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psychodynamics

American  
[sahy-koh-dahy-nam-iks] / ˌsaɪ koʊ daɪˈnæm ɪks /

noun

(used with a singular verb)
  1. any clinical approach to personality, as Freud's, that sees personality as the result of a dynamic interplay of conscious and unconscious factors.

  2. the aggregate of motivational forces, both conscious and unconscious, that determine human behavior and attitudes.

    Mythologists see the myths as having developed through the psychodynamics of the human social psyche.


psychodynamics British  
/ ˌsaɪkəʊdaɪˈnæmɪks /

noun

  1. (functioning as singular) psychol the study of interacting motives and emotions

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

Etymology

Origin of psychodynamics

First recorded in 1870–75; psycho- + dynamics

Vocabulary lists containing psychodynamics

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

In my psychotherapy practice of 30-plus years, I have not seen such a common theme of existential anxiety created not by individual psychodynamics but by profound fear about the state of the Earth.

From Seattle Times ● Sep. 8, 2023

You will gain a far better understanding of the psychodynamics of how police agencies impose their will by sitting through “Is This a Room” than you would most streamed crime procedurals.

From Washington Post ● Oct. 11, 2021

Letters are leaky in all sorts of ways — the baby wakes from the nap and cries; the air-raid siren sounds; the social mores and psychodynamics of other eras filter in.

From New York Times ● Apr. 17, 2020

He was moved not by the political promise of the era, but by the psychodynamics of an age when men and women put themselves, rather than their obligations, first.

From Slate ● May 19, 2015

For as I said before, even an ultimately developed psychodynamics can't do everything.

From The Sensitive Man by Poul William Anderson

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