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Zeitgeist

n. German, “spirit of the times”: a term used by German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770–1831) to refer to a type of supraindividual mind at work in the world and manifest in the cultural worldview (see Weltanschauung) that pervades the ideas, attitudes, and feelings of a particular society in a specific historical period. Used in this way, the term has a distinctly deterministic flavor. A Zeitgeist theory of history stresses the role of such situational factors as economics, technology, and social influences in contrast to the great man theory of history. The term was first used in English by British poet and literary critic Matthew Arnold (1822–1888) and introduced to psychology in 1929 by Edwin G. Boring, who used the concept as an organizing theme for his discussions of creativity, scientific change, and historiography. See also Ortgeist.

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Psychology term of the day

March 29th 2024