Word Association Test (WAT). Introduction
In the early stages of his career, from 1900 to 1908, Carl Gustav Jung worked at the Burghölzli Psychiatric Clinic of Zurich University. At that time under Eugen Bleuler’s leadership Burghölzli excelled in neuropsychological research.
During his work at Burghölzli Jung discovered that certain words and expressions triggered emotional reactions in his patients. In order to verify this hypothesis, he developed his own version of the Word Association Test (WAT).
The word association tests were first used as a research instrument in 1879 by Francis Galton, who explored the link between I.Q. and word associations. A standard “association test” involved timing of quickly responses to trigger words. However, some words were causing notable delays of responses. While Galton concentrated on the quick answers and wasn’t able to find the reason for delays, Jung found them intriguing. He turned the table looking for something what “wasn’t there”.
Jung assumed that emotional complexes indicate blocks of self-expression, causing resistance, discovered one decade earlier by Freud and called bei him “repression.”
Freud acknowledged Jung’s experimental proof of his theory, welcoming him as a much-needed reputable scientist in the early psychoanalytic movement.
The research on Word Assosiation Test was also the reason for Jung’s invitation to the famous Clarck University lecture in 1909.
Supporting Freud’s theory
In 1903 Bleuler appointed Jung to director of research on the Word Association Test. Between1903-1906 Jing and his collaborator, Franz Riklin conducted numerous word association tests on psychiatric patients as well as on normal subjects. They added to the Word Association Tests the contemporary “high-tech” neurophysiological devices such as Galvanic Skin Response and breath measurement to register changes in respiration and skin resistance to emotionally loaded words.
Jung argued that this method tapped into clusters of emotionally charged words interfering with the Ego’s willpower, leading to delayed responses. Jung connected this test results with Freud’s psychoanalytical theory, especially with the phenomenon of repression to account for the autonomous nature of complexes.
WAT’s use for forensic investigation
Jung modified the test for forensic investigation. He and his associates applied the Word Association Test to forensic diagnoses, and published some remarkable cases of successful criminal detections.
The contemporary polygraph, called often a “lie detector”, is based on similar principal. It measures physiological functions such as blood pressure, pulse, respiration, and skin conductivity while the subject is asked to answer a series of questions. In some countries, for example in the US, polygraph is used in interrogations of criminal suspects or candidates for sensitive public or private positions.
Word Association Test (WAT): objectives, characteristics, and applications
Carl Gustav Jung’s Word Association Test (WAT) is a fascinating tool for assessing the human psyche. The test is based on the idea that the unconscious can control the conscious will. A single word can touch past traumas and reveal unresolved inner conflicts.
The technique is remarkably straightforward. The test administrator presents a word to the patient asking him to respond with the first word that comes to his mind. Any disturbance of a straightforward answer is considered as “emotionally loaded” touching the patient’s unsolved “emotional baggage”.
Application of Word Association Test
The Word Association Test is a projective test, which must be examined in context of clinical examination taking in consideration patient’s physical and emotional reactions to draw precise conclusions.
The test involves presenting the patient with 100 words. The patient must speak immediately a single word associated with the stimuli-word. The therapist records the response and notes additional information. He focuses on the time taken by the patient to respond, the level of discomfort it generated, and the patient’s facial expression. After the test is completed, patient’s reactions must be interpreted alongside the 100 words queried.
Test evaluation
WAT evaluation based on standard English version Zurich Institute 100 Word WAT List. Complex indicators (responses considered pathological) include:
1. Any reaction time 0.4 sec greater than the median
2. Incorrect reproductions on repeat WAT
3. Semantic Indicators
a. No reaction
b. Repetition of stimulus word
c. ‘clang’ reactions (e.g., big-pig)
d. Disconnected reactions. E.g., subject gives the name of an object in the room unconnected with the stimulus word
e. Responding with several words
f. Neologisms, colloquialisms, profanities
g. Stereotypies (use of the same response repeatedly)
4. Behavioural indicators.
a. Mimic, movement, laughter
b. Stuttering or mispronunciation
The investigator interviews the subject afer each session, identifying wich were disturbing.
5. Self-reported complexes
The term “complex”
Theodor Ziehen, one of Germany’s first child psychiatrists, is credited with having coined the term “complex” in 1898. The term “complex” had been used earlier by Freud and Josef Breuer earlier. Nevertheless, it was Jung’s interpretation that solidified its place in the psychoanalytic vocabulary.
According to Jung complexes are unconscious autonomous structures grouping together clusters of emotions. Jung expanded it in his formulation as “feeling-toned complex of ideas” to refer to the “hot spots” that his Word Association Test elicited. He formulated that the core of any complex is archetypal. Unless resolved, complexes continue their unconscious, destructive influence, leading to neurosis.
Jung didn’t consider neurosis as something entirely negative. In his famous statement “thank God that the patient got neurotic,” he emphasized that neurosis is an attempt to compensate patient’s one-sided attitude to life. Neurosis is a cry to draw attention to a side of personality that has been neglected or repressed.
Jung “On the Doctrine of Complexes“
In his 1911 paper “On the Doctrine of Complexes,” Jung sheds light on the nature of complexes.
In the Word Association Test complexes disrupt associations. They lead to unexpected responses, fragmentary references, rendering the subject incapable of reacting, while the person remains unaware of their influence.
He defines complexes as collections of entities independent from conscious control and capable of conflicting with an individual’s intentions. In situations where complexes temporarily replace the Ego, they exhibit distinct personalities.
Jung explains also the phenomenon of “demon possession” by the interference of autonomously acting complexes independent from the Ego, imposing on the individual a quasi-foreign will.
Jung in his own words on complexes
…Complexes are psychic entities which are outside the control of the conscious mind … they always contain something like a conflict.
…complexes are the “skeletons in the cupboard” which we do not like to remember but still come back to mind unbidden in the most unwelcome fashion.
…What is less well known, is that complexes can control us. It casts serious doubt on the naive assumption of the unity of the will and its supremacy.
(Jung 1921, paras. 923–27)
…fundamentally there is no difference in principle between a fragmentary personality and a complex.
… Dream psychology shows us as plainly as could be wished how complexes appear in personified form … We observe the same phenomenon in certain psychoses when the complexes get “loud” and appear as “voices” having a thoroughly personal character.
Complexes are in truth the living units of the unconscious psyche … that is why Freud became the real discoverer of the unconscious in psychology. …they are the via regia to the unconscious, however, is not the dream, but the complex, which is the architect of the dreams and symptoms.
(Jung 1934, paras. 196, 202, 203 and 210 respectively)
The reliability of Word Association Test
Professionals continued to apply WAT for a long time. However, contemporarily the test is only used in Jungian therapy programs or as a supplementary projection technique.
In 2013, Dr. Leon Petchkovsky psychiatrist and Jungian therapists conducted a study on Word Association test using Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI). The experiment was performed at the Wesley Hospital Brisbane using a 4 Tesla Bruker Medspec system.
The primary form of the fMRI process relies on contrasting blood-oxygen-leveldependent (BOLD) signals between 2 conditions. The ‘test’ condition (in this case ‘complexed’ responses) versus the ‘baseline’ condition (‘neutral’ responses) to measure oxygenated blood flow (and hence metabolic activity) in brain regions that get activated in the ‘complexed’ response.
Petchkovsky demonstrated that the words from Jung’s Word Association Test elicited prominent neurological reactions. Such trigger words activated the mirror neurons and increased activity in the amygdala, hippocampus, and insular cortex. These results were more pronounced in individuals with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
These findings once again demonstrate that words have the power to evoke emotions, memories, and thoughts that we might otherwise ignore.
Word Association Test. Conclusion
The word association test is very simple in its nature. The therapist is saying a word, and the patient responds with the first word that comes to his mind. What may seem at first glance like a child’s game goes far beyond.
Jung adapted the test into a projective method, introducing significant innovations. Beyond cognitive dimensions, he emphasized emotional aspects. He observed that unusual responses from subjects were linked to their emotions. He highlighted the lack of conscious control over such emotional reactions.
Measuring the response time and concentrating on delayed answers and other irregularities Jung was able to identify words with emotional undertone. This allowed to uncover the patient’s “hidden agenda”, an insight into patient’s unconscious problems. By using this knowledge, the therapist can approach the conflict resolution leading ultimately to healing.
WAT contribution to analytical psychology
The Word Association Test was Jung’s remarkable contribution to the analytical psychology. Its result was the first scientific prove supporting Freud‘s psychoanalytical theory. Jung sent his paper on Word Association Experiment to Freud and the meet soon after in Vienna. This visit initiated few years of friendship and fruitful collaboration between these remarkable men.
In his later career Jung stopped routine use of the Word Association Test. At that time his vast experience and highly developed intuition made for him the test obsolete. Instead, he concentred on dream analysis and the use of his own method, called “active imagination“, which allowed him to open the window to his patients unconscious.
Sources
Journal of Analytical Psychology, 2013, 58, 409–431. fMRI responses to Jung’s Word Association
Test: implications for theory, treatment and research. Leon Petchkovsky et al.Collected Works of C.G. Jung”. Princeton University Press. Retrieved 2020-08-22.
Bair, Deirdre (2003). Jung: A Biography. New York: Back Bay Books. pp. 7, 53. ISBN978-0-316-15938-8.
Stevens, Anthony (1994): Jung: A very short introduction, Oxford University Press, Oxford & N.Y. ISBN 978-0-19-285458-2
Jung, Carl Gustav & Riklin, Franz Beda: Diagnostische Assoziationsstudien. I. Beitrag. Experimentelle Untersuchungen über Assoziationen Gesunder (pp.55–83). 1904, Journ. Psych. Neurol., 3/1-2. – Hrsg. v. August Forel & Oskar Vogt. Red. v. Karl Brodmann. – Leipzig, Verlag von Johann Ambrosius Barth, 1904, gr.-8°, Jung, Carl (1963).
On The Doctrine Of Complexes. From the book Volume 2 Collected Works of C. G. Jung