Definition of psychology
psychologies
1 : the science of mind and behavior
2a : the mental or behavioral characteristics of an individual or groupb : the study of mind and behavior in relation to a particular field of knowledge or activity
3 : a theory or system of psychology Freudian psychology the psychology of Jung
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Examples of psychology in a Sentence
She studied psychology in college.
the psychology of an athlete
the psychology of crowd behavior
We need to understand the psychologies of the two people involved in the incident.
Recent Examples of psychology from the Web
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Marston held three degrees from Harvard, including a PhD in psychology; his graduate work had involved conceiving of ways to measure human emotion.
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And there's a considerable amount of psychology that goes into this positioning by BIden -- much of it tied to Hillary Clinton's 2016 campaign.
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Berry, 28, who lives in Canton, says his psychology degree from University of Maryland, Baltimore County helped prepare him for dealing with customers.
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The high-school dropout from Kent and former Army corporal bootstrapped his way through a Ph.D., did postdoctoral research at Harvard Medical School, and became a tenured psychology professor at Western Washington University.
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Nonetheless, financial pundits viewed the action as heralding a sea change in market psychology, tied to new evidence of the Trump administration’s inability to get tax cuts done.
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Qianyi will attend James Madison University, studying psychology with an eye toward law school after that.
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How Non-Conformists Move the World, and a professor of management and psychology at the University of Pennsylvania.
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And both are significant enough to affect English soccer’s psychology and culture more broadly.
These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'psychology'. Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
The roots of psychology
The word psychology was formed by combining the Greek psychē (meaning “breath, principle of life, life, soul,”) with –logia (which comes from the Greek logos, meaning “speech, word, reason”). An early use appears in Nicholas Culpeper’s mid-17th century translation of Simeon Partliz’s A New Method of Physick, in which it is stated that “Psychologie is the knowledg of the Soul.” Today, psychology is concerned with the science or study of the mind and behavior. Many branches of psychology are differentiated by the specific field to which they belong, such as animal psychology, child psychology, and sports psychology.
Origin and Etymology of psychology
New Latin psychologia, from psych- + -logia -logy
First Known Use: 1749
Other Psychology Terms
PSYCHOLOGY Defined for English Language Learners
psychology
playDefinition of psychology for English Language Learners
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: the science or study of the mind and behavior
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: the way a person or group thinks
PSYCHOLOGY Defined for Kids
psychology
playDefinition of psychology for Students
: the science that studies the mind and behavior
Medical Dictionary
psychology
playMedical Definition of psychology
psychologies
1: the science of mind and behavior
2a: the mental or behavioral characteristics typical of an individual or group or a particular form of behavior mob psychology the psychology of arsonb: the study of mind and behavior in relation to a particular field of knowledge or activity color psychology the psychology of learning
3: a treatise on or a school, system, or branch of psychology
Learn More about psychology
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See words that rhyme with psychology Spanish Central: Translation of psychology Nglish: Translation of psychology for Spanish speakers Britannica English: Translation of psychology for Arabic speakers
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