartesian self. See also solipsism.

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Psychology term of the day

July 27th 2024

analogies test

a test of the participant’s ability to comprehend the relationship between two items and then extend that relationship to a different situation: For example, paintbrush is to paint as pen is to ___.