central tendency

American  

noun

Statistics.

1. the tendency of samples of a given measurement to cluster around some central value.

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central tendency British  

noun

1. statistics the tendency of the values of a random variable to cluster around the mean, median, and mode

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Etymology

Origin of central tendency

First recorded in 1925–30

Example Sentences

The study, published in eLife, describes how the model shows neural circuits can give rise to both recency and central tendency biases at the same time through a single mechanism.

From Science Daily • Apr. 24, 2024

A central tendency of people with a narcissistic personality is that they treat other people as an extension of themselves and their bodies.

From Salon • Jul. 21, 2023

The good news is that last season’s injury rate was so catastrophically high that some regression toward the N.F.L. average is nearly inevitable, according to the tenets of central tendency.

From New York Times • Sep. 22, 2021

According to Laerd Statistics, “a measure of central tendency is a single value that attempts to describe a set of data by identifying the central position within that set of data.”

From Slate • Dec. 5, 2019

If we measure people with refer ence to any other physical characteristic, or any mental characteristic, we get a similar result, we find them grouped about an average or central tendency.

From The Science of Human Nature A Psychology for Beginners by Pyle, William Henry