Find over 25,000 psychological definitions


normal

adj. relating to what is considered standard, average, typical, or healthy. This general meaning is applied in a variety of different contexts, including statistics (referring to scores that are within the usual or expected range), biology (referring to the absence of malformation or other pathology), and development (referring to progression and growth that are comparable to those seen in others of similar ages). However, the term is most often applied to behavior that conforms to a culturally accepted norm, especially as an indication that a person is mentally healthy and does not have a psychological disorder.

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 1st 2025

attentional narrowing

attentional narrowing

the restricting of attention in high-stress situations to a small set of information sources, with the potential omission of critical, task-relevant information. For example, when driving to the hospital for a medical emergency, the driver may focus attention only on the road ahead and not notice events at the side of the road, such as a pedestrian entering a crosswalk.