Find over 25,000 psychological definitions


screening experiment

a preliminary study in which a large number of factors are examined with the aim of filtering out those that show little association with the studied outcome. This allows researchers to narrow the field of potentially important factors before devoting resources to further study. See pilot study.

Browse dictionary by letter

a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z

Psychology term of the day

February 17th 2025

speculation

speculation

n.

1. conjectural thinking that is not necessarily supported by scientifically determined evidence.

2. a loosely supported theory or explanation. —speculative adj.