conservation

n. the awareness that physical quantities do not change in amount when they are altered in appearance, such as when water is poured from a wide, short beaker into a thin, tall one. According to Piagetian theory, children become capable of this mental operation in the concrete operational stage. See also reversibility.

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Psychology term of the day

April 19th 2024

simple comparison

a contrast between two means, usually in the context of multilevel analyses of data from a factorial design. For example, consider a researcher examining the influence of three different amounts of caffeine (0 mg, 50 mg, and 100 mg) on student test performance. His or her evaluation of the differences between 0 mg and 50 mg would represent one possible simple comparison. Compare complex comparison.