| 释义 |
psychometry|ps-, saɪˈkɒmɪtrɪ|
[f. Gr. ψῡχο- psycho- + -µετρια measuring; lit. ‘soul-’ or ‘mind-measuring’, but the application in sense 1 does violence to the etymology.]
1. The (alleged) faculty of divining, from physical contact or proximity only, the qualities or properties of an object, or of persons or things that have been in contact with it.
1854J. R. Buchanan Lect. Neurolog. Syst. Anthropol. 125 The influence of Psychometry will be highly valuable..in the selection from candidates for appointments to important offices. 1863Denton Nature's Secrets Introd. 9 Mrs. Denton, by means of this science of Psychometry, professes to be able, by putting a piece of matter..to her forehead, to see, either with her eyes closed or open, all that that piece of matter, figuratively speaking, ever saw, heard, or experienced. 1903W. T. Stead in Review of Rev. July 33/2 An experiment in psychometry. 1922E. Wallace Crimson Circle vi. 38 ‘Nothing is absurd,’ said the Commissioner quietly. ‘The science of psychometry has been practised for years.’ 1959Times Lit. Suppl. 1 May 254/4 Such objects..enjoy a semi-consciousness drawn from the human beings who have known them. In this there is an undeniable truth, as the modern practice of ‘psychometry’ proves. 1966E. Palmer Plains of Camdeboo xvii. 290 Most of us can on occasions sense atmosphere, and psychometry seems to be this power greatly developed. 1975G. W. Knight Jackson Knight i. 44, I know now, from the witness of psychometry, that inanimate objects can indeed become impregnated by qualities gathered during their past.
2. The measurement of the duration and intensity of mental states or processes. Also, psychometrics (see psychometric a. and n. B).
1879F. Galton in Brain II. 149 Psychometry..means the art of imposing measurement and number upon operations of the mind, as in the practice of determining the reaction-time of different persons. 1883Athenæum 7 July 20/2 He [Mr. F. Galton] has established by his example and initiation the science of psychometry, and pointed to the line of inquiry on which the scientific portions of psychology can alone become scientific. 1897Westm. Gaz. 29 Sept. 2/1 Dr. Scripture's experiments in the psychometry of time, energy, and space. 1971Brit. Med. Bull. XXVII. 35/1 Hughes and his colleagues are conducting further studies, including the use of electro⁓encephalography and psychometry. 1976H. M. van Praag in Advances in Drug Therapy of Mental Illness (World Health Organization) 127 The third field in which psychotropic drugs have served as a pacemaker, that of psychometry... One wants to know (that is, to measure) what it [sc. the drug] does, and what it does not do. |