seven plus or minus two

the number of items that can be held in short-term memory at any given time and therefore accurately perceived and recalled after a brief exposure (see chunking). The phrase originated in the title of an article (1956) by George Armitage Miller, “The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two: Some Limitations on Our Capacity for Processing Information.”

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Psychology term of the day

November 16th 2024

social reform program

an intervention program developed and implemented to counter deleterious aspects of a social system, the primary objective being to reduce the effects of malfunctions in the system. Also called countermeasure-intervention program.