What does concretism mean?
Concretism is a noun describing a mode of thinking that stays anchored to the literal and tangible, at the expense of abstract or figurative understanding. The term is used chiefly in clinical psychology and neuropsychology, where it characterizes patients who interpret proverbs, idioms, and hypothetical questions only in concrete terms — a pattern associated with certain forms of brain injury, schizophrenia, and developmental conditions. More broadly, it can describe anyone's habitual preference for literal interpretation over metaphor or generalization. Concretism derives from 'concrete,' ultimately from Latin concretus, 'grown together, condensed.' It sits at the opposite pole from abstraction, which allows the mind to extract principles and meanings beyond immediate experience. Because it is largely a term of art, it appears mostly in academic and clinical writing rather than everyday conversation, though its precision makes it valuable wherever literal-mindedness needs a precise name.
nounThe tendency or practice of interpreting things literally and concretely rather than abstractly or figuratively. In psychology, it denotes a mode of thought marked by an inability to abstract or generalize, often associated with certain neurological conditions.
- In psychology and psychiatry: a style of cognition characterized by literal, concrete interpretation with impaired capacity for abstraction.
- More generally: a tendency to interpret language or situations literally rather than figuratively.
"Her concretism showed when she took the idiom 'raining cats and dogs' as a literal weather report."
"Patients with frontal lobe damage may exhibit concretism, answering proverbs with their most literal meaning."
"His concretism made poetry readings exhausting — he kept demanding to know what each metaphor 'actually' meant."
Rarely pluralized; the uncountable form is standard except when referring to distinct instances or varieties of concrete thinking.
"The study catalogued several distinct concretisms across the patient group."
Coined by neurologist Kurt Goldstein in the 1930s, 'concretism' names what happens when the brain loses its grip on abstraction — metaphors become nonsense and idioms become lies.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of concretism
Concretism was formed from the adjective 'concrete,' which traces back to Latin concretus, the past participle of concrescere ('to grow together'), from com- ('together') plus crescere ('to grow'). The suffix '-ism' marks it as a doctrine, tendency, or characteristic mode of thought. The term gained currency through the work of German-born neurologist Kurt Goldstein in the early twentieth century, who used it in his studies of brain-damaged patients to describe impaired abstract reasoning. Cognates sharing the same Latin root include 'concretion,' 'accretion,' and 'crescent.'
How concretism is actually used
Primarily a technical term in clinical psychology and neuropsychology; outside those fields it is rare and somewhat formal. It carries no strong positive or negative connotation in clinical use, but describing someone's everyday reasoning as 'concretism' can sound dismissive.
Easily confused with concretism
Concretion refers to a physical mass of hardened matter or the process of solidifying, whereas concretism refers to concrete, non-abstract thinking or literal interpretation.