habituation
Americannoun
-
the act of habituating.
-
the condition of being habituated.
-
physiological tolerance to or psychological dependence on a drug, short of addiction.
-
reduction of psychological or behavioral response occurring when a specific stimulus occurs repeatedly.
noun
-
the act or process of habituating
-
psychol the temporary waning of an innate response that occurs when it is elicited many times in succession Compare extinction
-
The gradual decline of a response to a stimulus resulting from repeated exposure to the stimulus.
-
Physiological tolerance for a drug resulting from repeated use.
-
Psychological dependence on a drug resulting from repeated use.
Etymology
Origin of habituation
Explanation
Habituation is what happens when an organism gets used to a certain environment or stimulus. Through habituation, the squirrels in a city park often become so used to humans that they don't run away from them — and even beg them for food. If you live near an airport and hear planes taking off and landing every day, habituation occurs — eventually you get so used to the noise that you don't even notice it. The same thing happens to non-human organisms. Thanks to habituation, your pet turtle doesn't hide in his shell every time you touch him anymore. He is used to you petting him. When the world presents a new stimulus, habituation can help an animal adapt to it. Habituation comes from the Late Latin habituat, "accustomed."
Vocabulary lists containing habituation
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
One memory decayed much faster than the other -- a form of memory loss necessary for habituation, the researchers noted.
From Science Daily • Nov. 19, 2024
It just seems as though through habit, habituation, comfort-sleepwalking, or myopia, we are so narrowly focused on this small tranche of cases and still treat the justices as oracles.
From Slate • Oct. 5, 2024
In addition, binging on breakup songs can be part of “a habituation process” that reduces the intensity of feelings associated with a romantic split, Sbarra said.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 19, 2024
And so, this is about habituation and conditioning.
From Salon • Mar. 18, 2024
That in self abnegation and not in revenge the element of greatness consisted must have been brought home to mankind only after long habituation.
From Human, All Too Human A Book for Free Spirits by Nietzsche, Friedrich Wilhelm
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
