Psychonomics describes an approach to

psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries betwe ...

that aims at discovering the laws (Greek: ' nomos') that govern the workings of the mind (Greek: '

psyche Psyche (''Psyché'' in French) is the Greek term for "soul" (ψυχή). Psyche may also refer to: Psychology * Psyche (psychology), the totality of the human mind, conscious and unconscious * ''Psyche'', an 1846 book about the unconscious by Car ...

'). The field is directly related to

experimental psychology Experimental psychology refers to work done by those who apply experimental methods to psychological study and the underlying processes. Experimental psychologists employ human participants and animal subjects to study a great many topics, in ...

. The word is used most prominently by the

Psychonomic Society The Psychonomic Society is an international scientific society of over 4,500 scientists in the field of experimental psychology. The mission of the Psychonomic Society is to foster the science of cognition through the advancement and communicati ...

, a society of experimental psychologists in the United States and around the world. While the aims of psychonomics are, to some extent, similar to those of

metaphysics Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that studies the fundamental nature of reality, the first principles of being, identity and change, space and time, causality, necessity, and possibility. It includes questions about the nature of conscio ...

its methods differ insofar as it takes a practical rather than theoretical approach.

External links

*http://www.psychonomic.org/ Experimental psychology {{Psych-stub