[di-skrim-uh-ney-shuh
n] 
| 1. | an act or instance of discriminating. |
| 2. | treatment or consideration of, or making a distinction in favor of or against, a person or thing based on the group, class, or category to which that person or thing belongs rather than on individual merit: racial and religious intolerance and discrimination. |
| 3. | the power of making fine distinctions; discriminating judgment: She chose the colors with great discrimination. |
| 4. | Archaic. something that serves to differentiate. |
| dis·crim·i·na·tion (dĭ-skrĭm'ə-nā'shən) n.
|
discrimination
in psychology, the ability to perceive and respond to differences among stimuli. It is considered a more advanced form of learning than generalization (q.v.), the ability to perceive similarities, although animals can be trained to discriminate as well as to generalize.
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