palaeopsychologypaleopsychologyn.
/ˌpalɪəʊsʌɪˈkɒlədʒi/, /ˌpeɪlɪəʊsʌɪˈkɒlədʒi/, U.S. /ˈˌpeɪlioʊˌsaɪˈkɑlədʒi/ The study of the evolutionary development of the mind, or of the mind as it was in earlier stages of human development; the psychological characteristics of the prehistoric human mind.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > psychology > behaviourism > study of origins > [noun]
palaeopsychology1916
1916 N.Y. Med. Jrnl. 104 1077/1 We wish to maintain the idea that there may be other types of fossils to be studied than those derived from plants and animals, namely thought fossils, and that to paleobotany and to paleozoology we may add a science of paleopsychology.
1967 Current Anthropol. 17 676/1 Moving into the past or into a different evolutionary stage, the necessity of palaeopsychology and empathy becomes unavoidable.
1988 Antiquity 62 691/1 ‘Rock-art’ is abstracted and treated as the subject-matter of aesthetics, or as evidence for some generalized ‘palaeopsychology’.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2005; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1916