verbal leakage

slips of the tongue, verbal ambiguities, or other aspects of speech thought to reveal information about an individual’s motives and behavior that he or she has attempted to conceal. Body language that is similarly revealing is described by some psychologists as nonverbal leakage. See also Freudian slip; parapraxis; symptomatic act.

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Psychology term of the day

January 19th 2025

perceptual constancy

the phenomenon in which an object or its properties (e.g., size, shape, color) appear unchanged despite variations in the stimulus itself or in the external conditions of observation, such as object orientation or level of illumination. Examples of perceptual constancy include brightness constancy, color constancy, shape constancy, and size constancy.