psychocentric
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˌsaɪkə(ʊ)ˈsɛntɹɪk/
ipa: /ˌsaɪkoʊˈsɛntɹɪk/
rhymes: -ɛntɹɪk
Forms: form: more psychocentric
form: most psychocentric
Etymology: The adjective is derived from psycho- (prefix meaning ‘relating to the mind or soul’) + -centric (suffix meaning ‘having a specified object at the centre, or as the focus of attention’). The noun is probably derived from the adjective.
Adjective sense 2 (“of a tourist: tending to avoid adventures and risks”) and the noun sense (“tourist who tends to avoid adventures and risks”) were coined by the American travel researcher Stanley C. Plog in a paper presented to the Southern California Chapter of the Travel Research Association on 10 October 1972, which was later published in February 1974: see the quotation.
Senses: examples: text: I have confessed that I feel drawn to you by many psychocentric influences.
ref: 1890 January 11, “His Choice”, in Pick-Me-Up, volume III, number 67, London: […] Wertheimer, Lea & Co., […]; and published by Henry Reichardt, […], →OCLC, page 244, columns 1–2:
text: For the issue between realism and subjectivism does not arise from a psychocentric predicament—a difficulty of conceiving of objects apart from any consciousness—but rather from the much more radical 'ego-centric predicament,' the difficulty of conceiving known things to exist independently of my knowing them.
ref: 1912 August, Edwin B[issel] Holt et al., “Introduction”, in The New Realism: Coöperative Studies in Philosophy, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company, →OCLC, section I (The Historical Significance of the New Realism), page 7:
text: My view is psychocentric in that a judgment which appears to have an objective reference is found psychologically to have a reference, unsuspected by the person judging, to himself. But an account of it is not a complete psychocentric exposition until one or two gaps are filled in. […] I have chosen to illustrate the psychocentric concept by means of right rather than good merely because this concept has been taken as the more fundamental in modern ethics.
ref: 1936, J[ohn] O[ulton] Wisdom, “Towards the Psychocentric Conception of Right”, in Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, volume XXXVI (New Series), London: Harrison and Sons, […], →JSTOR, →OCLC, section III, page 73:
text: [T]his alienation was a result of the introduction of rational calculation and power as a socially and economically determining factor, which implied the elimination of the Christian (and older) psychocentric traditions, faiths, social and personal relations.
ref: 1959, Liberation, New York, N.Y.: Liberation, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 12, column 2:
text: But there is a fundamental difference between Greek and Gothic sculpture, despite the very similar treatment of draperies and the human form. To the Greeks, the face was merely part of the body. The Gothic makes it the 'window of the soul'. Gothic faces are psychocentric, dominated by the soul, which speaks through the eye.
ref: 1963, Hans Weigert, “[Introduction]”, in Peter Gorge, transl., edited by Harald Busch and Bernd Lohse, Gothic Sculpture (European Sculpture), New York, N.Y.: Macmillan, →OCLC, page vii:
text: In most psychocentric religions, the cosmic forces or gods not only create and control physical processes, they are often embodied themselves; in physiocentric religions the cosmic forces, however mindless, create human consciousness and determine human will.
ref: 1990, Gavin I. Langmuir, “Physiocentric Religion”, in History, Religion, and Antisemitism, Berkeley; Los Angeles, Calif.; Oxford, Oxfordshire: University of California Press, →ISBN, part 2 (Proposals for a Historiographic Solution), page 230:
text: Surrogationalism holds that words stand for things or ideas, and therefore emphasizes the function of language. […] He [Roy Harris] likewise divides surrogationalism into two types, "reocentric", which "supposes that the things words stand for are to be located 'out there' in the world external to the individual language-user", and "psychocentric", which "supposes that what words stand for is to be located internally, that is to say in the mind of the language-user"[…].
ref: 1997, John E. Joseph, “The ‘Language Myth’ Myth: Roy Harris’s Red Herrings”, in George Wolf, Nigel Love, editors, Linguistics Inside Out: Roy Harris and His Critics (Amsterdam Studies in the Theory and History of Linguistic Science, Series IV; Current Issues in Linguistic Theory; 148), Amsterdam; Philadelphia, Pa.: John Benjamins Publishing Company, →ISBN, →ISSN, page 14:
text: In the work of individual theorists, psychocentric and reocentric assumptions are often combined in various ways. If you think that the word copper is to be defined by reference to the actual properties of a certain metal, your definition will be reocentric. But if you take it to be defined by reference to certain conceptions of, or beliefs about, a metal (whether such conceptions or beliefs are mistaken or not), your definition will be psychocentric.
ref: 2005, Roy Harris, “Introduction”, in The Semantics of Science, London; New York, N.Y.: Continuum International Publishing Group, →ISBN, page 3:
text: [I]ntensive logging would inevitably cause non-humans to suffer during the activity of logging itself and as a longer-term consequence of habitat destruction. A psychocentric ethic would count this as an ethical minus, which must be taken into account in evaluating the logging policy, in addition to how things will be for humans.
ref: 2009, Robert Charles Elliot, “Ethics and Values”, in Robert Charles Elliot, editor, Institutional Issues Involving Ethics and Justice (Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems; 3), Oxford, Oxfordshire: Eolss Publishers, →ISBN, section 5.2 (Psychocentric Ethics), page 264:
topics: human-sciences
philosophy
sciences
glosses: Primarily focused on the mind or spirit, especially as opposed to the body.
examples: text: These experts type some aerophobes as psychocentric individuals so self-focused on imaginary problems they have little energy left to enjoy life. Other fearful flyers are stymied by territory-boundedness—an unadventurous spirit.
ref: 1972, Cosmopolitan, New York, N.Y.: Hearst Corporation, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 108, column 1:
text: Members of the near-psychocentric and psychocentric segment, the remaining segment (15–20%), prefer a destination that does not exhibit its foreign culture. These tourists spend all of their time inside tourism complexes, stay for shorter periods of time, and are not big spenders. They are bargain hunters, and look for low-cost vacation spots.
ref: 1991, Ugur Yucelt, Phyllis W. Isley, “Marketing of Tourism in a Competitive World Environment”, in Erdener Kaynak, editor, International Marketing: Sociopolitical and Behavioral Aspects, Binghamton, N.Y.: International Business Press, The Haworth Press, →ISBN, section V (Special International Marketing Topics), page 369:
text: [Stanley C.] Plog (1974, 1990, 1991b) delineated personality types along a continuum ranging from allocentrism to psychocentrism. The psychocentric personality type tends toward territory boundedness, insecurity, and powerlessness. Psychocentric individuals also tend to have non-active lifestyles and are non-adventurous. In contrast, allocentric individuals tend to be self-confident, intellectually curious, and feel in control of their lives.
ref: 1995, Robert Madrigal, “Personal Values, Traveler Personality Type, and Leisure Travel Style”, in Journal of Leisure Research, volume 27, number 2, Arlington, Va.: National Recreation and Park Association, →DOI, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 14 Aug 2021, page 128:
text: Remember that whether a tourist is more psychocentric or more allocentric depends on the different motivations and the different destinations chosen by the tourist. The tourist may also oscillate between both psychocentric and allocentric choices. For example, a tourist may choose an allocentric holiday in December to a remote game reserve, but have a psychocentric short break in July to Singapore, where he or she may prefer a package tour and will stick to the touristy areas of town.
ref: 2003, “Tourism Motivation and Behaviour”, in Berendien Lubbe, editor, Tourism Management in Southern Africa, Cape Town, Western Cape: Pearson Education South Africa, published 2005, →ISBN, part 2 (The Demand for Tourism), page 38, column 2:
topics: human-sciences
lifestyle
psychology
sciences
tourism
transport
coordinate_terms: allocentric
midcentric
glosses: Of a tourist: tending to avoid adventures and risks, preferring the familiar; self-inhibiting.
Derived terms: psychocentrism