Find over 25,000 psychological definitions


means–ends analysis

1. in artificial intelligence, a technique to solve problems that sets up subgoals as means to achieve the goals (ends) and compares subgoals and goals using a recursive goal-reduction search procedure. See General Problem Solver.

2. more generally, any problem-solving strategy that assesses the difference between the current state and a desired end state and attempts to discover means to reduce that difference. Such a strategy would not discard means to the end that appear to be “blocked,” but it would consider possible ways to overcome any such intermediate problem.

Browse dictionary by letter

a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z

Psychology term of the day

March 29th 2024

pornolagnia

pornolagnia

n. an obscure term for attraction to prostitutes as sexual partners, in preference to partners who choose to have sex out of mutual interest.