pathological lying

a persistent, compulsive tendency to tell lies out of proportion to any apparent advantage that can be achieved. This often occurs among people with alcohol dependence or brain damage, but it is most common among individuals with antisocial personality disorder, who in some cases do not seem to understand the nature of a falsehood. See also pseudologia fantastica.

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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.