word association test

The word association test is one of three techniques used in psychoanalysis, along with hypnotism and dream analysis, for getting at what is happening in the unconscious:

It is a means of unlocking the unconscious directly, although mostly it is simply a technique for obtaining a wide selection of faulty reactions which can then be used for exploring the unconscious by psychoanalysis

The value of the test is primarily theoretical and experimental. Its results give one a comprehensive though superficial grasp of the unconscious conflict or “complex”

The [word] association test is of general interest in that, like no other psychological experiment of comparable simplicity, it reproduces the psychic situation of the dialogue, and at the same time makes fairly accurate quantitative and qualitative evaluation possible

Instead of questions in the form of definite sentences, the subject is confronted with the vague, ambiguous, and therefore disconcerting stimulus word, and instead of an answer he has to react with a single word

Complexes can easily be demonstrated by means of the [word] association experiment. The procedure is simple. The experimenter calls out a word to the test-person, and the test-person reacts as quickly as possible with the first word that comes into his mind. The reaction time is measured by a stopwatch

One would expect all simple words to be answered with roughly the same speed, and that only “difficult” words would be followed by a prolonged reaction time. But actually this is not so

Through accurate observation of the reaction disturbances, facts are revealed and registered which are often assiduously overlooked in ordinary discussion, and this enables us to discover things that point to the unspoken background, to those states of readiness, or constellations

What happens in the association test also happens in every discussion between two people

In both cases there is an experimental situation which constellates complexes that assimilate the topic discussed or the situation as a whole, including the parties concerned

There are unexpectedly prolonged reaction times after very simple words, whereas difficult words may be answered quite quickly. Closer investigation shows that prolonged reaction times generally occur when the stimulus-word hits a content having a strong feeling-tone

The feeling-toned contents generally have to do with things which the test-person would like to keep secretpainful things which he has repressed, some of them being unknown even to the test-person himself

WHEN A STIMULUS-WORD

When a stimulus-word hits such a complex, no answer occurs to him at all, or else so many things crowd into his mind that he does not know what answer to give, or he mechanically repeats the stimulus-word, or he gives an answer and then immediately substitutes another, and so forth. When, after completing the experiment, the test-person is asked what answers he gave to the individual words, we find that ordinary reactions are remembered quite well, while words connected with a complex are usually forgotten

These peculiarities plainly reveal the qualities of the autonomous complex. It creates a disturbance in the readiness to react, either inhibiting the answer or causing an undue delay, or it produces an unsuitable reaction, and afterwards often suppresses the memory of the answer. It interferes with the conscious will and disturbs its intentions. That is why we call it autonomous

The discussion loses its objective character and its real purpose, since the constellated complexes frustrate the intentions of the speakers and may even put answers into their mouths which they can no longer remember afterwards. This fact has been put to practical use in the cross-examination of witnesses

If we subject a neurotic or insane person to this experiment, we find that the complexes which disturb the reactions are at the same time essential components of the psychic disturbance. They cause not only the disturbances of the reaction but also the symptoms. I have seen cases where certain stimulus-word were followed by strange and apparently nonsensical answers, by words that came out of the test-person's mouth quite unexpectedly, as though a strange being had spoken through him. These words belonged to the autonomous complex