PsychologyAugust 16, 2026

contempt

kun-TEMPT

Definition

The feeling that a person or a thing is beneath consideration, worthless, or deserving of scorn.

Etymology

The word originates from the Latin 'contemnere', meaning 'to scorn' or 'to despise', which is a combination of 'con-' (an intensifier) and 'temnere' (to slight or scorn).

In the news

The article acknowledges that the descriptive finding that contempt during conflict is associated with poor outcomes is a genuine contribution of couples research, distinguishing this valid association from unproven predictive rules.

A divorce-prediction equation was 90 percent accurate on the data it was built from, but when it flagged a couple as heading for divorce in a fresh sample it was right only 29 percent of the time, which is the trouble with rules like these

Read the full article ↗

ScienceBlog.com

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