联想是一个心理学的基本原理，原与追忆、记忆问题密切相关。联想，使在追忆过去的事件或经验时，对和这些事件有一定关系的其他事件和经验同时追忆起来。后来，这概念的应用范围逐步扩大，还一度用来概括除原始感觉外的一切心理活动。同时，联想主义则成为概括全部心理学的理论。亚里斯多德提出3个联想形式（类似联想、对比联想和相邻联想），后人对此作了注释，进行了争论，但联想主义通常被认为是英国的学说。洛克（John Locke）首次采用了「观念的联想的概念。休姆（David Hume）提出联想的3种基本形式：相似联想、时空相邻联想及因果。

Association in psychology refers to a connection between conceptual entities or mental states that results from the similarity between those states or their proximity in space or time. The idea stems from Plato and Aristotle, especially with regard to the succession of memories, and it was carried on by philosophers such as John Locke, David Hume, David Hartley, James Mill, John Stuart Mill, and Alexander Bain. It finds its place in modern psychology in such areas as conditioning and in neural network models of memory.