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passive-aggressive personality disorder

a personality disorder of long standing in which ambivalence toward the self and others is expressed by such means as procrastination, dawdling, stubbornness, intentional inefficiency, “forgetting” appointments, or misplacing important materials. These maneuvers are interpreted as passive expressions of underlying negativism. The pattern persists even when more adaptive behavior is clearly possible; it frequently interferes with occupational, domestic, and academic success. This disorder was classified in the appendix of DSM–IV–TR and given an alternative name, negativistic personality disorder, in accordance with the theoretical proposals of Theodore Millon. Its mention has been retained in DSM–5.

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Psychology term of the day

November 18th 2024

center–surround antagonism

center–surround antagonism

a characteristic of the receptive fields of many visual and somatosensory neurons in which stimulation in the center of the receptive field evokes opposite responses to stimulation in the periphery. Thus, some neurons depolarize with center stimulation and hyperpolarize when the same stimulus appears in the surrounding region of the receptive field, whereas other neurons have the opposite pattern of responses. Center–surround antagonism greatly increases the sensitivity of the nervous system to contrast. See also off response; on response; simple cell.