psychohistory

English

Etymology

From psycho- +‎ history.

• The science-fictional usage was created by Isaac Asimov in the mid-20th century.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /sʌɪkəʊˈhɪstəɹi/

Noun

psychohistory (countable and uncountable, plural psychohistories)

1. (psychology, historiography) The scientific study of psychology and motivation in history.
   • 2012, Richard Overy, “The Mind of Evil”, in Literary Review, number 399:

     Pick argues that the general rejection of psycho-history by practising historians has left the story of ‘historical’ psychoanalysis on the shelf.

2. (science fiction) A fictional mathematical statistical science of large population dynamics, where mathematical models can predict general futures, based on activities of quadrillions of individuals. The fictional science first occurs in Asimov's 1950s Foundation series, and has since been picked up by other authors for other works.

Related terms

• psychohistorian
• psychohistorical
• psychohistoriography

 

Translations

psychology in history

• Finnish: psykohistoria (fi)
• French: psychohistoire (fr) f
• Italian: psicostoria f
• Russian: психоисто́рия f (psixoistórija)
• Turkish: psikotarih

See also

• psychosocial