skin conductance

the degree to which the skin transmits a small electric current between two electrodes, changes in which are typically used to measure a person’s level of arousal or energy mobilization (see galvanic skin response). In contrast to other autonomically mediated indices, skin conductance rarely shows relations to specific emotional states, such as fear or anger, responding instead to level of arousal. The mechanism of skin conductance is not fully known: It seems to be related to the electrical activity of sweat glands but not to sweating itself. Compare skin resistance.

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Psychology term of the day

December 23rd 2024

scientific explanation

an account of an event, behavior, or thought that is couched in terms of an established set of scientific principles, facts, and assumptions. Typical forms of explanation may be reductionistic, analyzing a phenomenon into components and describing how they combine to produce the phenomenon; ontogenic, relating the phenomenon to a universal set of developmental stages; empiricistic, describing a phenomenon in terms of the conditions that have been observed to produce it; or metaphoric or categorical, identifying a phenomenon as similar in some important respects to other phenomena already understood. Such an explanation stated systematically is generally known as a theory.