Question:
What is Psephology?
What is Psephology?
Updated On: Jul 15, 2026
- Statistical study of elections, voting, etc.
- Study of rainfall pattern
- Study of gene disorder
- Study of female prisoners
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The Correct Option is A
Approach Solution - 1
The correct option is (A): Statistical study of elections, voting, etc..
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The question asks for the meaning of the term "Psephology." This is a branch of social science that studies elections and voting behaviour using statistics. Let's check each option against that definition.
- Statistical study of elections, voting, etc.: This matches the actual meaning of psephology, a word built from the Greek "psephos" (pebble, referring to the pebbles ancient Greeks used to cast votes) combined with "-logy" (study of). Psephologists analyse voting patterns, opinion polls, and election results.
- Study of rainfall pattern: The study of rainfall and weather patterns falls under meteorology or climatology, a completely different field with no link to elections.
- Study of gene disorder: Disorders caused by genes are studied in genetics, a branch of biology, unrelated to voting or politics.
- Study of female prisoners: There is no established academic field defined this way, and it has nothing to do with the root word "psephos."
Only the first option correctly reflects the Greek origin and real-world use of the term, which centres on elections and voting.
Therefore, the correct answer is Statistical study of elections, voting, etc..
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This question asks for the meaning of "psephology." Since the term is built from a Greek root, tracing that root and how the field is actually used today is a reliable way to confirm which option matches.
- Statistical study of elections, voting, etc.: The word combines the Greek "psephos," meaning a pebble (referencing the pebbles ancient Greek citizens dropped into urns to cast votes), with the suffix "-logy," meaning study. Modern psephologists apply statistics to opinion polling, exit polls, and vote-count analysis to study and predict election outcomes, which matches this description precisely.
- Study of rainfall pattern: Rainfall and broader weather patterns are studied under meteorology, a branch of atmospheric science with no relation to the Greek root "psephos" or to voting.
- Study of gene disorder: Genetic disorders fall under medical genetics, a life-science discipline built on entirely different Greek and Latin roots relating to heredity, not elections.
- Study of female prisoners: This is not an established academic field at all, and no term derived from "psephos" has ever referred to incarceration or prison demographics.
Tracing the Greek origin of the word back to its use in real election forecasting confirms that only the first option matches both its etymology and its modern application.
Therefore, the correct answer is Statistical study of elections, voting, etc..
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Top CLAT Current Affairs Questions
- On 7th October 2023, an armed conflict broke out between Israel and Hamas-led Palestinian militants from the Gaza Strip[o] after the latter launched a multi-pronged invasion of southern Israel. After clearing Hamas militants, the Israeli military retaliated by conducting an extensive aerial bombardment campaign on Gazan targets and followed up with a largescale ground invasion of Gaza. More than 1,400 Israelis, mostly civilians, and more than 10,000 Palestinians have been killed in the fighting. Over 240 Israelis and foreign nationals were taken hostage and brought into the Gaza Strip.
The Hamas-led attack began in the morning of 7th October, as Palestinian militants in Gaza launched a barrage of over 5,000 rockets against Israeli cities and kibbutzim while some 3,000 Palestinian militants breached the Gaza-Israel barrier. Over 1,000 Israeli civilians were killed in more than a dozen massacres, including the Re’im music festival massacre, and military bases were attacked. Over 200 civilians and Israeli soldiers were captured or abducted and taken to the Gaza Strip. At least 44 countries, mostly from the Western world, characterized the massacres of civilians as terrorism. Hamas declared that the invasion was carried out in response to the ‘‘desecration of the Al-Aqsa Mosque’’, the Gaza Strip blockade, the construction of Israeli settlements, and Israeli settler violence against Palestinians in the West Bank.
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I have seen the photo in which our moon lander has firmly set its foot on the moon like Angad. On one hand is the confidence of Vikram while on the other hand is the bravery of Pragyan. Our Pragyan is continuously leaving its footprints on the moon. The pictures taken from different cameras, which have just been released, and I have had the privilege of seeing, are indeed amazing. For the first time, since the beginning of human civilization, for the first time in the history of lakhs of years on the earth, man is looking at the pictures of that place with his own eyes. India has done the work of showing these pictures to the world! All the scientists like you have done it. Today, the whole world is acknowledging the significance of India’s scientific spirit, our technology and our scientific temperament. Chandrayaan Maha Abhiyan is a success not only for India but for the entire humanity.
[Extracted from the Speech made by the Prime Minister of India Shri. Narendra Modi on the occasion of the landing of Chandrayaan 3 on 26th August 2023] - The 18th G20 Summit, in which the heads of states and governments will meet, on September 9 and 10 will be held in India’s national capital New Delhi. Over 25 world leaders along with other delegates are going to attend this mega event.
One of the largest multilateral summits, the G20 Summit presents a significant diplomatic opportunity for India, which will convene with the adoption of a joint declaration by all the member states/
India assumed the G20 Presidency on December 1 last year. The 18th G20 Summit in New Delhi is scheduled to be held on September 9-10. ……
The Group of Twenty (G20) comprises 19 countries …. and the European Union. The G20 members represent around 85% of the global GDP, over 75% of the global trade, and about two-thirds of the world population.
World leaders from several countries and institutions will mark their presence at the event. They include US President Joe Biden, UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and French President Emmanuel Macron.
However, Russian President Vladimir Putin has opted out of the summit and foreign minister Sergei Lavrov will represent the country in his place. Chinese President Xi Jinping has also decided to skip the event and will send country’s Premier Li Qiang instead, according to sources.
The G20 Summit 2023 is being held under the theme – Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam (One Earth. One Family. One Future) – centered around the value of all life including human, animal, plant, and microorganisms and their interconnectedness on the planet Earth and in the wider universe.
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Ms. Murmu hails from the Santhal tribe and was born in the district of Mayurbhanj, coming up the hard way in life, graduating and teaching in Odisha before entering electoral politics at the local body level and later being elected MLA and serving as a Minister in the Biju Janata Dal-BJP coalition government from 2000 to 2004. She remained an MLA till 2009, representing Rairangpur in Odisha, a town that burst into celebrations since her name was announced as a candidate for the post of President of India. She was known to intervene in stopping amendments to the Chota Nagpur Tenancy Act that was being brought in by the BJP government of Raghubar Das, which involved changing land use in tribal areas.
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[Extracted, with edits and revisions, from “Google Engineer Claims AI Chatbot Is Sentient: Why That Matters”, by Leonardo De Cosmo, Scientific American]
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Top CLAT Questions
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Yes, there were some apricot trees close to the house. There were clumps of iris that had finished blooming. There was the kitchen with a wing of smoke lifting out of its chimney and a stack of wood outside its door. But these were incidental, almost unimportant.
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The 19th century ushered in a new era of literary giants. Jane Austen’s novels, such as Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility, provide incisive social commentary through the lens of wit and romance. Austen’s heroines, like Elizabeth Bennet and Elinor Dashwood, remain beloved literary figures known for their intelligence and resilience. The Romantic era brought forth poets like William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge, who celebrated * 8 UG the beauty of nature and the emotional intensity of the individual. Wordsworth’s ‘‘I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud’’ and Coleridge’s ‘‘The Rime of the Ancient Mariner’’ are testament to the power of the written words to evoke profound emotions and imagery. Moving towards 20th century, English literature continued to evolve. Virginia Woolf’s ground-breaking novel Mrs. Dalloway explored the inner thoughts and lives of its characters with a modernist narrative style. Dystopian visions, as seen in George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four provided stark warnings about the dangers of totalitarianism and the erosion of individual freedom.
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Centuries hence you will find Indian children brought up to this spot, just as they visit now the Cawnpore Well, and you can imagine the feelings of these Indians for generations over this terrible business.
[Col. Wedgwood, MP, speaking in the British Parliament, 22 December 1919]
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