oral sadism

in classical psychoanalytic theory, the primitive urge to use the mouth, lips, and teeth as instruments of aggression, mastery, or sadistic sexual gratification. This impulse is believed to originate in the oral-biting phase of infancy.

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Psychology term of the day

January 19th 2025

perceptual constancy

the phenomenon in which an object or its properties (e.g., size, shape, color) appear unchanged despite variations in the stimulus itself or in the external conditions of observation, such as object orientation or level of illumination. Examples of perceptual constancy include brightness constancy, color constancy, shape constancy, and size constancy.