1. the study of historical events and figures using psychological principles and methods
Usage: academic; interdisciplinary field
2. a fictional science that combines history, sociology, and statistics to predict the future behavior of large populations
Usage: science fiction; from Isaac Asimov’s Foundation series

Examples

• The professor specialized in psychohistory, analyzing Napoleon’s childhood trauma and its impact on his military campaigns.
• Her psychohistory research examined how collective anxiety influenced political movements in the 1930s.
• The university offered a graduate course in psychohistory that combined psychology and historical methodology.
• In Asimov’s novels, psychohistory could predict the fall of galactic empires centuries in advance.
• The fictional science of psychohistory required populations of billions to make accurate predictions.
• Scholars debate whether real psychohistory can ever achieve the precision described in science fiction.