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

March 13th 2025

edge theory

a theory proposing that death anxiety has a survival function that emerges when individuals perceive themselves to be in life-threatening situations. Edge theory attempts to resolve the apparent discrepancy between other theoretical claims that death anxiety is a major motivational force and empirical studies that reveal only low to moderate levels of death anxiety in the general population. It suggests that death anxiety is the subjective or experiential side of a holistic preparation to deal with danger (symbolic of standing at the edge of the void). Heightened arousal is turned on by anxiety surges in emergency situations; psychological difficulties arise when the emergency response has permeated the individual’s everyday functioning. See also terror management theory. [introduced by Robert J. Kastenbaum]