What is a Freudian clause - the concept of a Freudian clause. New Freud Errors

She spoke about the psychopathology of ordinary life   psychologist Anna Khnykina.

Maya Milich, AiF.ru: How does modern psychology today relate to the works and scientific versions of Freud?

Anna Khnykina:Today's science honors. Absolutely all theories of development (in universities this is called “Age Psychology”) are in one way or another rewritten and adapted theories of development of Freud and his followers: Melanie Klein, Margaret Mahler and others. Science has not gone far from Freud, everything that is developing today, especially not in coaching, but in a therapeutic and out-of-clinic environment - all this is somehow based on psychoanalytic theory.

Sigmund Freud coined the term "parapraxis", which in everyday life has become a "Freudian clause." By the term "parapraxis" the scientist meant any insignificant slip of the tongue, reservation or mistake, which, according to Freud, is not just an innocent gesture, but a manifestation of unconscious desires or conflicts.

- How to learn yourself, without the help of a specialist, "read" yourself? Listen to yourself? And is it even necessary to do this?

- In order to learn to understand your unconscious, it will be enough for you to understand how projection and transference work. You can read something on the Internet, you can books on this topic - there are a lot of them now. But there is one small, but very important point. This knowledge is not transmitted in the traditional information way, it can only be understood from personal experience, having experienced it. Therefore, the most thirsty for understanding their unconscious people in the end go to their psychoanalysis. And this is a long, regular, systematic process that can take two to three years or more. In order to help others “figure out themselves”, you will need additional education for higher education, about 8-10 years, and much more personal analysis - about 5 years.

In addition, knowledge of mythology, the hierarchy of symbols, history, religions will still be required ...

- Reservations, clerical errors, stonecrops, mistyaches, forgetting, losing and hiding things, strange actions “by mistake” - all this was interpreted by Freud as an external manifestation of unresolved unconscious conflicts and repressed desires. How to understand that this is not just an accidental mistake, but really a manifestation of our unconscious and a surge of thoughts hidden deep inside?

- Not everything is so literally interpreted as we would like sometimes. It does not always make sense to complicate things, because "mistakes", speech or writing, are also due to the fact that a person makes several thought processes at the same time, for example, talking to you about a business and thinking about the family at the same time. And in your business conversation the name of his wife skips. You may think that he is now thinking about food or about love, but for him, just business and family are inseparable things. And there is absolutely nothing to hide here, besides, everything in this example is quite conscious. There are no errors here, but this is not about the unconscious. When we speak of “unconscious” as a state, we must understand that this is a coma or a dream. To understand how the unconscious works or what exactly is “hidden” is completely impossible without going through its own path of research.

- If these erroneous actions, forgetting and reservations, have become frequent, noticeable and tangible - what can this talk about? Can these processes be called a psychological deviation or a harbinger of it?

- Definitely, this is not considered a deviation. These may be some signs of something. In order to draw conclusions, it is necessary to study associative series in each case.

If reservations, clerical errors, and forgetting have become frequent, most likely it is in a particular person that the concentration of attention decreases. That is, it can be dispersed due to fatigue. He may be on vacation, and not in the office of a psychiatrist.

- What else can be said about the psychological everyday deviation? For example, fear of open doors or perfect order in the closet, books arranged alphabetically, a strict routine of watering flowers that no one should disturb, a “fad” on cleanliness, ironing, washed dishes and so on. Are these all different facets of the norm or, if you notice a “loop”, should you be wary?

- Serious deviations are discussed in cases where someone's behavior threatens his personal safety or the safety of others. Also dangerous is a person who does not feel guilt and shame for harming another. As for the reservations, obsessions, addictions, fixations - usually all this fits into the norm, the question is rather here why it seems strange to you? What exactly do you see in this and why does it bother you? In psychoanalysis, you will rather come across this approach to the problem.

Mentioned by Freud or just that?

According to Freud:a true thought, a motive that a person hides is often hidden in a reservation, that is, we make a reservation precisely when unconscious desires meet with the conscious purpose of behavior.

Psychologist Comment:

Do not attach too much importance to reservations; everything takes place at this particular moment, in these specific circumstances. Listen more to your feelings at the time of reservation, analyze them - so you learn to trust yourself and understand much more.

According to Freud:more often than not, a person’s name flies out of his head when we don’t consider a person important or unpleasant for us, therefore, to remember a name, it takes more time, and the memory does not happen according to our will.

“After a month of separation, my friend finally had to return from a business trip,” says 38-year-old Larisa. - I sent him an SMS: “I'm really looking forward! Come back soon. ” About an hour later, my ex-husband rang the doorbell. It turned out I messed up the number ... "

New technologies, in theory, should facilitate communication. But precisely because of them, we are increasingly getting into an awkward position. A new type of communication allows you to act spontaneously and does not imply a preliminary consideration of what we are writing. And we get used to not re-reading the messages before clicking the “send” button, preferring to act without delay. And as a result, the number of descriptions, “accidents”, and oversights is growing.

E-mail, chats, endless messaging - we selflessly indulge in these activities at almost any moment of our lives. The possibility of instant contact creates the impression of its lightness and simplicity. We no longer have this intermediate stage - pens, paper, we are no longer required to honor the rules of spelling. There is an impression of freedom, we do not feel any restrictions, and this state is somewhat reminiscent of a childish feeling of omnipotence.

“We act impulsively, and losing control of ourselves, we unconsciously do what we consciously want to avoid,” says Jungian analyst Lev Khegay. “In oral speech, these would be reservations, and typos and clerical errors appear on the letter.”

Typos quickly reveal the innermost thoughts and desires, flaunt what we tried to hide from ourselves

There is another attractive feature in virtual communication tools: we feel more relaxed, it seems that you can say everything we want without fear of consequences. After all, the person with whom we communicate is not near us. This means that we will neither have to clarify or polish what we say: without seeing his reaction, we can surrender to our imagination, plunge into fantasies and no longer monitor where this can lead us.

Hidden desires

An example of Larisa, who is still thinking about her ex-husband, or the story of a girl in love, who was in such a hurry to answer the long-awaited meeting offer, that instead of “in an hour” was written in the reply SMS, “through a member” shows what a difficult situation we can be led to these involuntary oversights.

In contrast to the dreams remaining in the sphere of our intimate life, such typos instantly reveal the most secret thoughts and desires, flaunt what we more or less unconsciously tried to hide even from ourselves.

Electronic communications seem to push us to make mistakes: having become accustomed in the virtual space to the fact that we can be anonymous and unpunished, we unwittingly transfer this habit to personal communication, as if forgetting that we are authorized and we can be recognized.

“I sent my girlfriend a description of my intimate experiences, but it turned out that the whole forum sees him,” the 29-year-old Irina is horrified. “By the time I figured out how to close this message from prying eyes, everyone had already read it!”

Did it happen by chance or not? “An inexperienced user, without knowing the codes that“ close ”the message, of course, can make such a mistake,” commented psychoanalyst Marina Harutyunyan. - Before sending a very personal message, it would be worth familiarizing yourself with them. But behind this mistake, perhaps, there was Irina’s unconscious desire for someone else to find out about her experiences - for example, their culprit, her partner. ”

“Such involuntary erroneous actions can satisfy the need for demonstration, publicity,” adds Lev Khegay. “Perhaps Irina needed the attention of others, and the publication of her personal story helped her achieve this.”

What if we make a mistake?

• Do not blame yourself.  Our reservations and unsuccessful actions can offend someone. But apologizing and making excuses, we partly admit responsibility for the mistake, while there may be no reason to feel guilty. And sometimes, deep down in our hearts, relief comes from the fact that we finally told the truth, admitted that we were silent.
• Wait before talking about it.  It’s better to think for a while about what our oversight may mean, and then you can safely return to this topic. In addition, our interlocutor also needs time to ponder this unexpected truth, to ask himself some questions, to question something.
• Laugh.  Humor helps to survive the moment of awkwardness with minimal losses, it gives a discharge, relieves stress, facilitates the perception of what happened.

Aggression in search of a way out

Awkward acts reveal our aggressive impulses. We gossip about a friend by e-mail and "accidentally" send him the same letter. Or we put the telephone receiver badly and loudly express our irritation at the person on the other end of the wire ...

Consciousness obliges us to strict censorship, prohibiting the manifestation of negative feelings in public and personal life. But the unconscious sometimes rebels, prompting us to speak honestly against our will. More often this happens in difficult times for us, when we cannot cope with our feelings.

“The more important the subject matter for us, the higher the risk of a sudden reservation, an oversight associated with it,” the psychoanalyst continues. “The more we try to control ourselves, the more actively our unconscious manifests itself.”

That's why such misfires often occur in our working electronic correspondence, creating a sea of \u200b\u200bawkwardness exactly where we want to seem to be perfect with all our might.

New technologies increase the potential for such blunders, but at the same time reveal the truth that we do not notice

It turns out that new technologies provoke us? “No,” says Lev Khegay, “and before they appeared, our unconscious behaved the same way.” The only difference is that before we “did not notice” that the one whom we scold stands next to us. But with the advent of new means of communication, we began to communicate more intensively and, accordingly, make more mistakes. Our contemporary, who forgets to erase messages from his new lover in his mobile phone, is not much different from the unfaithful husband of the last century, who forgot love notes in the pocket of his jacket. ”

The power of self-disclosure

36-year-old Vera sent a short congratulation to her friend: “Happy Birthday!” “Congratulating a person, we, of course, only talk about good things,” Lev Khegay explains, “but if we have long-standing grievances, unresolved conflicts, they can unexpectedly erupt at the most inopportune moment. Yes, such an error can be just a typo, and if the relationship is good, the SMS recipient need not worry. And if this does not happen the first time, then you can think: is this by chance? And maybe talk frankly with each other. "

“I get SMS from a friend,” says Marina Harutyunyan. - Question: “Are you on vomit?” Such a message can be seen as a manifestation of one of the protective mechanisms of the psyche, projection: my girlfriend works a lot, seven days a week. Of course, she herself knew that she was tired, she did not know only to what extent: to nausea. "

The founder of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud, wrote that "behind every unsuccessful action is a successful action." New technologies increase the potential for such mistakes, but at the same time help us live in harmony with ourselves - they reveal the truth that we do not notice.

If we have a deep desire to be exposed, it is impossible to carry it for a long time

The risk of erroneous actions is increased by social networks, offering to lay out a variety of information about yourself. So, often on Facebook and Odnoklassniki high school students post their photos from parties for friends and “forget” that their parents will probably see them. Drunk, made-up, half-dressed ... and adults are horrified.

“Teenagers seem to throw off that ideal image of an exemplary child that adults want to see,” explains Lev Khegay. “With the help of social networks, they involuntarily inform their parents that they cannot and do not want to be perfect.” And they declare their need to be accepted as they are.

The secret, as you know, always becomes apparent. “If we have a deep desire to be exposed, it is impossible to carry it around for a long time,” the analyst adds. - The feeling of guilt that it evokes is becoming stronger every day: to dream about what is taboo is not accepted, indecent. This feeling can be interpreted as a thirst for punishment ... which really will follow or not. But in any case, the situation from a fantasy will become real and will be able to resolve. "

Self messages

We are concerned about the impression our oversight made on others. But such misfires tell us something important about us.

“I always carefully monitor what I write and send,” says 38-year-old Boris. - And then one day I mistakenly sent an unfinished email. It was still a draft, according to which it was possible to trace the course of my thoughts, doubts, conflicting assumptions ... My addressee did not even notice this, and I almost failed with shame. This led me to the idea that, it turns out, I still have a strong fear of not being at the highest level ... "

When we are very tired, or want to sleep, or our attention is scattered, this is where the little devil of the unconscious pushes us under the arm

The way we interpret reservations or mistakes by others can reveal our own projections and concerns. “When the boss misinterprets my name and writes“ Ana, ”I react very painfully,” said 34-year-old Anna. “But in a letter from any other person, I would regard it as a typo.”

The unconscious is shown only when we want to learn something about it, it only talks to those who really want it.

“Our oversights introduce us to our own feelings,” says Lev Khegay. “When we are very tired, or want to sleep, or our attention is scattered - in a word, when the control of consciousness is weakened, it is here that the devil of the unconscious pushes us under the arm.” Sometimes it seems dangerous - and this is no accident. After all, he makes us see what we turned away from, which we hid not only from others, but also from ourselves.

Tricks of the unconscious

Errors, clerical errors, reservations, lost things - it seems that this happens to us only because we get tired, become inattentive. The creator of the theory of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud, was the first to prove that this is a manifestation of our unconscious intentions, which are behind the desire to free ourselves from guilt, remorse or fear.

“Of course, it will seem unbelievable to you that some intention is involved in the loss, which we often perceive as an unfortunate accident,” Freud wrote. “But there are a lot of observations like the following.” The young man lost a pencil dear to him. The day before, he received a letter from his brother-in-law, which ended with the words: "I have no desire to indulge your frivolity and laziness." The pencil was a gift from this brother-in-law.

Without such a coincidence, of course, we could not argue that the intention to get rid of this thing is involved in the loss of a pencil. Similar cases are very common. “Objects are lost when you quarrel with the one who gave them and whom it is unpleasant to recall, or when the things themselves cease to be pleasant and you are looking for an excuse to replace them with other, better ones.”

Surely you heard the expression “Freudian reservation”, maybe someone used it to you, or you just became curious about the history and meaning of this expression. Why is this phenomenon so interesting, and what does the name of the popular Austrian psychologist Sigmund Freud have to do with it? Learn from the article.

Sigmund Freud - Austrian psychoanalyst, author of the theory of psychoanalysis. He devoted his research activities to the study of the conscious and subconscious person.

Initially, his theories were negatively perceived by society, they found true recognition and reflection in our time. However, Freud's psychoanalysis is still a leading focus in psychotherapy.

Sigmund Freud was the first to use the method of conversation and. Today it is one of the most popular means of psychotherapy. According to Freud, free associations open a portal between the conscious and unconscious of a person, which helps to find hidden causes of behavior, internal anxieties and fears.

Freud believed that any psychosis is a consequence of memories that cannot be eliminated due to lack of awareness. Because of this, the internal tension becomes even stronger. Associative conversation during psychotherapy helps bring memories, experiences, emotions to the level of the conscious.

What is a Freudian clause

Freud’s reservations are based on the free association method described above. Only this happens not in the office of the psychoanalyst, where the participants are united by a code of ethics and non-disclosure of the content of the conversation, but in any situation, at any time. And, as a rule, this is not the right time and place.

Freud's reservation is the common name for all manifestations of the subconscious. This is not necessarily a word or sound, although more often this is what is meant by a reservation. But hidden, suppressed desires can manifest themselves through typos, facial expressions, gestures.

With a reservation, something important breaks out, but concealed by man. And sometimes he himself does not understand true, desires, thoughts, and therefore the reservation surprises, frightens the author himself.

Reservations are normal. This is the same field for the reflection of the subconscious, like dreams, fantasies, creativity. Do not be alarmed or surprised if you yourself say something strange. Take it into service, analyze. Reservations not only give a lie, but also send signals of internal problems. With the help of mistakes you can understand your true motives, notice a spiritual contradiction, solve it.

Freud believed that any mistake in spoken or written language is the result of the work of the subconscious. But there is still no consensus on this. Some scientists believe that reservations do not always reflect the games of the subconscious. The other part admits that there are Freudian reservations, but all errors cannot be considered so.

However, several modern experiments have confirmed the theory. Here's how one of the experiments went:

• Scored two groups of male volunteers.
• A very attractive and openly dressed girl was launched into the audience of one of the groups.
• Participants from both groups were invited to read phrases-sponerism, in which the first letters of the words are easy to swap: a sweet cake, wash your hair.
• That group, in front of which the girl spoke, more often made mistakes in words. Participants read "sweet sex", "grow naked."
• In the group where the girl was not, reservations arose less frequently, but they also were. Therefore, it is impossible to unequivocally judge the result.

Later, another experiment was conducted. Fake electrodes were fastened to the participants, which allegedly could shock at any moment. For reading, the phrases “Volin Colt”, “Coca Tolka” were given. As a result, most participants read “Kolka Current” and “Colin Volt”. Again, it is not clear to the end whether this is caused by the fear of a possible electric shock.

Reservations often occur in stressful situations, a state of tension, agitation, fatigue, intoxication. Absent-mindedness, fear, quick speech, and the execution of several tasks at the same time also increase the likelihood of reservations.

Types of reservations

Reservations are just one form of error. In total, Freud identified 4 forms of output of subconscious reactions:

• Actions. For example, a person says “take it,” and he puts the item away. Or he says “nice to meet you,” and he hides his hands in his pockets, steps back a couple of steps.
• Losing or unconsciously hiding things. Have you ever been able to find the right notebook, folder for a long time? They could not remember where they themselves had put her.
• Forgetting, including one's own intentions and motives of already committed actions. They came to the kitchen, but do not remember why. They wanted to say something, but immediately forgot.
• Errors in reading, listening, writing, speech. Sometimes we hear our problems in someone else’s speech. “What did you say break?” BUT! Let’s go! ”Whom a person subconsciously wants to tear up - one can only guess.

In the event of errors in reading or listening, not only hidden motives, desires, but also disagreement with the information can influence. In a broad sense, all errors according to Freud reflect the disagreement of the individual with himself or other people, conditions, situation.

Examples of Freudian reservations

Examples we see every day in life. Here are just a few of the possible reservations:

1. “Good house” instead of “good day” says a person who is tired or preoccupied with household chores.
2. “Hello, Masha,” the man addresses the girl with a different name. And what kind of Masha? Maybe a lover, or maybe a problem employee at work, or Masha, with whom a dialogue has just taken place, and the person has not yet had time to switch to a new opponent.
3. “You look disgusting,” one girl compliments another. I wanted to lie and say “otpadno”, but subconscious anger and envy won. Or maybe the girl really doesn’t look very good, then just the truth burst out.
4. “The fight for honesty is our main enemy,” the false leader blurted out unexpectedly. I wanted to say beautifully "our main friend."

You yourself can name many more examples of Freudian reservations. Perhaps this happened to you. The clause looks different: one letter, a phrase, a phrase, a term completely inappropriate in the context. Suppressed emotions and thoughts erupt unexpectedly.

Be careful in communication, and you will learn much more about the people around you. But do not forget that your secrets can be put on public display.

Freudian slip  - the common name for the slip, a special case of the phenomenon described by Z. Freud in the study “Psychopathology of everyday life” (1901). Together with all sorts of minor clerical errors and machine actions covered by the term parapraxis.

Freud suggested that seemingly insignificant and meaningless erroneous actions serve to realize unconscious desires, being compromise formations created by the corresponding conscious intention and partial simultaneous realization of unconscious desire.

Freud divided the erroneous actions into four groups:

• reservations, clerical errors, stonecrops, donkeys;
• forgetting (forgetting the names of one’s own, others ’words, one’s intentions, impressions);
• lost and hidden things;
• "by mistake" actions.

Despite their seeming absurdity and innocence, Freud refused such actions to be trivial, treating them as a psychologically significant phenomenon - an outward manifestation of unresolved subconscious conflicts and repressed desires. As in dreams, Freud saw in parapraxis a potential "road" to the secrets of the unconscious.

Not all erroneous actions are easily understood, however, in the course of analytical work with the patient, sometimes it is possible to build assumptions about what exactly is the meaning of his, even the most complicated, erroneous actions. And the patient’s erroneous actions (for example, forgetting the session time or payment for treatment) allow the analyst and patient to obtain important information about resistance and transfer.

Literature

•   Psychopathology of everyday life \u003d Zur Psychopathologie des Alltagslebens / translated by G. V. Baryshnikova. - AST, 2009 .-- 256 s. - (Psychology). - ISBN 978-5-17-059766-6.

What do Freudian clauses really say about your psyche?

It is believed that words that accidentally slip off the lips are by no means commonplace speech errors. Many people think that such reservations reflect the secret desires of man. Let's try to figure out if this is really so.

Policies as objects for ridicule

At one time, the object of jokes and ridicule was US President George W. Bush. However, his father in 1988 issued the famous reservation, which he is remembered almost to this day. Then, as US Vice President, George W. Bush spoke live while on a working visit to Idaho. Suddenly, the following statement flew from the mouth of the vice president: “We had victories, but there were mistakes. This is a common practice of economic sex ... sorry, agricultural policy. ”

Freudian slip

We are used to calling such bloopers Freudian reservations. The father of modern psychoanalysis could be proud of his undying popularity. This happens often: a person, wanting to say one thing, ultimately gives out something completely different. All would be well if different obscenities that could put a person in an awkward position did not treacherously fly from the language. Sometimes a clause can turn into a real catastrophe, for example, if we are talking about speakers or reporters working on the air. Even more nightmare is the position of a speaker who has made a reservation to a crowd of thousands. Why are people inclined to make such ridiculous mistakes and do they really have a hidden meaning?

From the point of view of the founder of psychoanalysis

The famous psychoanalyst Dr. Sigmund Freud loved to wander around the back streets of the unconscious. His interests did not include the determination of the patient's explicit thoughts. According to the scientist, the true desires of a person with a head give out his reservations. Random speech errors in the scientific community are united under the term “parapraxis”, which is incomprehensible to a simple inhabitant. They are able to expose the forbidden impulses of a person, for example, secret sexual desires, firmly settled in the subconscious. According to Freud, speech errors are not random in nature and there is no such riddle that could not be solved.

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Modern scientists question Freudian theories

The problem is that the human psyche cannot be the subject of laboratory research. So, all theories, including this one, are purely subjective. Thus, many modern psychologists are not followers of Freudian teachings and cast doubt on the theories of the founder of psychoanalysis. Psychologists are joined by linguists and neuroscientists, who have their own point of view on the origin of reservations. Which of them is right?

Original study

Several decades ago, the authors of one original study decided to verify or refute the truth of Freud's theory. The protagonist of the experiment was a sexy girl, a stun gun was a tool to stimulate the unconscious. Volunteers, among whom were exclusively heterosexual men, were divided into three groups. An elderly professor was to accompany the participants from the first two groups to the audience. The final group of volunteers was more fortunate: their guide was a sexy lab technician in a very revealing outfit.

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One of the authors of the study, a psychologist practicing at the University of California, Michael Motley recalls: “We almost crossed the limits. For the experiment, the most attractive student was chosen, who was dressed in an ultra-short skirt and a transparent blouse. "

Spoonerism

When the participants went into the classrooms, they had to complete the task. Every second they had to read paired words to themselves. In fact, there was a snag. The pairs were composed according to the principle of sponerism, or phrases in which people can intentionally make a reservation by reversing the syllables. Here are the most prominent representatives - the eardrum (eardrum) or the imperishable "car dear, highly respected" (S.Ya. Marshak). The phenomenon itself was dubbed in honor of Professor William Archibald Spooner, who practiced at Oxford University. He became famous in the scientific community, due to his distraction.

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But back to our study. From time to time, participants had to read paired phrases out loud. In addition, the words should have been accompanied by an appropriate sound signal. If Sigmund Freud himself observed this experiment, he would exclaim: “I knew!” It is easy to guess that most of the reservations of a sexual orientation were made in the presence of a beautiful laboratory assistant. For example, men in the control group pronounced the phrase “howl naked” rather than “wash their hair” or the expression “sweet cake” was replaced by “smooth sex”. It is noteworthy that the total number of sponerisms in all three groups was approximately the same.

The final part of the test

The third group was to pass another test. Electrodes with wires were attached to the participants' fingers, which were connected to a device that generated weak electrical impulses. However, the authors of the study hastened to deceive the participants, saying that the probability of receiving an electric shock in the event of a reservation could be 70 percent. Curiously, the number of reservations has not decreased.

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During the experiment, the level of sexual excitability was measured. Here, again, everything is logical. The most worried men made more reservations of a sexual nature.

“The Polar Bear Problem”

The classic of Russian literature Leo Tolstoy once defined a phenomenon in which a person falls into the trap of his own thoughts. The term “polar bear problem” came about due to the amazing features of the human mind. The essence of this theory is as follows: if you try not to think about any phenomenon or object, it will haunt your consciousness. If you do not think about the polar bear, thoughts about it will appear with enviable constancy. The heroes of this experiment, apparently, devoted all their efforts to trying not to think about sex. Therefore, there is nothing surprising in the subtext of their reservations.

Psychologist Daniel Wegner's explanation

Approximately this explanation of the Freudian reservations was given in the 80s of the 20th century by American Daniel Wegner. According to the psychologist, desperate attempts to avoid them can become the cause of mistakes. In fact, our subconscious mind can continuously filter thoughts so that secret desires do not have the opportunity to break out. The paradox of consciousness is the deliberate ignorance of once arisen insidious thought. And the more a person tries not to think about it, the more likely the traitor will arise again and again. Mystery will certainly be made public - it is a matter of time. When you prepare a speech in public, you carefully select the words and scroll through the mass of options in your head. In the event that there are too many of these options, the consciousness pulls out exactly what you fled for so long and hard.

Conclusion

Michael Motley conducted another interesting experiment. He asked his students to finish a simple sentence: "The old man made great flour ...". On the idea of \u200b\u200ba vacant place, you can pick up any word denoting a bakery product. However, the participants in the experiment most often mentioned “rolls”. And all because this word in different contexts has different meanings. In this vein, Freudian reservations are born. To top it off, the psychologist emphasizes that in stressful situations, as well as under the influence of alcohol, the probability of a potential error is further increased.

Do the words that accidentally fly out reflect our secret desires or are innocent speech errors? BBC Future Browser explores this topic.
  In 1988, George W. Bush, who was then vice president of the United States, arrived on a working visit to Idaho. According to the program of the visit, he was supposed to make a live broadcast on television with a brief speech on the topic of agricultural policy, noting the successes he had achieved together with US President Ronald Reagan.

Suddenly, the politician said: "We had victories. There were mistakes - the usual lack of sex is economic ... that is, agricultural policy."
  Even after the end of his political career, President George W. Bush remembered this famous reservation for a long time.
  Oh, these Freudian reservations! We want to say one thing, but it turns out completely different - and kindness would be some harmless things, otherwise, some kind of stupidity striving to break from the tongue all the time can turn into a real disaster.
  Such reservations are the worst nightmare for any speaker. But what makes us make such mistakes? And is there any hidden meaning in them?

Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis, was not enough just to find out what the patient is thinking. He was sure that true desires can be learned only by paying attention to the slip of the tongue and other manifestations of the unconscious.
  As one of the comic definitions of the Freudian reservation says, "I had in mind my mother, but my mother remembered."
  Random speech errors, which are united by the term "parapraxis", can reveal forbidden impulses deeply hidden in our unconscious - for example, sexual desires or obscene expressions.
  Speech errors are not accidental at all - they are riddles that can be solved.
There is only one problem: this idea, like many other assumptions of Freud, is not very verifiable. Sigmund Freud may be no less famous than Charles Darwin, but many modern psychologists, linguists and neuroscientists question almost all of his theories.
  But is it possible to state with confidence that his conclusions about verbal errors are also wrong?

The authors of one of the early studies decided to test this hypothesis in a very original way: with the help of a sexy girl and a stun gun.
  The study participants (heterosexual men) were divided into three groups. At the very beginning of the experiment, the first two groups were met by a middle-aged professor, and the third was conducted by a laboratory assistant in an open outfit.
  "We came to the very limit of what is allowed at the university: the girl was very attractive, and she was wearing a very short skirt with a translucent blouse," recalls Michael Motley, a psychologist at the University of California at Davis (USA) and one of the authors of the study.
  Participants were asked to read a few pairs of words to themselves, one per second. They did not even suspect that these pairs of words are the so-called “sponerisms,” that is, expressions in which people often randomly interchange syllables (for example, “eardrum” instead of “eardrum”).

This phenomenon is named after the professor of Oxford University, William Archibald Spooner, known for his absent-mindedness and a tendency to such permutations.
  From time to time, participants were asked to read the phrase out loud, giving them the appropriate sound signal.
  As Freud would have suggested, in the presence of a laboratory technician, men made much more reservations with sexual overtones (for example, “smooth sex” instead of “sweet cupcake” or “naked howl” instead of “head wash”) than the control group - despite the fact that the total the number of reservations was approximately the same.
  In the third group, electrodes connected to an apparatus capable of generating weak electrical impulses were attached to the fingers of volunteers.
  “We told the participants that the probability of getting a current shock is 70%,” Motley said. “Of course, that was not true.”
  And in this group mistakes were also made, showing what was on the minds of the readers (for example, “Colin Volt” instead of “Volin Colt” and “Kolka current” instead of “Coca Tolka”).

Then the scientists measured the level of sexual anxiety of the participants. It turned out that those who have it higher have made the most reservations with sexual overtones. But why?
Trying to suppress their desires, these men could fall into a trap called the “polar bear problem”, first noticed by the Russian writer Fedor Dostoevsky: if you try hard not to think about something - for example, about sex or the polar bear - in your head only this will climb.
  It is on this phenomenon that the popular psychological game The Game ("Game") is based, whose main goal is not to think about the game itself. Thinking about it means defeat.
  Following the rules, the defeat must be declared out loud - and then lose everyone who hears it. Nobody has managed to win the “Game” yet.

Back in the 1980s, American psychologist Daniel Wegner suggested that the reason for Freudian reservations might be the fact that we are trying to avoid them.
  According to his theory, in the subconscious mind thoughts are constantly being filtered so that our innermost desires do not burst out.
  But, paradoxical as it may seem, once an insidious thought, instead of being suppressed, can fall into consciousness and will scroll in the head again and again.
  The secret will certainly become apparent - it is only a matter of time. “Thinking about something, we select the right words and prepare them in case we need to speak out,” Motley says.
  If there are many options, the word that we ultimately choose can betray us.

Motley conducted another experiment, asking the participants to complete the sentence: “The old man made a great meal of flour ...” and at the same time measuring the level of their sexual arousal.
  It would seem that a lot of words fit here in meaning: kalachi, pies, loaves of bread ... However, participants who felt attracted to the laboratory assistant often chose the word "rolls".
  “This word is for two different situations, and therefore it is preferred. It seems to us that something similar happens with Freudian reservations,” says Motley.
  We can accidentally tell a friend that she is “plump”, wanting to call her “slim”, blurt out “pornography” instead of “photograph” at a business meeting, or during sex, name a partner in the name of a former lover. So our unconscious fails us.

On top of all the troubles under stress, the likelihood of making a regrettable mistake increases.
  However, not all scientists share this opinion. During Freud's life, the most severe critic of him was the Austrian linguist Rudolf Mehringer.
During his work at the University of Vienna at the end of the 19th century, Meringer collected, recorded, and carefully analyzed thousands of speech errors, most of which he had heard from colleagues at dinner.
  Scientists spoke in turn, and if someone made a reservation, the conversation stopped until the reservation was carefully documented.
  After studying these notes, Meringer came to the conclusion that reservations are a confusion of letters, not meanings.
  Psychologist Linguist Rob Hartsoyker of the University of Ghent (Netherlands) is convinced that most of these mistakes are completely innocent.

As an example, we can take the ill-fated reservation of journalist Jim Noti in the Today broadcast on BBC Radio 4 - he incorrectly pronounced the name of the then British Minister of Culture Jeremy Hunt, replacing the first letter with “k”, resulting in a rude curse.
  At first glance, this mistake looks like a classic Freudian clause. However, in reality, it rather indicates how the brain regulates the function of speech, rather than Noti's attitude to politics.
  Judging by the results of numerous experiments, if two words have a similar contextual meaning and have the same vowel in their composition, the likelihood of confusing the first consonants in them is very high.
  “I’m sure that many people find Jeremy Hunt not a very pleasant person, but in this case there was a substitution of the sound“ to ”from the word“ culture, ”says Hartsøiker.
  This is the result of how our brain extracts words from the depths of memory.
  First, he selects a suitable word from a group of related concepts. That is how a pair of "culture" - "Hunt" could have arisen.

Once a word is defined, the brain selects sounds to express it - and at this stage consonants can be substituted.
  "This is a very common occurrence, but Freud for some reason did not pay due attention to it," says Hartsøiker.
  As the co-host of the same program successfully noted after the annoying mistake of his colleague, it was very reckless to appoint a person named Hunt to the post of Minister of Culture.
  Despite numerous verbal traps, on average per day we can make a mistake in no more than 22 words out of 15,000.
  Tomographic examination of the brain showed that most of the possible embarrassments are detected at the stage when we pronounce the words to ourselves. This allows us to filter them out and not speak them out loud.
"In the end, we pronounce everything correctly, but brain impulses indicate that a forbidden error still occurred in our thoughts," says Hartsøiker, who co-authored the study.

We are probably more prone to reservations when we are distracted or when our unconscious “spell check” does not work properly - for example, in a state of nervous excitement, fatigue or intoxication.
  The number of errors can also increase with age or with increasing speech speed.
  In other words, reservations can demonstrate what processes occur in the brain during the formation of speech, and even make it clear what we are thinking about at the moment and what we would rather be silent about.
  However, whether they are able to reveal our innermost thoughts is a big question.
  Some psychoanalysts, including Rosin Perelberg from University College London (UK), are convinced that reservations are important.

"They often become the subject of jokes, but in fact they are able to reveal something that a person would never have consciously talked about," she believes. "Personally, I always take them very seriously."
  As an example, she cites a patient whose disclaimer revealed his subconscious fears that he might harm his unborn child (the man said “beat” instead of “drink”).
  Hartsoyker is skeptical of such claims. "Scientific evidence suggests that these reservations about Freud are very, very rare," he says.
  Other scholars believe that the explanation depends on a specific reservation. “Do I agree that all reservations without exception are the result of the unconscious? No. But do I agree that Freud reservations exist? Yes, I agree,” Motley says.
  So, in what category is George W. Bush’s mistake? It is unlikely that we will ever find out about this. Most likely, she only testifies that she and Reagan were sexual ... sorry, business partners.

17.07.2015

Now it’s very fashionable to talk about reservations. Usually in such cases the father of psychoanalysis, Z. Freud, is mentioned. In general, if people really were spinning in the coffin every time they mentioned their name, then Freud could make an uninterrupted energy generator, since it would rotate all the time. But the jokes aside.

Examples of Freudian reservations

Sometimes this happens only because the person is tired or not enough sleep. A reservation in this state may mean something, or it may be empty, i.e. not bearing any special meaning. Even Freud himself said: "Sometimes a cigar in a dream is just a cigar." True, this concerned mainly his own dreams. Such a free interpretation has even become the subject of jokes.

But there are situations when a reservation cannot be recognized as random. Sometimes a man can say to a woman unknowingly: “I do not love you” - the negative particle imperceptibly penetrated the familiar phrase of all people who love each other, and the relationship can be considered ruined forever. Or, for example, a woman says to a man in admiration: “How vile you are!”, And it should have been: “How arrogant you are.”

Any reader can easily recall many such cases from his own life. Some reservations are ridiculous, and some are not very, but few will argue about the fact of their existence.

Why do reservations happen?

A person makes a reservation because some thoughts and feelings are not approved either by himself or by society, therefore they are involuntarily forgotten by a person, i.e. driven out into the realm of the unconscious. But all these impulses and impulses of the human psyche do not die in the unconscious, on the contrary, they live and live there, sometimes breaking into consciousness in the form of various kinds of oversights (descriptions, stonecrops, reservations).

And Freud is remembered in connection with this every time, because he was the first to analyze the phenomenon of spontaneous reservations in his not too fundamental work, “The Psychopathology of Everyday Life”.

What to do with reservations?

This is a difficult question because reservations are spontaneous. But if suddenly reservations cause a person troubles, then it is better for him to reflect on why he admits them and whether he is lying to himself. Typically, speech or written oversights make it clear that "not everything is okay in the Danish kingdom."

For example, if a woman makes a reservation with her beloved man, then that means he is not so valuable to her. The reverse is also true: a man who makes a reservation in the presence of his lady of the heart also gives her some food for thought.

Sometimes reservations are good. For example, someone may thus declare love. But more often than not, a reservation reveals some kind of deception: a discrepancy between what a person says and what actually is.

“Sometimes a cigar in a dream is just a cigar”

And yet, at the end of the article, we return to its beginning and say that sometimes a reservation may not lead anywhere, but simply be the result of fatigue or overwork. Freud’s doctrine of the unconscious is a great force that turned almost everything in the world. But it turns impressionable people into paranoiacs, who everywhere see symbols and secret signs.

And there’s one more thing. Finally - the following situation. A married couple quarrels and one of the participants makes an offensive reservation, according to Freud, and the other clings to it. On this wave, the latter blows up the scandal's fire to the sky, the tension rises until the carriage of married life breaks into the cliffs of turmoil.

And now, attention, a question! If one makes a reservation, and the other purposefully unwinds a tangle of scandal from one, albeit an offensive clause, maybe the other really needs this for some reason?