The quality or state of being associative; the tendency to form or work through associations.
From 'associative' + '-ness' suffix forming abstract nouns. Develops from the same Latin root 'socius' meaning companion or ally.
Phrenologists in the 1800s actually tried to measure 'associativeness' as a bump on your skull they claimed showed how good you were at linking ideas together—it didn't work, but the word stuck around in psychology.
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