PSYCHOLOGY

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does psychology mean? 

• PSYCHOLOGY (noun)
  The noun PSYCHOLOGY has 1 sense:

1. the science of mental life

  Familiarity information: PSYCHOLOGY used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PSYCHOLOGY (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The science of mental life

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Synonyms:

psychological science; psychology

Hypernyms ("psychology" is a kind of...):

science; scientific discipline (a particular branch of scientific knowledge)

Domain member category:

extinguished (of a conditioned response; caused to die out because of the absence or withdrawal of reinforcement)

introjected (incorporated unconsciously into your own psyche)

introversive; introvertive (directed inward; marked by interest in yourself or concerned with inner feelings)

maladjusted (poorly adjusted to demands and stresses of daily living)

adjusted (adjusted to demands of daily living; showing emotional stability)

apperceive (perceive in terms of a past experience)

interiorise; interiorize; internalise; internalize (incorporate within oneself; make subjective or personal)

externalise; externalize; project (regard as objective)

isolate (separate (experiences) from the emotions relating to them)

delusion; psychotic belief ((psychology) an erroneous belief that is held in the face of evidence to the contrary)

breaking point ((psychology) stress at which a person breaks down or a situation becomes crucial)

stress; tenseness; tension ((psychology) a state of mental or emotional strain or suspense)

ambiguous (having no intrinsic or objective meaning; not organized in conventional patterns)

presentational (of or relating to a presentation (especially in psychology or philosophy))

attentional (of or relating to attention)

associational (of or relating to associations or associationism)

adient (characterized by acceptance or approach)

abient (characterized by avoidance or withdrawal)

nomothetic (relating to or involving the search for abstract universal principles)

idiographic (relating to or involving the study of individuals)

retroactive (descriptive of any event or stimulus or process that has an effect on the effects of events or stimuli or process that occurred previously)

proactive (descriptive of any event or stimulus or process that has an effect on events or stimuli or processes that occur subsequently)

adience ((psychology) an urge to accept or approach a situation or an object)

conditioned; learned (established by conditioning or learning)

exceptional (deviating widely from a norm of physical or mental ability; used especially of children below normal in intelligence)

abnormal (departing from the normal in e.g. intelligence and development)

normal (being approximately average or within certain limits in e.g. intelligence and development)

molecular (relating to simple or elementary organization)

molar (pertaining to large units of behavior)

ambiversive (intermediate between introversive and extroversive)

extraversive; extroversive (directed outward; marked by interest in others or concerned with external reality)

reinforcement; reinforcer; reinforcing stimulus ((psychology) a stimulus that strengthens or weakens the behavior that produced it)

rehearsal ((psychology) a form of practice; repetition of information (silently or aloud) in order to keep it in short-term memory)

inhibition; suppression ((psychology) the conscious exclusion of unacceptable thoughts or desires)

behavior; behaviour ((psychology) the aggregate of the responses or reactions or movements made by an organism in any situation)

extraversion; extroversion ((psychology) an extroverted disposition; concern with what is outside the self)

introversion ((psychology) an introverted disposition; concern with one's own thoughts and feelings)

ambiversion ((psychology) a balanced disposition intermediate between extroversion and introversion)

image; persona ((Jungian psychology) a personal facade that one presents to the world)

readiness; set ((psychology) being temporarily ready to respond in a particular way)

anima ((Jungian psychology) the inner self (not the external persona) that is in touch with the unconscious)

double bind ((psychology) an unresolvable dilemma; situation in which a person receives contradictory messages from a person who is very powerful)

cognitive operation; cognitive process; mental process; operation; process ((psychology) the performance of some composite cognitive activity; an operation that affects mental contents)

constancy; perceptual constancy ((psychology) the tendency for perceived objects to give rise to very similar perceptual experiences in spite of wide variations in the conditions of observation)

chunking; unitisation; unitization ((psychology) the configuration of smaller units of information into large coordinated units)

introjection ((psychology) unconscious internalization of aspects of the world (especially aspects of persons) within the self in such a way that the internalized representation takes over the psychological functions of the external objects)

generalisation; generalization; stimulus generalisation; stimulus generalization ((psychology) transfer of a response learned to one stimulus to a similar stimulus)

mental strain; nervous strain; strain ((psychology) nervousness resulting from mental stress)

law of effect ((psychology) the principle that behaviors are selected by their consequences; behavior having good consequences tends to be repeated whereas behavior that leads to bad consequences is not repeated)

association theory; associationism ((psychology) a theory that association is the basic principle of mental activity)

atomism ((psychology) a theory that reduces all mental phenomena to simple elements (sensations and feelings) that form complex ideas by association)

functionalism (a psychology based on the assumption that all mental process are useful to an organism in adapting to the environment)

configurationism; Gestalt psychology ((psychology) a theory of psychology that emphasizes the importance of configurational properties)

experimenter bias ((psychology) bias introduced by an experimenter whose expectations about the outcome of the experiment can be subtly communicated to the participants in the experiment)

sublimation ((psychology) modifying the natural expression of an impulse or instinct (especially a sexual one) to one that is socially acceptable)

abience ((psychology) an urge to withdraw or avoid a situation or an object)

habit; use ((psychology) an automatic pattern of behavior in reaction to a specific situation; may be inherited or acquired through frequent repetition)

clinician (a practitioner (of medicine or psychology) who does clinical work instead of laboratory experiments)

extravert; extrovert ((psychology) a person concerned more with practical realities than with inner thoughts and feelings)

introvert ((psychology) a person who tends to shrink from social contacts and to become preoccupied with their own thoughts)

sensitisation; sensitization ((psychology) the process of becoming highly sensitive to specific events or situations (especially emotional events or situations))

mental condition; mental state; psychological condition; psychological state ((psychology) a mental condition in which the qualities of a state are relatively constant even though the state itself may be dynamic)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "psychology"):

abnormal psychology; psychopathology (the branch of psychology concerned with abnormal behavior)

applied psychology; industrial psychology (any of several branches of psychology that seek to apply psychological principles to practical problems of education or industry or marketing etc.)

cognitive psychology (an approach to psychology that emphasizes internal mental processes)

animal psychology; comparative psychology (the branch of psychology concerned with the behavior of animals)

child psychology; developmental psychology; genetic psychology (the branch of psychology that studies the social and mental development of children)

differential psychology (the branch of psychology that studies measurable differences between individuals)

experimental psychology; psychonomics (the branch of psychology that uses experimental methods to study psychological issues)

neuropsychology; physiological psychology; psychophysiology (the branch of psychology that is concerned with the physiological bases of psychological processes)

psychometrics; psychometrika; psychometry (any branch of psychology concerned with psychological measurements)

social psychology (the branch of psychology that studies persons and their relationships with others and with groups and with society as a whole)

Derivation:

psychological (of or relating to or determined by psychology)

psychologist (a scientist trained in psychology)

 Context examples 

The branch of psychology concerned with the study of similarities and differences of behavior in different organisms.

(Comparative Psychology, NCI Thesaurus)

The branch of psychology concerned with psychological methods of recognizing and treating behavior disorders.

(Clinical Psychology, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)

Basic research in the field of psychology.

(Experimental Psychology, NCI Thesaurus)

Basic research in the field of human psychology.

(Experimental Psychology, Human, NCI Thesaurus)

A person trained in both psychology and theology who can provide psychological and spiritual guidance to individuals and families.

(Pastoral counselor, NCI Thesaurus)

The UGR group’s findings contradict some of the research carried out to date in the psychology of humour.

(Self-defeating humour promotes psychological well-being, University of Granada)

The branch of psychology that deals with the diagnosis and treatment of psychological and behavioral problems.

(Clinical Psychology, NCI Thesaurus)

Psychology was a new word in Martin's vocabulary.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

Developmental psychology research focusing on the childhood years.

(Developmental Psychology, Child, NCI Thesaurus)

Developmental psychology research focusing on the years after age 65.

(Developmental Psychology, Aged, NCI Thesaurus)