Psychologising

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. The act of interpreting behaviors or events by attributing psychological causes or motives ; the process of explaining actions or feelings with reference to mental or emotional factors ; a tendency to analyze or explain phenomena primarily through psychological theories or perspectives
2. Engaging in the explanation of individuals' conduct by referencing mental states or unconscious influences ; the practice of applying psychological concepts to understand behavior or experiences ; describing or rationalizing actions through psychological frameworks or reasoning
3. The process of attributing psychological reasoning to actions or situations ; explaining human behavior or mental states by referring to psychological principles ; a style of interpretation that seeks underlying mental or emotional causes for observable events

Etymology: "Psychologising" is the British spelling of "psychologizing," the present participle of "psychologise," which means to interpret behaviour or events in terms of mental states, motives and inner causes. The verb builds on "psychology," itself a compound of Greek "psyche," meaning soul or mind, and "-logia," meaning the study or discourse of something. The "-ise" ending is the common English verb suffix, borrowed through French from Greek "-izein," which turns a noun into the act of treating something in a particular way, so "psychologise" amounts to treating a situation as a matter of psychology.

Synonyms: psychologizing, analyzing psychologically, examining mentally

Antonyms: ignoring psychologically, neglecting