Find over 25,000 psychological definitions


sensitization

n.

1. a form of nonassociative learning in which an organism becomes more responsive to most stimuli after being exposed to unusually strong or painful stimulation.

2. the increased effectiveness of an eliciting stimulus as a function of its repeated presentation. Water torture, in which water is dripped incessantly onto a person’s forehead, is a good example.

3. see reverse tolerance.

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

May 9th 2024

nonadditive

nonadditive

adj. describing values or measurements that cannot be meaningfully summarized through addition because the resulting total does not correctly reflect the underlying properties of and associations between the component values. For example, if two variables a and b interact to influence another variable y, the addition of the separate effects of a and b will not equal the total effect since the contribution of the interaction needs to be included. Compare additive.