psychology

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   The scientific study of the mind and human behaviour.

   She is studying psychology at university.

2. 2
   noun

   The way a particular person or group thinks and behaves.

   To win, you must understand the psychology of your opponent.

From French psychologie, from Renaissance Latin psychologia, from Ancient Greek ψυχή (psukhḗ, “soul”) + -λογία (-logía, “study of”), equivalent to psycho- + -logy. The Latin term is believed by some to have been coined in a lost treatise by Croatian humanist Marko Marulić (1450–1524), but this is disputed by other scholars. It is first attested in the 1570s, at which time it was apparently already current, and may be a Hellenization of the established expression dē animā (“on the soul”) in titles.

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