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law of similarity

1. a principle of association stating that like produces like: Encountering or thinking about something (e.g., one’s birthday month) tends to bring to mind other similar things (e.g., other people one knows with the same birthday month). The law of similarity is fundamental to associationism.

2. see similarity.

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Psychology term of the day

November 22nd 2024

constant error

constant error

a systematic error in some particular direction. Constant error is computed as the average positive or negative difference between the observed and actual values along a dimension of interest. For example, if a weight of 1 kg is judged on average to be 1.5 kg, and a weight of 2 kg is judged to be 2.5 kg, the constant error is 500 g. See also absolute error; random error.