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helping

n. a type of prosocial behavior in which one or more individuals act to improve the status or well-being of one or more others. Although helping behavior is typically in response to a small request that involves little individual risk, all helping behavior incurs some cost to the individual providing it. See also altruism; egoistic helping.

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Psychology term of the day

December 20th 2024

allocortex

allocortex

n. those regions of the cerebral cortex that are phylogenetically older and have fewer than six main layers of cells. The allocortex is involved primarily in olfactory functions and limbic functions related to memory and emotion, and it comprises the three-layered archicortex (or archipallium), found mostly in the hippocampus, and the four- or five-layered paleocortex (or paleopallium), found mostly in the pyriform area and parahippocampal gyrus. Compare neocortex.