Psychohistory

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /sʌɪkəʊˈhɪstəɹi/

Definitions

1. A theoretical science that blends psychology and history to predict future events based on the behaviors of large populations
2. An interdisciplinary approach that uses data from psychology and historical trends to analyze societal patterns and forecast outcomes
3. A conceptual field that combines the study of human behavior with historical contexts to anticipate societal developments and trends

Etymology: Isaac Asimov gave this word its meaning in the mid-twentieth century, when he wrote his Foundation stories. In them, psychohistory is a fictional science that uses the behaviour of enormous populations to predict the future, much as statistical mechanics predicts the behaviour of gases without tracking each molecule. The word is a deliberate blend of two existing terms, and the fiction is where it acquired its meaning. The first part, "psycho-", comes from the Greek "psykhē", meaning soul, mind or mental life, and it entered English in forms like psychology and psychiatry. The second part, "history", comes from the Greek "historia", meaning inquiry or knowledge gained by investigation. Joining them produces a name for the study of collective human motivation as a route to understanding the past and forecasting what comes next.

Synonyms: psychology of history, historical psychology