maladaptive

Adjective

maladaptive (comparative more maladaptive, superlative most maladaptive)

1. Of behavior, showing inadequate or counterproductive mental and behavioral adaptation to a new situation.
   • It seemed likely that in the apparently maladaptive responses of workers to computer-based technology (what many called “resistance to change”), it would be possible to trace a lineage of ordinary assumptions that referred back to the realities of the past and their points of disjuncture with the...1988, Shoshana Zuboff, In the Age of the Smart Machine, New York: Basic Books, page xiv
   • The learned helplessness explanation of sex differences in depression would be supported if it was shown that a greater degree of uncontrollability and a more maladaptive explanatory style in women account for any sex differences observed in depression in the sample.1989, Susan Nolen-Hoeksema, “Sex Differences in Unipolar Depression: Evidence and Theory”, in Jill M. Hooley, John M. Neale, Gerald C. Davison, editors, Readings in Abnormal Psychology, page 234

   Antonyms:

   adaptive

2. (evolutionary theory) Of anatomy, physiology, or behavior, showing inadequate or counterproductive evolutionary adaptation to an environment or its changes.
   • The mismatch is the result of an adaptive lag that occurs when the environment that produced an evolved mechanism changes more rapidly than the time it takes for the mechanism to adapt to the change. This theory posits that many of the physical and psychological traits that were originally selected...2022 October 25, L. J. Shrum, Elena Fumagalli, Tina M. Lowrey, “Coping with loneliness through consumption”, in Journal of Consumer Psychology, volume 33, number 2, →DOI, page 458

   Antonyms:

   adaptive