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nisus

n. in the system of Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, the inherent tendency in all monads to strive toward the perfect realization of their innate and appropriate ends. See also entelechy. [Latin, literally: “effort”]

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Psychology term of the day

February 2nd 2025

learning

learning

n. the acquisition of novel information, behaviors, or abilities after practice, observation, or other experiences, as evidenced by change in behavior, knowledge, or brain function. Learning involves consciously or nonconsciously attending to relevant aspects of incoming information, mentally organizing the information into a coherent cognitive representation, and integrating it with relevant existing knowledge activated from long-term memory.