Glossary D

Descent with modification refers to the principle of evolution according to which current characteristics of species came into being through the gradual modification of earlier characteristics.

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Description is a term in scientific research that refers to the process of naming and classifying.

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Descriptive adequacy refers to the extent to which a grammar can provide a structural description of a sentence. Please see also Explanatory adequacy and Observational adequacy.

Descriptive behaviorism refers to Behaviorism that is positivistic in that it describes relationships between environmental events and behavior rather than attempting to explain those relationships. Skinner's approach to Psychology exemplified Descriptive behaviorism.

Descriptive models of thinking refer to models that depict the processes people actually use in making decisions or solving problems.

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Descriptive norm refers to a consensual standard that describes how people typically act, feel, and think in a given situation.

Descriptive norms refer to people's perceptions of how other people are actually behaving in a given situation, regardless of what behaviors are socially sanctioned

Descriptive research refers to a type of research that describes the relationship between variables rather than determining causation. It is a type of research that focuses on describing the behavior and the situation within which it occurs.