A form of speech or writing that uses psychological jargon in a misleading way
This article is about the neologism. For the Frou Frou song, see Details (album). For the Alan Parsons Project song, see Eye in the Sky (album).
Part of a series on
Psychology
Outline
History
Subfields
Basic psychology
Abnormal
Affective neuroscience
Affective science
Behavioral genetics
Behavioral neuroscience
Behaviorism
Cognitive/Cognitivism
Cognitive neuroscience
Social
Comparative
Cross-cultural
Cultural
Developmental
Differential
Ecological
Evolutionary
Experimental
Gestalt
Intelligence
Mathematical
Moral
Neuropsychology
Perception
Personality
Psycholinguistics
Psychophysiology
Quantitative
Social
Theoretical
Applied psychology
Anomalistic
Applied behavior analysis
Assessment
Clinical
Coaching
Community
Consumer
Counseling
Critical
Educational
Ergonomics
Feminist
Forensic
Health
Humanistic
Industrial and organizational
Legal
Media
Medical
Military
Music
Occupational health
Pastoral
Political
Positive
Psychometrics
Psychotherapy
Religion
School
Sport and exercise
Suicidology
Systems
Traffic
Concepts
Behavior
Behavioral engineering
Behavioral genetics
Behavioral neuroscience
Cognition
Competence
Consciousness
Consumer behavior
Emotions
Feelings
Human factors and ergonomics
Intelligence
Mind
Psychology of religion
Psychometrics
Lists
Counseling topics
Disciplines
Organizations
Outline
Psychologists
Psychotherapies
Research methods
Schools of thought
Timeline
Topics
Psychology portal
v
t
e
Psychobabble (a portmanteau of "psychology" or "psychoanalysis" and "babble") is a derogatory name for therapy speech or writing that uses psychological jargon, buzzwords, and esoteric language to create an impression of truth or plausibility. The term implies that the speaker or writer lacks the experience and understanding necessary for the proper use of psychological terms. Additionally, it may imply that the content of speech deviates markedly from common sense and good judgement.
Some buzzwords that are commonly heard in psychobabble have come into widespread use in business management, motivational seminars, self-help, folk psychology, and popular psychology.
Frequent use of psychobabble can associate a clinical, psychological word with meaningless, or less meaningful, buzzword definitions. Laypersons often use such words when they describe life problems as clinical maladies even though the clinical terms are not meaningful or appropriate.
Most professions develop a unique vocabulary or jargon which, with frequent use, may become commonplace buzzwords. Professional psychologists may reject the "psychobabble" label when it is applied to their own special terminology.
The allusions to psychobabble imply that some psychological concepts lack precision and have become meaningless or pseudoscientific.
Psychobabble (a portmanteau of "psychology" or "psychoanalysis" and "babble") is a derogatory name for therapy speech or writing that uses psychological...
tour of YouTube and Vine personalities. Oakley has a podcast called Psychobabble with his best friend, Korey Kuhl. It launched in 2014 and as of 2022...
one; The misuse and overuse of technical psychological terms is called psychobabble. Sometimes psychological jargon is used to dress up sales pitches, self-help...
million volumes sold. The book has been called everything from "New Age psychobabble" to "a Satanic seduction" to "The New Age Bible". According to Olav Hammer...
Award 2020. In 2018, she won The Moth Short Story Prize for her story "Psychobabble". In 2019, she won an O. Henry Award for her short story "Prime". She...
and Bill Clinton being described as "the man who brought Oprah-style psychobabble and misty confessions to politics". Newsweek stated: "Every time a politician...
writing in The Guardian, Kenan Malik countered in 2020 that the book is "psychobabble" which counter-productively shifts the focus from structural change to...
linguistically prescriptive and formal in tone. Therapy speak is related to psychobabble and buzzwords. It is vulnerable to miscommunication and relationship...
'messed-up people' are, and this causes Charlie Bartlett to lean on psychobabble about disaffection that it initially tries so hard to mock. The film's...
misspelled Weltanschauung"). He indulges in what Watterson calls "pop psychobabble" to justify his destructive rampages and shift blame to his parents,...
Renfield's syndrome with the intent to parody what he viewed as 1980s psychobabble, before the joke was taken seriously in popular culture. The original...
as his views were being "exposed as a lot of scientifically-sounding psychobabble". More broadly, Chopra has attacked skepticism as a whole, writing in...
film is "A nasty exploitation flick tarted up with art-house actors and psychobabble". "Downloading Nancy". Box Office Mojo. IMDb. Retrieved July 30, 2021...
Formats: LP, CD, cassette 42 Paint It in Gold Released: 8 June 2009 Labels: Psychobabble Formats: CD, digital download — "—" denotes releases that did not chart...
2017). "Pop Shop Podcast: Tyler Oakley and Korey Kuhl Dish Divas & 'Psychobabble,' Plus AJR Chat 'Weak' & New Tour". Billboard. Retrieved March 19, 2024...
a perceived tendency of the self-help movement to talk and think in psychobabble. Some, such as the phrase "stinkin' thinkin'", are taken from common...
Records The Dirt (1994) Intense Records Magdalen (2007) self-released Psychobabble (2013) self-released "// reviews". Victoryzine.com. Archived from the...
Global Information
