response set

1. a tendency to answer questions in a systematic manner that is unrelated to their content. An example is the social desirability response set. See also response bias; response style. [first extensively discussed and studied by Lee J. Cronbach]

2. in sport, the tendency for an athlete to exhibit the same pattern of play in specific situations (e.g., always faking to the right before driving for the basket).

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Psychology term of the day

November 22nd 2024

death instinct

in psychoanalytic theory, a drive whose aim is the reduction of psychical tension to the lowest possible point, that is, death. It is first directed inward as a self-destructive tendency and is later turned outward in the form of the aggressive instinct. In the dual instinct theory of Sigmund Freud, the death instinct, or Thanatos, stands opposed to the life instinct, or Eros, and is believed to be the drive underlying such behaviors as aggressiveness, sadism, and masochism. See also nirvana principle.