sociofugal

adj. describing environmental conditions that discourage or prevent social interaction, such as rows of seats facing the same way (e.g., church pews) or ambient noise that interferes with communication. A physical environment with these characteristics is termed a sociofugal space. Compare sociopetal.

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Psychology term of the day

May 9th 2024

best fit

the theoretical pattern that best accounts for the relationships among variables in a data set. For example, a regression equation having the best fit to sample data is the one that minimizes differences between observed and predicted values. On a scatterplot, a line of best fit provides a visual depiction of this pattern, allowing extrapolation to values not part of the original data set. It is important to note that the best-fitting pattern is not necessarily the one that generated the observed data, as other patterns not considered may provide a superior fit.