PSYCHOLOGY

Pronunciation (US):

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

1. the science of mental life

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

• PSYCHOLOGY (noun)

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:

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)

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

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)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

externalise; externalize; project (regard as objective)

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

apperceive (perceive in terms of a past experience)

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

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

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)

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

ambiversive (intermediate between introversive and extroversive)

molar (pertaining to large units of behavior)

molecular (relating to simple or elementary organization)

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

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

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

conditioned; learned (established by conditioning or learning)

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

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

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)

idiographic (relating to or involving the study of individuals)

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

abient (characterized by avoidance or withdrawal)

adient (characterized by acceptance or approach)

associational (of or relating to associations or associationism)

attentional (of or relating to attention)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.)

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