English edit

Etymology edit

psycho- +‎ -metry

Noun edit

psychometry (countable and uncountable, plural psychometries)

  1. (parapsychology) The paranormal ability to discover information about an object's past, and especially about its past owners, merely by handling it.
    • 1925 July – 1926 May, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “(please specify the chapter number)”, in The Land of Mist (eBook no. 0601351h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg Australia, published April 2019:
      "Their power and knowledge are as closely limited as ours. But this is not a matter for the spirit people. What I did then was psychometry, which, so far as we know, is a power of the human soul."
  2. (psychology) The use of psychological tests to measure intelligence, abilities, attitudes, and personality traits.
    • 1960, Indian Journal of Psychology, XXXV-XXXVII, page 25:
      In psychometry and paedometry his original contributions will be little unless he had equipped himself well with the subjects like mathematics and statistics.
    • ibidem, page 27:
      Again, barring in a few universities psychometry and physiological psychology are not regarded as compulsory papers.

Synonyms edit

  • (the use of psychological tests to measure traits): psychometrics

Translations edit

See also edit