mirror phase

the stage in development occurring around 6 to 18 months of age when the infant becomes able to imagine himself or herself as an autonomous ego in the image of the parent and also starts to recognize his or her reflection in a mirror. That is, the child begins to acquire a self-image. French psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan (1901–1981), who introduced the phrase, saw this as marking the start of the infant’s transition from the realm of the Imaginary to that of the Symbolic. See also name-of-the-father.

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Psychology term of the day

February 28th 2025

common metric

a unit or scale of measurement that is applied to data from different sources. In a meta-analysis, for instance, the results from multiple studies may need to be placed on a common metric so that they may be meaningfully compared.