idiosyncrasy
Idiosyncrasy can best be translated with the word "peculiarity" or as "totality of personal idiosyncrasies". In general, it is understood to mean a structural or anatomical-physical behavioral characteristic that is special or specific to an individual or a group.
Word origin
The word idiosyncrasy was borrowed from Greek in German-speaking countries in the 18th century : ( idiosynkrāsía ) It is derived from ancient Greek ἰδιοσυνκρασία , "self-peculiarity / character ".
The expression can already be traced in ancient Greek and is made up of ἰδιο- (“own-”), συν- (“together-”) and κράσις (“the mixture”). Originally it meant “a peculiar mixture of the juices in the body and the resulting constitution of the body” and in this sense is a “specific constitution of a single body”.
areas of expertise
Depending on the context, idiosyncrasy can mean:
medicine
- congenital or acquired in medicine , e.g. Sometimes severe hypersensitivities at the first contact to certain, externally supplied substances that are not caused by a reaction of the immune system , but by malfunction / non-function of defective or lack of intact enzymes , e.g. B. favism (the bean disease); compare also allergy , pseudoallergy ,
Psychiatry and psychology
- In psychiatry and psychosomatics, an individual experience and behavioral reaction in this sense to acoustic (e.g. the squeaking noise of chalk on a slate) or visual stimuli (which e.g. cause disgust ), also to people or objects,
- in psychology particularly strong aversion and oversensitivity to certain people, living beings, objects, stimuli, beliefs, etc. Ä. As idiosyncratic language , a speech and language understanding behavior is referred to here, in which words and phrases more or less TV lying meanings or capricious interpretations (z. B. very literal or otherwise restricted) are assigned. It is a common symptom of autism . From the schizophasia ( "word salad") in schizophrenic is different in that the language differs only in meaning, but formal (in terms of syntax and grammar still correct and their communicative impairment usually is) of a much lesser extent, d. that is, it is ordered, well-formed and at least roughly understandable.
- In social psychology , individual behavior that deviates from the group (through competence and conformity , the individual acquires what is known as idiosyncratic credit ),
Computer science
- In computer science, in interface-based programming, general interfaces are classified into family interfaces and idiosyncratic interfaces. An idiosyncratic interface is only implemented by a single class in the entire project, whereas family interfaces are implemented by several.
Linguistics
- In linguistics , an idiosyncratic term is characterized by the fact that it is only used by a single person or group in the specified meaning and is usually assigned a different meaning. In another understanding, a term (a word or a phrase) is idiosyncratic if it has properties that cannot be derived from more general rules and that must therefore be noted explicitly in the lexicon. The drug language is exemplary: chasing the dragon , a ketamine hole ( K-hole ), smoking a pipe , eating cardboard .
Economics
- In economics , a distinction is made between idiosyncratic risks (or unsystematic risks ) that are triggered by a single company or issuer , and systematic risks that result from movements in the broad market (e.g. bear market ) and affect all market participants .
