the.com/association
The brain's autocomplete — one thought summoning another without asking permission.
means A connection or link between things — people, ideas, or groups — joined together by relationship, shared purpose, or mental habit.
from From Latin associare, 'to join to' or 'unite with,' built from ad- ('to') plus sociare ('to join'), itself from socius, 'companion' or 'ally' — the same root that gives us 'social' and 'society.' The word entered English in the 1500s meaning a union or partnership, and only later picked up its psychological sense — the mind's own habit of 'joining' one thought to its companion, the way socius joins one person to another.
- psych origin
- Core mechanism behind classical conditioning, Pavlov's dogs included
- memory trick
- Mnemonics work by chaining weird images to boring facts
- dark side
- Powers stereotypes just as easily as useful learning
- legal flavor
- Also just means a group of people with bylaws