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sexual aggression

aggression directed by one sex toward the other, often in the context of mating behavior. In species whose males are much larger than females, it is thought that a male may use sexual aggression to achieve forced copulation.

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Psychology term of the day

December 19th 2024

regression in the service of the ego

regression in the service of the ego

in psychoanalytic theory, the adaptive circumvention of normal ego functioning in order to access primitive material (see primary process), often associated with the creative process. [first described by Swiss-born U.S. psychoanalyst Ernst Kris (1900–1957)]