malingering

n. the deliberate feigning of an illness or disability to achieve a particular desired outcome. For example, it may take the form of faking mental illness as a defense in a trial, faking physical illness to win compensation, or faking an injury or misinforming people of one’s state of rehabilitation to avoid practicing or playing sport. Malingering is distinguished from factitious disorder in that it involves a specific external factor as the motivating force. —malingerer n.

Browse dictionary by letter

a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z

Psychology term of the day

February 23rd 2025

inbreeding

n. the mating of individuals that are closely related. Inbreeding increases the risk of perpetuating certain genetic defects in the family, as in consanguineous marriages. Inbreeding within small populations, such as geographically isolated populations, leads to increased frequency of particular mutations within such groups. This fact has been used to demonstrate the founder effect for certain cancers and other disorders. Inbreeding studies have contributed to efforts to identify and test for mutations predisposing to disease in some groups of people. Compare outbreeding.