magical thinking

the belief that events or the behavior of others can be influenced by one’s thoughts, wishes, or rituals. Magical thinking is typical of children up to 4 or 5 years of age, after which reality thinking begins to predominate. See also thought–action fusion.

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Psychology term of the day

December 19th 2024

definite article

in linguistics, an article (e.g., the in English) used with a noun phrase to indicate reference to a specific entity that has been or is about to be defined, as in The patient died last night or The patient who died last night. Compare indefinite article.