differential psychology
- noun
- /ˌdɪf.əˈrɛn.ʃəl saɪˈkɒl.ə.dʒi/
:
psicología diferencial
- She chose to specialize in differential psychology to better understand variations in intelligence.
Examples
-
Differential psychology examines how individual differences in intelligence can impact academic performance.
-
Advances in differential psychology have improved methods for measuring personality traits.
-
Differential psychology focuses on how and why individuals differ in their mental processes.
-
The field of differential psychology focuses on individual differences.
-
Many researchers study differential psychology to understand personality traits.
-
Research in differential psychology explores the variations in personality traits among different age groups.
-
Many universities offer courses in differential psychology to teach students about human behavior and individual differences.
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase is compositionally built: 'differential' (relating to differences) modifies 'psychology' (the study of mind/behavior), so the combined meaning — the study of psychological differences between people — follows directly from the constituents. This adjective+noun naming pattern is common cross-linguistically and uses standard semantic composition, so a B1 learner who knows both words can reasonably infer the MWE's meaning.
Etymology
Differential psychology comes from differential, meaning 'differences', and psychology, the 'study of the mind'. Imagine scientists comparing people like lines on a chart to see what varies between them; this image shows why the term means the study of how and why people differ.
