--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Historians are presumed to be unable to…" description: "\"Historians are presumed to be unable to \"do psychology,\" which is \"mystical\" anyway, so they are forced to accept the most \"rational\" explanations... \"..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6e3/lloyd-demause-33641_accepting_historians-are-presumed-to-be-unable-to_2980165.jpg" --- # Historians are presumed to be unable to "do psychology,"… ![“Historians are presumed to be unable to "do psychology," which is "mystical" anyway, so they are forced to accept the most "rational" explanations... "and it is on these that history is built.” quote by Lloyd deMause](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6e3/lloyd-demause-33641_accepting_historians-are-presumed-to-be-unable-to_2980165.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6e3/lloyd-demause-33641_accepting_historians-are-presumed-to-be-unable-to_2980165.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6e3/lloyd-demause-33641_accepting_historians-are-presumed-to-be-unable-to_2980165.jpg) > “Historians are presumed to be unable to "do psychology," which is "mystical" anyway, so they are forced to accept the most "rational" explanations... "and it is on these that history is built.” [Lloyd deMause](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lloyd-demause/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Historians avoid psychological analysis, deeming it mystical, and thus rely on rational explanations to build history. **In simple terms:** Historians favor rational over psychological. Key Takeaway Integrate psychology into historical study. Themes history psychology methodology Mood critical inquisitive Type academic reflective When to use this quote - academic curricula - public history projects Key Concepts cognitive bias cultural analysis Questions to Reflect On - What benefits does psychology bring to history? - How to balance rational and psychological approaches? A Different Perspective Psychological insights may lack concrete evidence. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Historians](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/historians/) [History](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/history/) [Mystical](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mystical/) [Psychology](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/psychology/) ## Related quotes > [“Sane people played by the rules. They looked for rational explanations and solutions in an insane universe.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sherrilyn-kenyon/sane-people-played-by-the-rules-they-looked-for-rational-explanations/) [Sherrilyn Kenyon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sherrilyn-kenyon/) > [“PROLOGUE: WHY I READ It’s not a question I can completely answer. There are abundant reasons, some of them worse than others and many…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendy-lesser/prologue-why-i-read-it-s-not-a-question-i-can-completely-answer-there/) [Wendy Lesser](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wendy-lesser/) > [Geologists complain that when they want specimens of the common rocks of a country, they receive curious spars; just so, historians give us the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-whately/geologists-complain-that-when-they-want-specimens-of-the-common-rocks/) [Richard Whately](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-whately/) > [If you will protest courageously, and yet with dignity and Christian love, when the history books are written in future generations, the historians will…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/if-you-will-protest-courageously-and-yet-with-dignity-and-christian/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [The poets have familiarized more people with history than have the historians.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/barbara-tuchman/the-poets-have-familiarized-more-people-with-history-than-have-the/) [Barbara Tuchman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/barbara-tuchman/) > [The simplest things to see are the things we are most blind to.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/milliton-munney/the-simplest-things-to-see-are-the-things-we-are-most-blind-to/) [Milliton MUNNEY](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/milliton-munney/) > [“An ambitious freshman congresswoman demanded funding to put a public historian in every zip code in the country, a correction for what she called…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/danielle-evans/an-ambitious-freshman-congresswoman-demanded-funding-to-put-a-public/) [Danielle Evans](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/danielle-evans/) > [ I have learned more \[from Balzac\] than from all the professional historians, economists, and statisticians put together. ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-engels/i-have-learned-more-from-balzac-than-from-all-the-professional/) [Friedrich Engels](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-engels/) > [The quarrel of the sociologists with the historians is that the latter have learned so much about how to do it that they have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/the-quarrel-of-the-sociologists-with-the-historians-is-that-the/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Well goodness knows, goodness knows what historians will write.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexander-downer/well-goodness-knows-goodness-knows-what-historians-will-write/) [Alexander Downer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexander-downer/) > [Since history has no properly scientific value, its only purpose is educative. And if historians neglect to educate the public, if they fail to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/g-m-trevelyan/since-history-has-no-properly-scientific-value-its-only-purpose-is/) [G. M. Trevelyan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/g-m-trevelyan/) > [“So it appears to me, for when he could and should have wielded his pen to praise the virtues of so good a knight,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/miguel-de-cervantes/so-it-appears-to-me-for-when-he-could-and-should-have-wielded-his-pen/) [Miguel de Cervantes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/miguel-de-cervantes/) > [“I know quite well why I became a historian… It was because dissension was frowned upon when I was a child: 'Don't argue, Claudia,'…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/penelope-lively/i-know-quite-well-why-i-became-a-historian-it-was-because-dissension/) [Penelope Lively](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/penelope-lively/) > [In history as it comes to be written, there is usually some Spirit of the Age which historians can define, but the shape of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-wood-krutch/in-history-as-it-comes-to-be-written-there-is-usually-some-spirit-of/) [Joseph Wood Krutch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-wood-krutch/) > [We find few historians who have been diligent enough in their search for truth; it is their common method to take on trust what…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dryden/we-find-few-historians-who-have-been-diligent-enough-in-their-search/) [John Dryden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dryden/) ## More by Lloyd deMause > [I have been accused of being ignorant of economics (although I am the founder and Chairman of the Board of a company which publishes…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lloyd-demause/i-have-been-accused-of-being-ignorant-of-economics-although-i-am-the/) [Lloyd deMause](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lloyd-demause/) > [There is, for instance, only one page at the beginning of Runciman's three-volume History of the Crusades describing how the participants decided to begin…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lloyd-demause/there-is-for-instance-only-one-page-at-the-beginning-of-runciman-s/) [Lloyd deMause](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lloyd-demause/) > [Written history may, in the course of its narrative, use some of the laws established by the various sciences, but its own task remains…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lloyd-demause/written-history-may-in-the-course-of-its-narrative-use-some-of-the/) [Lloyd deMause](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lloyd-demause/) > [Indeed, my conclusion from a lifetime of psychohistorical study of childhood and society is that the history of humanity is founded upon the abuse…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lloyd-demause/indeed-my-conclusion-from-a-lifetime-of-psychohistorical-study-of/) [Lloyd deMause](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lloyd-demause/) > [“Why Cults Terrorize and Kill Children – LLOYD DEMAUSE The Journal of Psychohistory 21 (4) 1994 "Extending these local figures to a national estimate…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lloyd-demause/why-cults-terrorize-and-kill-children-lloyd-demause-the-journal-of/) [Lloyd Demause](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lloyd-demause/) > [Sociologists and historians have avoided looking for the family sources of wars and social violence. Whenever a group produces murderers, the early parental relationship…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lloyd-demause/sociologists-and-historians-have-avoided-looking-for-the-family/) [Lloyd deMause](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lloyd-demause/) > [Anthropologists have promulgated the myth of the peaceful savage so effectively that when actual deaths by war are tabulated for prestate simple societies, one…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lloyd-demause/anthropologists-have-promulgated-the-myth-of-the-peaceful-savage-so/) [Lloyd deMause](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lloyd-demause/) > [Psychohistory, like psychoanalysis, is a science in which the researcher's feelings are as much or even more a part of his research equipment than…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lloyd-demause/psychohistory-like-psychoanalysis-is-a-science-in-which-the/) [Lloyd deMause](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lloyd-demause/) > [Whole great chunks of written history are of little value to the psychohistorian, while other vast areas which have been much neglected by historians…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lloyd-demause/whole-great-chunks-of-written-history-are-of-little-value-to-the/) [Lloyd deMause](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lloyd-demause/) > [Psychohistory, as a science, will always be problem-centered, while history will always remain period-centered. They are simply two different tasks.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lloyd-demause/psychohistory-as-a-science-will-always-be-problem-centered-while/) [Lloyd deMause](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lloyd-demause/) > [“Whenever a group produces murderers, the early parental relationship must have been abusive and neglectful. Yet this elementary truth has not even begun to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lloyd-demause/whenever-a-group-produces-murderers-the-early-parental-relationship/) [Lloyd deMause](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lloyd-demause/) > [The evolution of culture is ultimately determined by the amount of love, understanding and freedom experienced by its children... Every abandonment, every betrayal, every…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lloyd-demause/the-evolution-of-culture-is-ultimately-determined-by-the-amount-of/) [Lloyd deMause](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lloyd-demause/) > [The source of most human violence and suffering has been a hidden children's holocaust throughout history, whereby billions of innocent human beings have been…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lloyd-demause/the-source-of-most-human-violence-and-suffering-has-been-a-hidden/) [Lloyd deMause](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lloyd-demause/) [Explore all 14 Lloyd deMause quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lloyd-demause/) ## More Accepting quotes > [From Augustine down, theologians have tried to compel people to accept their special interpretation of the Scripture, and the tortures of the inquisition, the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matilda-joslyn-gage/from-augustine-down-theologians-have-tried-to-compel-people-to-accept/) [Matilda Joslyn Gage](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matilda-joslyn-gage/) > [Laughing, laughing, laughing, laughing! It is the jester! A voice from the Void, to cheer poor Cicero! I accept your gift, dearest Night Mother.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcus-tullius-cicero/laughing-laughing-laughing-laughing-it-is-the-jester-a-voice-from-the/) [Marcus Tullius Cicero](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcus-tullius-cicero/) > [This duo inside of me causes the perfect opportunity to live and learn twice as fast as those who choose to accept simplicity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tupac-shakur/this-duo-inside-of-me-causes-the-perfect-opportunity-to-live-and/) [Tupac Shakur](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tupac-shakur/) > [There is something about the South that accepts the supernatural. If you don't accept it and you're having a conversation with someone who does,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alice-englert/there-is-something-about-the-south-that-accepts-the-supernatural-if/) [Alice Englert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alice-englert/) > [We only enter into the full life if our faith gives thanks. Because how else do we accept His free gift of salvation if…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ann-voskamp/we-only-enter-into-the-full-life-if-our-faith-gives-thanks-because/) [Ann Voskamp](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ann-voskamp/) > [Don't be bitter. Everybody suffers. If you can accept your suffering then you will understand other people better. Be grateful for pain. Love life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-colbert/don-t-be-bitter-everybody-suffers-if-you-can-accept-your-suffering/) [Stephen Colbert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-colbert/) > [It takes an unusually philosophic mind to accept that all one’s suffering might be to no end, really, in the larger scheme of things.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/it-takes-an-unusually-philosophic-mind-to-accept-that-all-one-s/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [No nation being under another nation can accept gifts, and kick at the responsibility attached to those gifts, imposed by the conquering nation.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mahatma-gandhi/no-nation-being-under-another-nation-can-accept-gifts-and-kick-at-the/) [Mahatma Gandhi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mahatma-gandhi/) > [Even with clothing naked animals, there were people who wanted to send in money. A woman in Santa Barbara, California, sent a $40,000 check.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-abel/even-with-clothing-naked-animals-there-were-people-who-wanted-to-send/) [Alan Abel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-abel/) > [Society understands the architecture of academia and knows there are relevant qualifications in different fields, and the media accepts the idea of specialisations and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jay-griffiths/society-understands-the-architecture-of-academia-and-knows-there-are/) [Jay Griffiths](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jay-griffiths/) > [Whatever your conscious mind assumes and believes to be true, your subconscious mind will accept and bring to pass. Believe in good fortune, divine…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-murphy/whatever-your-conscious-mind-assumes-and-believes-to-be-true-your/) [Joseph Murphy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-murphy/) > [Losing someone is easy, but accepting it is hard.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/losing-someone-is-easy-but-accepting-it-is-hard/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [… and so he tried to accept the ache in his heart as what Dr. Larch would call the common symptoms of normal life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-irving/and-so-he-tried-to-accept-the-ache-in-his-heart-as-what-dr-larch/) [John Irving](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-irving/) > [I think what was special about 'Music by Prudence' was the classic story of the title subject's life path - from being an outcast…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roger-ross-williams/i-think-what-was-special-about-music-by-prudence-was-the-classic/) [Roger Ross Williams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roger-ross-williams/) > [As my films are born at the moment when they are reflected into another person's mind and memories, there are no misconceptions. I totally…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pirjo-honkasalo/as-my-films-are-born-at-the-moment-when-they-are-reflected-into/) [Pirjo Honkasalo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pirjo-honkasalo/) Browse all 6,788 Accepting quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Historians are presumed to be unable to \"do psychology,\" which is \"mystical\" anyway, so they are forced to accept the most \"rational\" explanations... \"and it is on these that history is built.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Lloyd deMause" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lloyd-demause/historians-are-presumed-to-be-unable-to-do-psychology-which-is/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Accepting" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lloyd-demause/historians-are-presumed-to-be-unable-to-do-psychology-which-is/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6e3/lloyd-demause-33641_accepting_historians-are-presumed-to-be-unable-to_2980165.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6e3/lloyd-demause-33641_accepting_historians-are-presumed-to-be-unable-to_2980165.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6e3/lloyd-demause-33641_accepting_historians-are-presumed-to-be-unable-to_2980165.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Historians are presumed to be unable to \"do psychology,\" which is \"mystical\" anyway, so they are forced to…” — Lloyd deMause", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Lloyd deMause", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lloyd-demause/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Historians are presumed to be unable...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lloyd-demause/historians-are-presumed-to-be-unable-to-do-psychology-which-is/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lloyd-demause/historians-are-presumed-to-be-unable-to-do-psychology-which-is/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```