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A psychological novel, also called psychological realism, is a work of prose fiction which places more than the usual amount of emphasis on inner experience, interior characterization, and on the motives, circumstances, an internal action which springs from, and develops, external action. The psychological novel is not content to state what happens but goes on to explain the why and the wherefore of this action. In this type of writing character and characterization are more than usually important, and they are considered by detractors as plotless.

The origins of the psychological novel can be traced as far back as Giovanni Boccaccio's 1344 La Fiammetta; that is before the term psychology was coined.

Another avant la lettre example is Don Quixote de la Mancha (1605) by Miguel Cervantes.

The first rise of the psychological novel as a genre is said to have started with the sentimental novel of which Samuel Richardson's Pamela (1740) is a prime example.

In French literature, Stendhal's The Red and the Black (1830) is an early psychological novel; it was proceded however, by the lesser-known Benjamin Constant's Adolphe (1816). Madame de La Fayette's "The Princess of Cleves," dating back to the 17th century, is also considered an early precursor of the psychological novel.

Knut Hamsuns debut-novel Hunger (1890) is also recognized a psychological novel.