psychologistn.
/sʌɪˈkɒlədʒɪst/, U.S. /saɪˈkɑlədʒəst/ 1. In early use: †a philosopher of or writer on the soul or spirit (obsolete). In later use: an expert or specialist in psychology; a person who studies or carries out research in psychology, or who practises clinical psychology.Frequently with preceding distinguishing word (cf. psychology n. 2a): for established compounds see the first element.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > psychology > [noun] > student or teacher of psychology
psychologist1727
pneumatologist1801
psychologer1811
psychologue1842
psychologian1860
psychological1863
psychology student1890
psychist1896
psycho1925
psych1946
1727 N. Bailey Universal Etymol. Eng. Dict. II Psychologist, one who treats concerning the soul.
1772 F. Blackburne Hist. View Controversy conc. Intermediate State (ed. 2) 329 (heading) Advantages given to unbelievers by the Psychologists.
1773 tr. J. P. Marat Philos. Ess. Man I. Pref. p. xiv Of all those who treated thereon, he [sc. Montesquieu] was the first that despised the unintellible Jargon of the Psycologists [Fr. Psychologistes], and reduced the study of Man to that of nature.
c1796 Hist. Misc. Curiosities & Rarities Nature & Art III. 319 An ample and not unfruitful field of speculation for the naturalist and the psychologist.
1800 A. Geddes Apol. for Rom. Catholics ii. 69 We ourselves are not agreed about the seat of Infallibility, any more than psychologists are about the seat of the soul.
1817 S. T. Coleridge Biographia Literaria I. vi. 113 Many eminent physiologists and psychologists visited the town.
1834 R. Southey Doctor I. 123 A metaphysician, or as some of my contemporaries would affect to say a psychologist.
1871 M. Collins Marquis & Merchant II. iv. 91 Whether dreams are ever preadmonitions is one of the most vexed questions of the psychologists.
1914 Oakland (Calif.) Tribune 23 June 8/3 Miss Vinnie C. Hicks, clinical psychologist in the Oakland schools, will be one of the participants.
1924 G. B. Shaw St. Joan p. xvii The diverse manners in which our imaginations dramatize the approach of the superpersonal forces is a problem for the psychologist, not for the historian.
1964 Jrnl. Marriage & Family 26 81/1 The psychologist felt that this was a passive-aggressive personality, passive-aggressive type, with underlying paranoid features.
2004 Independent 12 Jan. 11/2 An Army psychologist..suggested he transfer to other, less stressful duties until the panic attack subsided and he could return to his regular job.
2. More generally: a person who has, or claims to have, insight into the motivation of human behaviour.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > psychology > tendency to psychological explanation > [noun] > amateur psychologist
psychologist1896
1896 W. Cucher Theatr. World 56 In a word (though he would probably not know the meaning of the word), he must be a profound psychologist.
1900 Mod. Lang. Notes 15 106/1 Wordsworth is a natural psychologist,—not indeed by training, but by the structure and habit of his mind.
1918 W. M. Kirkland Joys of being Woman i. 3 The romance of Adam and Eve was written by so subtle a psychologist that I feel sure the novelist must have been a woman.
1951 A. P. Herbert Number Nine xv. 203 Why on earth had he answered all those perilous questions?.. The ‘mad Admiral’..must be a pretty subtle psychologist.
1995 Gettysburg (Pa.) Times 10 June a11/2 Besides sports and interviewing, his chart shows that he is a natural psychologist, as are many other Aquarians.
Compounds
psychologist's fallacy n. (also psychologists' fallacy) the confusion of the thought of the observer with that which is being observed; the assumption that motives, etc., present in one's own mind are also present in that of the subject under investigation.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > psychology > [noun] > student or teacher of psychology > fallacy of
psychologist's fallacy1890
1890 W. James Princ. Psychol. I. vii. 196 The great snare of the psychologist is the confusion of his own standpoint with that of the mental fact about which he is making his report. I shall hereafter call this the ‘psychologist's fallacy’ par excellence.
1902 J. M. Baldwin Dict. Philos. & Psychol. II. 382/2 Psychologist's fallacy, the fallacy, to which the psychologist is peculiarly liable, of reading into the mind he is examining what is true of his own; especially of reading into lower minds what is true of higher.
1955 Jrnl. Hist. Ideas 16 351 To say that pictures on the retina are the proper objects of sight is to commit ‘the psychologists' fallacy’, a fallacy to which the writers of optics were prone, and which Berkeley was particularly anxious to avoid.
1984 Acad. of Managem. Rev. 9 228/1 The life cycle model clearly reveals the psychologist's fallacy: continuing a project in the face of a financial setback is not always irrational.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2007; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1727