isolate

1. n. an individual who remains apart from others, either as a result of choosing to minimize his or her contact with others or through rejection and ostracism by other individuals or groups. For example, a person who is part of a work group but has no, very few, or very superficial social and personal relations with other group members would be an isolate.

2. n. in sociometry, any individual who is infrequently or never mentioned when group members report whom they like in their group. In measures of peer acceptance among children, an isolate typically is called a neglected child. See sociometric status.

3. vb. see isolation.

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Psychology term of the day

May 9th 2024

hierarchically nested design

any research design that involves several levels of sampling, such that the entities on the lower levels of the design are nested or subsumed within higher order groups. For example, a hierarchically nested design for an educational study might involve students (A), who are nested within classrooms (B), which are nested within schools (C), which are further nested within school districts (D). Several statistical procedures (e.g., analysis of variance, regression analysis, hierarchical linear models) also incorporate a hierarchical aspect. Also called hierarchical design; nested design.