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external validity

the extent to which the results of research or testing can be generalized beyond the sample that generated them. For example, if research has been conducted only with male participants, it cannot be assumed that similar results will apply to female participants. The more specialized the sample, the less likely will it be that the results are highly generalizable to other individuals, situations, and time periods. Compare internal validity.

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Psychology term of the day

March 29th 2024

personal unconscious

personal unconscious

in the analytic psychology of Carl Jung, the portion of each individual’s unconscious that contains the elements of his or her own experience as opposed to the collective unconscious, which contains the archetypes universal to humankind. The personal unconscious consists of everything subliminal, forgotten, and repressed in an individual’s life. Some of these contents may be recalled to consciousness, as in Sigmund Freud’s notion of the preconscious, but others cannot and are truly unconscious. The personal unconscious also contains complexes based on the individual’s personal experience. In Jung’s view, the personal unconscious must be integrated into the conscious ego for individuation to occur.