Meaning & use
psychology
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Meanings
noununcountable
The scientific study of the mind, behavior, emotion, learning, and mental processes.
Grammar: Used without an or plural for the field: study psychology.
Patterns
- study psychology
- psychology research
- experimental psychology
Maya studies psychology and is especially interested in memory.
Psychology uses experiments, surveys, and observation to test claims.
The course introduces social, cognitive, and developmental psychology.
nouncountable or uncountableinformal
The typical feelings, attitudes, habits, or way of thinking that shape how a person or group behaves.
Grammar: Often singular with of: the psychology of an investor; plural is less common.
Patterns
- the psychology of success
- understand someone’s psychology
- group psychology
The book explains the psychology of procrastination.
A good coach understands the psychology of a losing team.
Fear changed the crowd’s psychology within minutes.
Word forms
| plural | psychologies |
|---|
Common combinations
- study psychology
- He wants to study psychology and later work in schools.
- psychology research
- Her psychology research focuses on sleep and decision-making.
- the psychology of fear
- The article examines the psychology of fear during emergencies.
- human psychology
- Human psychology helps explain why habits are hard to break.
Synonyms and how they differ
- mindset
- Narrower: a set of attitudes at a moment, not the whole scientific field.
- mentality
- A way of thinking, sometimes critical; not the academic discipline.
- behaviorism
- One school within psychology, not the whole subject.
Opposites
Word family
- psychologist noun
- A person trained in psychology.
- psychological adjective
- Relating to mind, emotion, or behavior.
- psychologically adverb
- In a mental or emotional way.
- psychologize verb
- To explain by psychological motives.
Commonly confused: psychology or psychiatry? psychology or psychoanalysis?
psychology vs psychiatry
Psychiatry is the medical specialty for diagnosing and treating mental illness; psychology is broader and usually not medical prescribing.
psychology vs psychoanalysis
Psychoanalysis is one theory and treatment method within the wider field of psychology.
Practice
Choose the best word for this sentence: At university, Noor studies ____, with a focus on how people remember events.
Choose one answer.
The sentence needs the academic subject “psychology”; psychiatry is a medical specialty, physiology concerns the body, and a psychologist is a person.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “psychology”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.