Question:
What is Psephology?
What is Psephology?
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Link “psephos” (pebble) to ballots — the ancient way of voting.
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
Psephology is the branch of political science that deals with the statistical analysis and study of elections, voting patterns, and electoral trends. The term comes from the Greek word psephos, meaning "pebble", which was used in ancient Greece for voting.
Option (B) refers to meteorology, (C) to genetics, and (D) to criminology related to women prisoners.
Option (B) refers to meteorology, (C) to genetics, and (D) to criminology related to women prisoners.
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Approach Solution -2
The question asks what psephology means. Let's go through each option.
- Statistical study of elections, voting, etc.: Psephology comes from the Greek word psephos, meaning pebble, since pebbles were once used to cast votes in ancient Greece. Today the term describes the branch of political science that studies elections, voting patterns, opinion polls and electoral trends using statistical methods.
- Study of rainfall pattern: The scientific study of weather and rainfall is called meteorology, a completely different field from psephology.
- Study of gene disorder: Genetic disorders fall under the field of genetics, unrelated to the study of elections.
- Study of female prisoners: There is no established academic field by this description, and it has no link to the Greek-derived term psephology.
Since psephology is specifically rooted in the ancient Greek practice of voting with pebbles and refers today to election and voting research, the first option is the one that actually matches its meaning.
So the correct answer is Statistical study of elections, voting, etc.
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Approach Solution -3
Breaking down the word psephology itself is the quickest way to its meaning, since it comes directly from a Greek root describing an old voting practice, and matching that root against each option settles the question.
- Statistical study of elections, voting, etc.: The word traces to the Greek psephos, meaning pebble, recalling how ancient Greek citizens cast pebbles to vote; today the term has come to mean the systematic, statistical study of elections and voting behaviour, which matches this root exactly.
- Study of rainfall pattern: This subject is called meteorology, a word rooted in Greek terms for atmospheric phenomena, with no connection to pebbles or voting.
- Study of gene disorder: This falls under genetics, a term built from a different Greek root relating to origin and heredity, again unrelated to psephos.
- Study of female prisoners: No academic term with this description derives from the psephos root, and it does not correspond to any established field by that name.
Since only the study of elections and voting actually traces back to the pebble-voting root that gives psephology its name, that is the field being described.
So the correct answer is Statistical study of elections, voting, etc.
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Top CLAT General Awareness Questions
- On the evening of the 10th, General Dyer arrived at Amritsar, and the Deputy-Commissioner handed over the civil power to him. He issued a proclamation by word of mouth that no meetings should be held. Two days later, after there had been no sort of riot, nor murder, General Dyer heard that a meeting was to be held at the Jallianwala Bagh. He proceeded there with about fifty troops, half British, half Indian, and a certain number of Ghurkas, armed with their kukris. The Jallianwala Bagh is an open space, half a mile square, which has one entry wide enough for three persons. The troops got in and lined up on a mound of debris. The walls, seven feet high, and the surrounding houses enclosed the people. There were, too, three alleys through which the people might have been able to pass. Within thirty seconds of the troops getting in, General Dyer gave orders to fire, and the crowd of people, estimated at anything from 5,000 to 20,000, who were sitting on the ground peacefully listening to the mob oratory, were fired on. The result of the troops’ fire into the mass of people we do not know. But we do know that Dyer’s own estimate of the casualties resulting from ten minutes continual individual firing, was 400 to 500 killed and 1,500 wounded. The people were not able to escape. They were people who had not offered any violence and who had not been warned. These people were shot down. After ten minutes, the ammunition was exhausted and the troops marched off, and they left 1,500 wounded there. There were men lying there for two days, dying of thirst, eating the ground, bleeding to death and nobody to look after them. Those who lived nearby came and carried away some of the wounded from the heap of dead and dying, but the unfortunate country people died there miserably of their wounds. This is what is done in 1919 in British India…
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.
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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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