<p>Your first quote makes it clear that "thymology" is a wilfully abstruse word for psychology (though it's unclear why only male psychology is considered).</p>

<p>And psychology has been part of economics for as long as economics has been discussed. You can find psychology in Adam Smith and Aristotle. There was something of a barren period within the twentieth century when some economists disregarded psychology, but taking a historical perspective of the study of economics, that was a temporary aberration.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-09-30T14:54:39.733Z
Generally when people use "Men" in these contexts, it refers not to a specific sex, but to mankind in general.
Anon
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-09-30T15:17:23.937Z
@EnergyNumbers Economics does not really deal with the "Why?" of preferences. (Unless you consider some basic results about prices and demand curves.) Preferences are accepted as existing and we build from that. Perhaps edit your answer to point out the differences between Behavioral Economics and other branches of Economics?
Giskard
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-09-30T14:39:53.170Z
2015-09-30T14:39:53.170Z
410 gone
<p>Let's all agree that the use of "thymology" is annyoing and instead call it psychology. </p>

<p>Then the answer is easy; Yes, behavioural economics looks specifically at factors that determine choice, and tries to understand what factors influence choice.</p>

<p>But, even better - psychology really studies this area! </p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-10-02T10:53:02.783Z
2015-10-02T10:53:02.783Z
Thorst
<blockquote>
  <p><strong>[Thymology] is what a man knows about the way in which people value
  different conditions,</strong> about their wishes and desires and their plans
  to realize these wishes and desires. It is the knowledge of the social
  environment in which a man lives and acts or, with historians, of a
  foreign milieu about which he has learned by studying special
  sources.[2] <strong>Why one man chooses water and another man wine is a
  thymological (or, in traditional terminology, psychological) problem.</strong></p>
</blockquote>

<hr>

<blockquote>
  <p>Thymology is a branch of history or, as Collingwood formulated it, it
  belongs in 'the sphere of history.' <strong>It deals with the mental
  activities of men that determine their actions.</strong> It deals with the
  mental processes that result in a definite kind of behavior, with the
  reactions of the mind to the conditions of the individual's
  environment. <strong>It deals with something invisible and intangible that
  cannot be perceived by the methods of the natural sciences.</strong> But the
  natural sciences must admit that this factor must be considered as
  real also from their point of view, as it is a link in a chain of
  events that result in changes in the sphere the description of which
  they consider as the specific field of their studies.[4]</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Having not studied Behavioural Economics, I wonder if they have any of their scholars or branches could be said to focus on this particular area</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-09-30T15:20:22.720Z
I could not figure out why you added the Austrian tag so I removed it. Readd it if you disagree.
Giskard
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-09-30T16:05:58.923Z
Only because Mises speaks about Thymology in his epistemological work on history, "Theory and History".
Anon
<behavioral-economics><austrian>
Is Behavioural Economics Thymological, or does any branch or scholar concern itself with Thymology?
Anon
# Is Behavioural Economics Thymological, or does any branch or scholar concern itself with Thymology?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2015-09-30)

> **[Thymology] is what a man knows about the way in which people value
> different conditions,** about their wishes and desires and their plans
> to realize these wishes and desires. It is the knowledge of the social
> environment in which a man lives and acts or, with historians, of a
> foreign milieu about which he has learned by studying special
> sources.[2] **Why one man chooses water and another man wine is a
> thymological (or, in traditional terminology, psychological) problem.**

---

> Thymology is a branch of history or, as Collingwood formulated it, it
> belongs in 'the sphere of history.' **It deals with the mental
> activities of men that determine their actions.** It deals with the
> mental processes that result in a definite kind of behavior, with the
> reactions of the mind to the conditions of the individual's
> environment. **It deals with something invisible and intangible that
> cannot be perceived by the methods of the natural sciences.** But the
> natural sciences must admit that this factor must be considered as
> real also from their point of view, as it is a link in a chain of
> events that result in changes in the sphere the description of which
> they consider as the specific field of their studies.[4]

Having not studied Behavioural Economics, I wonder if they have any of their scholars or branches could be said to focus on this particular area

**Tags:** behavioral-economics, austrian

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: I could not figure out why you added the Austrian tag so I removed it. Readd it if you disagree.  
> **username_0**: Only because Mises speaks about Thymology in his epistemological work on history, "Theory and History".  

---

## 2 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2015-09-30. Score: 3

Your first quote makes it clear that "thymology" is a wilfully abstruse word for psychology (though it's unclear why only male psychology is considered).

And psychology has been part of economics for as long as economics has been discussed. You can find psychology in Adam Smith and Aristotle. There was something of a barren period within the twentieth century when some economists disregarded psychology, but taking a historical perspective of the study of economics, that was a temporary aberration.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: Generally when people use "Men" in these contexts, it refers not to a specific sex, but to mankind in general.  
> **username_1**: @EnergyNumbers Economics does not really deal with the "Why?" of preferences. (Unless you consider some basic results about prices and demand curves.) Preferences are accepted as existing and we build from that. Perhaps edit your answer to point out the differences between Behavioral Economics and other branches of Economics?  

---

### Answer by username_3 on 2015-10-02. Score: 1

Let's all agree that the use of "thymology" is annyoing and instead call it psychology.

Then the answer is easy; Yes, behavioural economics looks specifically at factors that determine choice, and tries to understand what factors influence choice.

But, even better - psychology really studies this area!


---

