What does "psychohistory" mean?

The scientific study of psychology and motivation in history.

What is a synonym for "psychohistory"?

Common synonyms include: cliodynamics.

Pronounced //sʌɪkəʊˈhɪstəɹi//.

//sʌɪkəʊˈhɪstəɹi// noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Noun

1
The scientific study of psychology and motivation in history. countable, uncountable
"Pick argues that the general rejection of psycho-history by practising historians has left the story of ‘historical’ psychoanalysis on the shelf."
2
A fictional mathematical statistical science of large population dynamics, where mathematical models can predict general futures, based on activities of quadrillions of individuals. The fictional science first occurs in Asimov's 1950s Foundation series, and has since been picked up by other authors for other works. countable, uncountable

"Pick argues that the general rejection of psycho-history by practising historians has left the story of ‘historical’ psychoanalysis on the shelf."

From psycho- + history. * The science-fictional usage was created by Isaac Asimov in the mid-20th century.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.