The word psyche means

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In psychology, the psyche is the totality of the human mind, conscious and unconscious.^[1] Many thinkers, including Carl Jung, also include in this definition the overlap and tension between the personal and the collective elements in man.^[2]

Psychology is the scientific or objective study of the psyche. The word has a long history of use in psychology and philosophy, dating back to ancient times, and represents one of the fundamental concepts for understanding human nature from a scientific point of view. The English word soul is sometimes used synonymously, especially in older texts.^[3]

Etymology[edit]

The basic meaning of the Greek word ψυχή (psyche) was «life», although unsupported,^[4] some have claimed it is derived from the verb ψύχω (psycho, «to blow»).^[5] Derived meanings included «spirit», «soul», «ghost», and ultimately «self» in the sense of «conscious personality» or «psyche».^[6]

Ancient psychology[edit]

The idea of the psyche is central to the philosophy of Plato. Scholars translate the Platonic conceptualization of the term as «soul» in the sense that he believed that it is immortal.^[7] In his Phaedo, Plato has Socrates give four arguments for the immortality of the soul and life after death following the separation of the soul from the body.^[8] Plato’s Socrates also states that after death the Psyche is better able to achieve wisdom and experience the Platonic forms since it is unhindered by the body.^[9]

The Greek philosopher Aristotle wrote an influential treatise on the psyche, called in Greek Περὶ Ψυχῆς (Peri Psyches), in Latin De Anima and in English On the Soul. In this work, he used the concept of the soul to explain certain functions.^[10] Since — for him — the soul is motion, it needs an explanatory principle for bodily motion.^[10] Aristotle’s theory of the «three souls (psyches)» (vegetal, animal, and rational) would rule the field of psychology until the 19th century. Prior to Aristotle, a number of Greek writings used the term psyche in a less precise sense.^[11] In late antiquity, Galenic medicine developed the idea of three «spirits» (pneuma) corresponding to Aristotle’s three souls. The pneuma psychikon corresponded to the rational soul. The other two pneuma were the pneuma physicon and the pneuma zoticon.

Medieval psychology[edit]

The term psyche was Latinized to anima, which became one of the basic terms used in medieval psychology. Anima would have traditionally been rendered in English as «soul» but in modern usage the term «psyche» is preferable.^[12]

Phenomenology[edit]

19th century psychologists such as Franz Brentano developed the concept of the psyche in a more subjective direction.

Psychoanalysis[edit]

In psychoanalysis and other forms of depth psychology, the psyche refers to the forces in an individual that influence thought, behavior and personality.^[13]

Freudian school[edit]

Sigmund Freud, the father of psychoanalysis, believed that the psyche—he used the word Seele (‘soul’, but also ‘psyche’) throughout his writings—was composed of three components:^[14]

• The id, which represents the instinctual drives of an individual and remains largely unconscious. It does not respect the rules of society.
• The super-ego, which represents a person’s conscience and their internalization of societal norms and morality.
• The ego, which is conscious and serves to integrate the drives of the id with the prohibitions of the super-ego. Freud believed this conflict to be at the heart of neurosis.

Freud’s original terms for the three components of the psyche, in German, were das Es (lit. the ‘It’), das Ich (lit. the ‘I’), and das Über-Ich (lit. the ‘Over-I’ or ‘Upper-I’). According to Bruno Bettelheim, the Latin terms were proposed by Freud’s English translators, probably to make them seem more ‘medical’ since, at the time, Latin was prevalent in medical terminology. Bettelheim deplores what he sees as pseudoscientific, Latin terms.^[15]

Jungian school [edit]

Carl Jung wrote much of his work in German. Jung was careful to define what he meant by psyche and by soul (Seele).

I have been compelled, in my investigations into the structure of the unconscious, to make a conceptual distinction between soul and psyche. By psyche, I understand the totality of all psychic processes, conscious as well as unconscious. By soul, on the other hand, I understand a clearly demarcated functional complex that can best be described as a «personality». (Jung, 1971: Def. 48 par. 797)

[In previous translations, and in this one as well, psyche—for which Jung in the German original uses either Psyche or Seele—has been used with reference to the totality of all psychic processes (cf. Jung, Psychological Types, Def. 48); i.e., it is a comprehensive term. Soul, on the other hand, as used in the technical terminology of analytical psychology, is more restricted in meaning and refers to a «function complex» or partial personality and never to the whole psyche. It is often applied specifically to «anima» and «animus»; e.g., in this connection it is used in the composite word «soul-image» (Seelenbild). This conception of the soul is more primitive than the Christian one with which the reader is likely to be more familiar. In its Christian context it refers to «the transcendental energy in man» and «the spiritual part of man considered in its moral aspect or in relation to God.»— Editors.] (Jung, 1968: note 2 par. 9)

Cognitive psychology[edit]

The word «mind» is preferred by cognitive scientists to «psyche». The mind is a set of cognitive faculties including consciousness, perception, thinking, judgement, language and memory. It is usually defined as the faculty of an entity’s thoughts and consciousness.^[16] It holds the power of imagination, recognition, and appreciation, and is responsible for processing feelings and emotions, resulting in attitudes and actions.

See also[edit]

Notes[edit]

References[edit]

• Jung, C.G. (1968). Psychology and Alchemy, Collected Works, Volume 12, Princeton, N.J. Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-01831-6 OCLC 219856.
• Jung, C.G. (1971). Psychological Types, Collected Works, Volume 6, Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-01813-8.
• Reed, Edward S., From Soul to Mind: The Emergence of Psychology, from Erasmus Darwin to William James, Yale University Press, 1998. ISBN 0-300-07581-2
• Rohde, Erwin, Psyche: The Cult of Souls and the Belief in Immortality Among the Greeks, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1925; reprinted by Routledge, 2000. ISBN 0-415-22563-9

Further reading[edit]

• Valsiner, Jaan; Rosa, Alberto, The Cambridge Handbook of Sociocultural Psychology, Cambridge University Press, 2007. ISBN 0-521-85410-5. Cf. Chapter 1, p. 23, «The Myth and Beyond: Ontology of Psyche and Epistemology of Psychology».
• Wilson, Robert Andrew; Keil, Frank C., The MIT Encyclopedia of the Cognitive Sciences, MIT Press, 2001. ISBN 0-262-73144-4
• Snow, P.J., The Human Psyche In Love War and Enlightenment December 2009 ISBN 978-1-921555-42-8

Table of contents:

1. What does the word psyche in psychology mean?
2. What does my psyche mean?
3. How does human psyche work?
4. Why did psyche go to the underworld?
5. Why does Cupid hide his face from psyche?
6. Who was the god of love?
7. Who was the most beautiful God?
8. Did Zeus and Aphrodite have a child?
9. What is an Aphrodite person?
10. What color was Aphrodite’s hair?
11. Who did Aphrodite really love?
12. Was Aphrodite a girl?
13. Did Zeus and Aphrodite sleep together?
14. Is Aphrodite the oldest God?
15. Who were the 12 Greek Titans?
16. Who is the youngest God?
17. Who was Zeus’s favorite child?

What does the word psyche in psychology mean?

In psychology, the psyche /ˈsaɪki/ is the totality of the human mind, conscious and unconscious. … Psychology is the scientific or objective study of the psyche.

What does my psyche mean?

Another word for the place where your thoughts come from is your psyche. … Psyche comes from the Greek psykhe, which means “the soul, mind, spirit, or invisible animating entity which occupies the physical body.” That about sums the way we understand the word today.

How does human psyche work?

The human psyche is the totality of the human mind that helps us navigate through life. Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalytic theory of personality states that the three levels of our personalities are the conscious mind, the subconscious mind, and the unconscious mind.

Why did psyche go to the underworld?

Psyche’s next task was to go into hell to ask Persephone, wife of Hades, for a box of magic makeup. Thinking that she was doomed, she decided to end it all by jumping off a cliff. But a voice told her not to, and gave her instructions on making her way to hell to get the box.

Why does Cupid hide his face from psyche?

Cupid hides himself because he is a god, and also because he was ordered by Venus to kill Psyche but instead falls in love with her.

Who was the god of love?

Eros

Who was the most beautiful God?

Apollo

Did Zeus and Aphrodite have a child?

In Greek mythology, Zeus married Aphrodite to Hephaestus because he feared that her beauty would cause a war between the gods for her affection. … Ares and Aphrodite conceived as many as eight children: Deimos, Phobos, Harmonia, Adrestia and the four Erotes (Eros, Anteros, Pothos and Himeros).

What is an Aphrodite person?

Aphrodite is the ancient Greek goddess of sexual love and beauty, identified with Venus by the Romans. She was known primarily as a goddess of love and fertility and occasionally presided over marriage.

What color was Aphrodite’s hair?

Most Greek and Roman images of Aphrodite/Venus have dark hair, and arguably her most famous depiction is Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus — where she has red (or red-gold) hair. I assumed that most of the people using the red hair in the competition are thinking of that.

Who did Aphrodite really love?

Ares

Was Aphrodite a girl?

This happened because of the hierarchy between her and her lover, she became superior because she was a goddess and men were merely mortal. In Cyprus, the alleged spot of her birth, it was believed by the Greek people that Aphrodite was both male and female.

Did Zeus and Aphrodite sleep together?

Aphrodite later and of her own volition had an affair with Zeus, but his jealous wife Hera laid her hands upon the belly of the goddess and cursed their offspring with malformity. Their child was the ugly god Priapos.

Is Aphrodite the oldest God?

Aphrodite is the oldest, as she sprang forth from the sea foam where Cronus flung his dismembered father’s genitals. … Following, the children of Cronus and Rhea were born in the order Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades, Poseidon, and Zeus.

Who were the 12 Greek Titans?

According to Hesiod’s Theogony, there were 12 original Titans: the brothers Oceanus, Coeus, Crius, Hyperion, Iapetus, and Cronus and the sisters Thea, Rhea, Themis, Mnemosyne, Phoebe, and Tethys. At the instigation of Gaea the Titans rebelled against their father, who had shut them up in the underworld (Tartarus).

Who is the youngest God?

Greek Gods and GoddessesABDionysusZeus’child, youngest of the gods, god of wineAphroditegoddess of love and beautyHermesmessenger of the gods and god of commerce and thievesErosgod of loveЕщё 37 строк

Who was Zeus’s favorite child?

Athena

Last Updated:
10 Apr 2023
— Updated example sentences

душа, дух, псише, высокое зеркало на ножках

существительное

- душа, дух
- псише, высокое зеркало на ножках

глагол

- разг. подвергать психоанализу
- амер. психологически готовить себя (к состязанию и т. п.)

Словосочетания

Примеры с переводом

Возможные однокоренные слова

psychic  — психический, духовный, медиум
psychical  — психический, духовный, обладающий телепатией, обладающий телекинезом
psychism  — анимизм

Формы слова

noun
ед. ч.(singular): psyche
мн. ч.(plural): psyches