sick role

the behavior expected of a person who is physically ill, mentally ill, or injured. Such expectations can be the individual’s own or those of the family, the community, or society in general. They influence both how the person behaves and how others will react to him or her. In his pioneering discussion of the subject, U.S. sociologist Talcott Parsons (1902–1979) noted in 1951 that people in a sick role were expected to cooperate with caregivers and to want to get well but were also provided with an exemption from normal obligations. See also factitious disorder.

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Psychology term of the day

May 9th 2024

hierarchically nested design

any research design that involves several levels of sampling, such that the entities on the lower levels of the design are nested or subsumed within higher order groups. For example, a hierarchically nested design for an educational study might involve students (A), who are nested within classrooms (B), which are nested within schools (C), which are further nested within school districts (D). Several statistical procedures (e.g., analysis of variance, regression analysis, hierarchical linear models) also incorporate a hierarchical aspect. Also called hierarchical design; nested design.