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precausal thinking

the tendency of a young child (under the age of 8) to perceive natural phenomena, such as rain, wind, and clouds, in terms of intentions and willful acts, that is, in anthropomorphic rather than mechanical terms. See also animism. [first described by Jean Piaget]

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Psychology term of the day

December 23rd 2024

within-subjects design

within-subjects design

an experimental design in which the effects of treatments are seen through the comparison of scores of the same participant observed under all the treatment conditions. For example, teachers may want to give a pre- and postcourse survey of skills and attitudes to gauge how much both changed as a result of the course. Such a design could be analyzed with a dependent-samples t test, a within-subjects analysis of variance, or an analysis of covariance. Also called related-measures design; repeated measures design; within-groups design. Compare between-subjects design.