assoziativer

Assoziativer is an adjective in German derived from assoziieren (to associate). In general, it denotes something related to or based on association. In scholarly usage it appears in fields such as mathematics, computer science, cognitive science and linguistics, where it describes properties that arise from or depend on linking elements through associations rather than through fixed rules alone.

In mathematics and logic, assoziativität (associativity) describes the property that the grouping of operands does not affect the result. An operator ⊕ is associative if (a ⊕ b) ⊕ c = a ⊕ (b ⊕ c) for all a, b, c in the domain. Classic examples are addition and multiplication of numbers. Not all operations are associative; subtraction and division are not. The concept also appears in category theory and in generalized algebraic structures.

In computer science, the term is used for operations that can be evaluated in any order, enabling parallel computation and optimization. It also describes data structures based on associations between keys and values, such as associative arrays or maps, which store data by linking keys to values rather than by a fixed index order.

In cognitive science and psychology, assoziatives Denken and assoziatives Gedächtnis refer to cognition guided by associative links among ideas. Semantic networks and spreading-activation models illustrate how retrieval depends on the web of connections rather than a linear search.

In linguistics and psycholinguistics, free-association tasks study how thoughts arise from initial cues, revealing the role of associative processes in language use and memory.