unstructured stimulus

a vague, poorly organized, and not clearly identifiable stimulus, such as an inkblot in the Rorschach Inkblot Test. The perception of unstructured stimuli is often thought to be influenced more by the characteristics of the perceiver than by those of the stimulus. Compare structured stimulus.

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Psychology term of the day

May 9th 2024

Megan’s law

an amendment to the Jacob Wetterling Crimes Against Children and Sexually Violent Offender Registration Act requiring that state registries of convicted but released sex offenders be disseminated to the public so that communities will be notified of offenders’ presence in a particular neighborhood. More formally known as the Community Notification Act, it was initially passed in New Jersey in 1994 after a repeat sex offender murdered a 7-year-old girl named Megan Nicole Kanka; it became a federal law in 1996.