心理史学与法国革命史研究渊源颇深，勒费弗尔的“大恐慌”研究成为这一领域的经典之作，晚近的革命情感研究更是大放异彩，为理解法国革命提供了新的视角与思路。按照这一范式内部演进的形态，这类研究呈现出三种不同的进路：以勒庞、勒费弗尔为代表的“前范式”研究，依靠研究者本身对心理现象的理解展开论证；以林·亨特、巴里·夏皮罗为代表的研究，将现代心理学的理论直接引入历史学的论证体系；以威廉·雷迪、蒂莫西·塔克特为代表的研究，将新近的情感史视角纳入了法国革命研究的范畴。这一史学路径的发展超越了革命史学正统派与修正派持有的革命立场，从“阐释”革命转向“理解”革命，并且均强调人不是完全理性的，人的决策会受到环境与心理状况的影响，大革命的发展是情境与人的体验相互作用的产物。这是史学研究中重新发现“人”的存在的又一有益尝试。从西方史学史发展的视角来看，这类研究从属于西方史学潮流的变化，反映了现代西方史学从年鉴学派等经典社会史一枝独秀转向以“新文化史”为代表的多元新史学并开枝散叶的过程。

The psychohistory which plays an important role in the Historiography of the Revolution with a long tradition has developed and thus provided varieties of new approaches to understand the French Revolution recently. Nevertheless, different research of this field also differs from each other. According to the inner development of this historical paradigm, it has three different ways of researching. The first research approach, represented by the works of Gustave Le bon and Georges Lefebvre, defines the concept of psychology in their own contexts. Another kind of research approach represented by the works of Lynn Hunt and Barry M. Shapiro, depends on a specific theory from modern psychology. There is also a kind of research whose representatives are the works of William Reddy and Timothy Tackett. They equipped with the theory of emotional history, which is a new trend in historiography. The psychohistory of the French Revolution has detached itself from the prolonged debate between the classicalists and revisionists, thus removed its purpose from ‘explaining’ the Revolution to ‘comprehending’ the Revolution. The psychohistory of the French Revolution underlines the unreasonable side of human beings and rediscovers human experience in historiography. It also reflects the development and transformation of western historiography in a long period, from the Annales School to the New Cultural History and a more varied historiography.