Kurtosis (Psychology) – Not a Medical Condition

Overview

Kurtosis is a statistical term that describes the “tailedness” of a probability distribution. In psychology, the concept is used when researchers analyze the distribution of test scores, survey responses, or other continuous data. A distribution with high kurtosis has more extreme values (heavy tails) than a normal (Gaussian) distribution, while low kurtosis indicates fewer extreme values (light tails).

Even though the word appears in psychological literature, kurtosis itself is not a disorder