free-floating attention

in psychoanalysis and in other forms of psychodynamic psychotherapy, the analyst’s or therapist’s state of evenly suspended attention during the therapeutic session. This attention does not focus on any one thing the client says, but it allows the analyst or therapist to listen to all the material being presented and tune into the client’s affects and unconscious ideas. Also called evenly hovering attention.

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Psychology term of the day

February 17th 2025

calmodulin

n. a protein that binds calcium ions in many calcium-regulated processes in living cells. For example, calmodulin is involved in muscle contraction and in the cascade of neurochemical events that underlies memory formation.