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role reversal

a technique used for therapeutic and educational purposes in which an individual exchanges roles with another individual to experience alternative cognitive styles (e.g., in problem solving), feelings, and behavioral approaches. In psychodrama, the protagonist exchanges roles with an auxiliary ego in acting out a significant interpersonal situation. Role reversal is also used in management development programs, for example, as in an exchange of roles between a supervisor and an employee.

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Psychology term of the day

December 19th 2024

physicalism

physicalism

n.

1. the doctrine that reality is composed of matter and that mind is therefore reducible to matter. See identity theory; materialism; mind–body problem.

2. the view that all meaningful propositions can be stated in the language of the physical sciences and in operational definitions. See logical positivism; positivism. —physicalist adj.