prelogical thinking

in psychoanalytic theory, primitive thought processes that are characteristic of early childhood, when thought is under the control of the pleasure principle rather than the reality principle. Such thinking may also occur later in life, as in daydreaming, in which wish fulfillment is dominant, or in psychosis. See also magical thinking; primary process.

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Psychology term of the day

May 9th 2024

Megan’s law

an amendment to the Jacob Wetterling Crimes Against Children and Sexually Violent Offender Registration Act requiring that state registries of convicted but released sex offenders be disseminated to the public so that communities will be notified of offenders’ presence in a particular neighborhood. More formally known as the Community Notification Act, it was initially passed in New Jersey in 1994 after a repeat sex offender murdered a 7-year-old girl named Megan Nicole Kanka; it became a federal law in 1996.