Word Association Experiment. A test devised by Jung to show the reality and autonomy of unconscious complexes.
Our conscious intentions and actions are often frustrated by unconscious processes whose very existence is a continual surprise to us. We make slips of the tongue and slips in writing and unconsciously do things that betray our most closely guarded secrets-which are sometimes unknown even to ourselves. . . . These phenomena can . . . be demonstrated experimentally by the association tests, which are very useful for finding out things that people cannot or will not speak about.[The Structure of the Psyche,"CW8, par. 296.]
The Word Association Experiment consists of a list
of one hundred
words, to which one is asked to give an immediate
association. The person
conducting the experiment measures the delay in
response with a stop
watch. This is repeated a second time, noting any
different responses.
Finally the subject is asked for comments on those
words to which there
were a longer-than-average response time, a merely
mechanical response, or
a different association on the second run-through; all
these are marked by
the questioner as "complex indicators" and then
discussed with the
subject.
The result is a "map" of the personal
complexes, valuable both
for self-understanding and in recognizing disruptive
factors that commonly
bedevil relationships.
What happens in the association test also happens in every discussion between two people. . . . 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.[A Review of the Complex Theory," Ibid, par. 199.]