| personal probability | An idiosyncratic judgment about the outcome of an event; it may include evidence too subtle to be disposed of in a subjective probability. (05 Mar 2000) |
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| personal construct theory | A psychological theory based on dimensions or categories used by a given person in describing or explaining the personality and behaviour of others or of himself. The basic idea is that different people will use consistently different categories. The theory was formulated in the fifties by george kelly. Two tests devised by him are the role construct repertory test and the repertory grid test. (12 Dec 1998) |
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| personal equation | A slight error in judgment, perceptual response, or action peculiar to the individual and so constant that it is usually possible to allow for it in accepting the person's statements or conclusions, thus arriving at approximate exactness; observed in persons whose work involves readings of events in time, such as navigators and air traffic controllers. (05 Mar 2000) |
| personal growth laboratory | A sensitivity training setting in which the primary emphasis is on each participant's potentialities for creativity, empathy, and leadership. See: sensitivity training group. (05 Mar 2000) |
| personal health services | Health care provided to individuals. (12 Dec 1998) |
| personal motivation | An individual's predispositions and expectations that give meaning and direction to personality functioning. (05 Mar 2000) |
| personal satisfaction | A subjective evaluation, judgment, or attitude expressed by an individual with respect to the attainment of certain goals or needs based on his level of aspiration or expectation. (12 Dec 1998) |
| personal space | Invisible boundaries surrounding the individual's body which are maintained in relation to others. (12 Dec 1998) |
| financing, personal | Payment by an individual or his family for health care services which are not covered by a third-party payer, either insurance or medical assistance. (12 Dec 1998) |
| conditional probability | A probability quoted when the range of choices admitted is restricted, i.e., conditional; thus, the probability of the child of a colour-blind man inheriting the gene is 1/2 if the child is female and almost zero if the child is male. (05 Mar 2000) |
| positional probability | <chemistry> A type of probability that depends on the number of arrangements in space that yield a particular state. (09 Jan 1998) |
| posterior probability | The best rational assessment of the probability of an outcome on the basis of established knowledge modified and brought up to date. Compare: Bayes theorem. (05 Mar 2000) |
| prior probability | The best rational assessment of the probability of an outcome on the basis of established knowledge before the present information is included. For instance, the prior probability of the daughter of a carrier of haemophilia being herself haemophiliac is 1/2. But if she already has one child, an affected son, the posterior probability that she is a carrier is unity, whereas if she has one child, a normal one, the posterior probability that she is a carrier is 1/3. See: Bayes theorem. (05 Mar 2000) |
| probability | Origin: L. Probabilitas: cf. F. Probabilite. 1. The quality or state of being probable; appearance of reality or truth; reasonable ground of presumption; likelihood. "Probability is the appearance of the agreement or disagreement of two ideas, by the intervention of proofs whose connection is not constant, but appears for the most part to be so." (Locke) 2. That which is or appears probable; anything that has the appearance of reality or truth. "The whole life of man is a perpetual comparison of evidence and balancing of probabilities." (Buckminster) "We do not call for evidence till antecedent probabilities fail." (J. H. Newman) 3. <mathematics> Likelihood of the occurrence of any event in the doctrine of chances, or the ratio of the number of favorable chances to the whole number of chances, favorable and unfavorable. See 1st Chance. Synonym: Likeliness, credibleness, likelihood, chance. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| probability curve | A graph of the gaussian (normal) distribution representing relative probabilities. (05 Mar 2000) |
| probability learning | Usually refers to the use of mathematical models in the prediction of learning to perform tasks based on the theory of probability applied to responses; it may also refer to the frequency of occurrence of the responses observed in the particular study. (12 Dec 1998) |