Sensitivity

Definition

• 1. The quality of being sensitive, in various senses of the adj.

1803 W. TAYLOR in Ann. Rev. I. 401 An eloquent exuberance characterizes the style of our author, and a sensitivity of imagination which makes even the minutest phænomenon appear important to his attention.

1856 DOVE Logic Chr. Faith IV. ii. §5. 221 In the Vegetable World we behold the..germ of individual Sensitivity.

1880 BASTIAN Brain 57 Its sensitivity to such stimuli is..closely akin to the general organic irritability of protoplasm. ::1882 Athenæum 25 Nov. 703/1 The number of grades between the weights that any person can distinguish has to be found by trial, and that number becomes the measure of the coarseness of his sensitivity.

1904 TITCHENER tr. Wundt's Physiol. Psychol. I. 265 We find..symptoms of abrogation or diminution of cutaneous sensitivity upon the uninjured side of the body.

• 2. The activity and experience of the senses.

• 3. a. The degree to which a device, test, or procedure responds to small amounts of or slight changes in that to which it is designed to respond; the ratio of the response of a device to the stimulus causing it; = SENSITIVENESS 3.

b. spec. in Radio, (a measure of) the ability of a receiver or other part of a radio system to pick up or respond to weak radio signals.

• 4. Psychol. Used attrib., esp. in sensitivity group, training, to denote training in small groups aimed at increasing a person's awareness of the behaviour, feelings, and motives of others and of himself. Cf. T-group s.v. T 7.

1954 Personnel XXX. 256/1 The suggested approach to leadership training combines these two features in order to focus sensitivity training on those interpersonal problems which intimately involve the members of the training group. ::1964 M. ARGYLE Psychol. & Social Probl. x. 133 Many students could..benefit from sensitivity training, aimed at increasing the accuracy of perception of social situations.

1969 Listener 26 June 881/1 A sensitivity group of persons gets together in order to cultivate a heightened awareness of themselves and each other, in a sort of group therapy. 1971 Harvest Years Mar. 8/2 (caption) A few scenes from a sensitivity session.

1977 E. G. & N. C. BORMANN Speech Communication (ed. 2) i. 12 Sensitivity groups have been used to train management personnel..and to institute individual and organizational change.