adientadj.
/ˈadɪənt/, U.S. /ˈædiənt/ Psychology.
Exhibiting, involving, or relating to a tendency to seek out or maximize the impact of a stimulus. Opposed to abient adj.
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the mind > mental capacity > psychology > experimental psychology > stimulus-response > stimulus > [adjective] > maximizing
adient1930
1930 Child Study Apr. 212/2 Dr. Holt began by explaining the fundamental ‘adient reflexes’. Many of these start before birth, but none are inherited; they originate in the random movements caused by stimulation to which the child responds and through which he acquires motor connection with the muscles.
1938 D. Katz & R. L. Schanck Social Psychol. ii. viii. 227 Although adient responses are the normal reactions which children acquire to most objects in their environment, children also learn to avoid or withdraw from certain harmful stimuli.
1969 M. L. Hutt Hutt Adaptation of Bender-Gestalt Test (ed. 2) vii. 130 Individuals differ in the degree to which they are..receptive to perceptual stimulation (adient).
1973 Jrnl. Personality Assessment 37 78 Alcoholics tend to be more adient and environmentally focused than the other groups.
2002 J. Block Personality as Affect-processing Syst. iv. 69 There can be minimum anxiety when there is the adient meshing of rapid, readily organizable, and affordant percept processing.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2011; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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adj.1930