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pronoia (proh-NOY-ah) - n., the belief that there is a conspiracy that that is out to help one.
The opposite of paranoia. It can be either that there's a cabal of people, aiding you in secret, that the universe is works specifically for your behalf, or -- and this is the original sense as coined in 1982 by sociologist Fred Goldner -- the delusion that others think well of you (your boss thinks you're indispensible, your colleagues adore you, you're doing brilliantly at work). The coinage was by reinterpreting the para- of paranoia as meaning "against" instead of "beyond/beside," as in "beside one's mind," and swapping it out for pro-, in favor of.
---L.
The opposite of paranoia. It can be either that there's a cabal of people, aiding you in secret, that the universe is works specifically for your behalf, or -- and this is the original sense as coined in 1982 by sociologist Fred Goldner -- the delusion that others think well of you (your boss thinks you're indispensible, your colleagues adore you, you're doing brilliantly at work). The coinage was by reinterpreting the para- of paranoia as meaning "against" instead of "beyond/beside," as in "beside one's mind," and swapping it out for pro-, in favor of.
---L.
