psychological
- 1Relating to the mind and behavior, or to the mental, emotional, and behavioral traits of a person, group, or activity.
The coach studied the psychological factors that helped athletes stay calm under pressure.
Researchers documented the psychological impact of long-term isolation on the crew.
Oppositephysical, physiological
Note
Here the word describes inner life itself, and it pairs naturally with physical. Complications can be psychological or long-term physical, and well-being can be psychological as well as bodily. In a psychological thriller, it names a genre whose suspense comes from what the characters think and fear.
- 2Concerned with psychology (the scientific study of the mind) and with its theories, methods, and findings.
The journal publishes psychological research alongside studies in neuroscience.
His psychological training prepared him to design careful behavioral experiments.
Note
Built from psychology plus the ending -ical, it points to the science itself rather than to anyone's mind. A psychological evaluation is one carried out with the field's methods. That is the test for telling it apart from the mind-and-behavior meaning: ask whether a discipline is involved. In neither use does it take degrees, so nothing is more psychological than something else.
- 3Lacking any objective or reasonably logical basis and existing only as a product of the mind.
The barrier to finishing was purely psychological, not a matter of actual ability.
Experts argued the symptoms were psychological rather than caused by the medication.
Similarmental, imaginary, psychosomatic
Note
The dismissive use, often sharpened by purely or merely: what is psychological here exists only in the mind. Talk about prices relies on it. A psychological ceiling is a level, such as one just under 100 dollars, that holds for no reason beyond how the number feels. Unlike the mind-and-behavior meaning, it implies the thing has no objective footing.
Practice
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Origin
Formed from "psychology" combined with the suffix "-ical."