retention

1. persistence of learned behavior or experience during a period when it is not being performed or practiced, as indicated by the ability to recall, recognize, reproduce, or relearn it.

2. the storage and maintenance of a memory. Retention is the second stage of memory, after encoding and before retrieval.

3. the inability or refusal of an individual to defecate or urinate. —retentive adj.

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Psychology term of the day

November 16th 2024

antilibidinal ego

in the object relations theory of British psychoanalyst W. Ronald D. Fairbairn (1889–1964), the portion of the ego structure that is similar to Sigmund Freud’s superego. The antilibidinal ego constitutes a nonpleasure-gratifying, self-deprecatory, or even hostile self-image; it is posited to develop out of the unitary ego present at birth when the infantile libidinal ego (similar to the id) experiences deprivation at the hands of the parent and the infant suppresses his or her frustrated needs. Also called internal saboteur. See Fairbairnian theory.