Inhibition

Behavioral evidence of an unconscious defense against forbidden instinctual drives that may interfere with or restrict specific activities.

Prevention of growth; multiplication of micro-organisms; prevention of enzyme activity.

The suppression of the biological function of an enzyme or system by chemical or physical means.

The inner controls that prevent a person from engaging in certain types of behavior.

The action of blocking or preventing something happening, especially of preventing a muscle or organ from functioning properly.

(In psychology) the suppression of a thought which is associated with a sense of guilt.

(In psychology) the blocking of a spontaneous action by some mental influence.

Slowing or stopping of an otherwise normal response (e.g., the restriction of a specific impulse drive, or activity); in psychology, evidence shown by a person’s actions that he/she is restraining a display of an instinctual drive (e.g., averting any encounter with sexual activity).

Blocking of a physiological process. Also, an unconscious psychological process that restrains or suppresses a person’s actions, emotions, or thoughts. Diseases such as dementia and alcoholism can cause reduced inhibition.

The prevention or reduction of the functioning of an organ, muscle, etc., by the action of certain nerve impulses.

Arrest or restraint of some process effected by nervous influence. The term is applied to the action of certain inhibitory nerves: for example, the vagus nerve which contains fibres that control the action of the heart. The term is also applied generally to the mental processes by which instinctive but undesirable actions are checked by a process of self-control.

The controls people put on their emotions and behavior in order to behave in socially accepted ways.

In the context of an Alexander Technique lesson, the term used to describe the point at which a student consciously abstains from initiating a movement to prevent muscle tension is referred to as the inhibition phase.

Inhibition refers to the process of restraining or preventing any mental or physical activity. Within the brain and spinal cord, certain neurons (nerve cells) are responsible for this function, as they suppress the activity of other nerve cells to maintain a balanced level of brain activity.

In psychoanalysis, “inhibition” pertains to the unconscious suppression of instinctual impulses.