automatism
automatism
Definition
au·toma·tism (ô täm′ə tiz′əm)
noun
- the quality or condition of being automatic
- automatic action
- Philos. the theory that the human or animal body is a machine governed by physical laws and that consciousness does not control but only accompanies its actions
- Physiol.
- action independent of outside stimulus, as sleepwalking
- action not controlled by the will, as the heartbeat
- the power of such action
- Psychol. an automatic or unconscious action, as a tic
- free expression of the unconscious mind by releasing it from the control of the conscious: a surrealist concept
Etymology: automat(ic) + -ism
au·tom′a·tist noun
automatism
Usage Examples
Adjective modifier
- mental: The notions of ' self ' and ' mental automatism ' in nineteenth-century French and German psychopathology C. T. Walker, CAI.
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