Adjustment

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Look up adjustment in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Claims adjuster. (Discuss)

This article is largely based on an article in the out-of-copyright 11th edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica, which was produced in 1911. It should be brought up to date to reflect subsequent history or scholarship (including the references, if any). When you have completed the review, replace this notice with a simple note on this article's talk page. Thanks!

Adjustment (from late Latin ad-juxtare, derived from juxta, near, but early confounded with a supposed derivation from Justus, right) means regulating, adapting or settling in a variety of contexts:

Adjustment (law) has several meanings; many relate to insurance, contracts, or the resolution of disputes.

In Engineering, Mathematics and Geodesy, adjustment means the optimal parameter estimation of a mathematical model so as to best fit a data set. The most important method is the least squares adjustment, found by Carl Friedrich Gauss.

In Psychology, adjustment means the behavioural process of balancing conflicting needs, or needs against obstacles in the environment. Humans and animals regularly do this, for example, when they are stimulated by their physiological state to seek food, they eat (if possible) to reduce their hunger and thus adjust to the hunger stimulus. Adjustment disorder occurs when there is an inability to make a normal adjustment to some need or stress in the environment.

[edit] References

• This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.