wilderness experience

a group program in which demanding outdoor expeditions are undertaken for extended periods to foster enhanced self-efficacy, motivation, and social skills in the participants. The approach has been used, for example, in wilderness camps for children and adolescents with various behavioral problems, including alcohol and drug use. It has become controversial, however, amid reports of participant abuse, some of it fatal, that occurred at unregulated camps with largely untrained and unsupervised staff.

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Psychology term of the day

November 24th 2024

cause

1. an event or state that brings about another (its effect).

2. in Aristotelian and rationalist philosophy, an entity or event that is a requirement for another entity or event’s coming to be. Aristotle proposed that there were four types of cause—material, formal, efficient, and final. In the case of a sculpture, for example, the material cause is the stone or metal from which it is made, the formal cause is the form or structure that it takes, the efficient cause is the sculptor, and the final cause is the sculptor’s aim or purpose in making it. —causal adj.