Blac and white photograph of carl Gustav Jung in his 30ties — *Photograph of Carl Gustav Jung taken during his tenure at the Burghölzli Psychiatric Hospital in Zurich*

The Word Association Test (WAT) developed by C.G.Jung was one of the earliest, and is still amongst the few, scientifically verifiable processes that can provide empirical support to the psychoanalytical theory of Freud. The test was no mere diagnostic exercise but a systematic approach to the study of the unconscious and the determination of how the hidden emotional forces determine the conscious behavior.

Carl Gustav Jung. Biographical Not

The Swiss psychiatrist C. G. Jung is considered one of the most important thinkers of the century. He was born in Kesswil, in the canton of Thurgau, and spent his childhood in the parish house of Laufen. Jung attended secondary school in Basel and went on to study medicine there. From 1900 to 1907, he worked at the Burghölzli Psychiatric Clinic in Zurich under the directorship of Eugen Bleuler, and also taught at the University of Zurich for a time.

Jung sought to understand the human psyche using methods that could be empirically verified. His first major academic achievement was the development of the Word Association Test.

Developement of Word Association Test

At the beginning of his career, Carl Gustav Jung served at the Burghölzli Psychiatric hospital in Zurich between the year 1900 and 1909. The hospital went on to become a pioneer in neuropsychological research with Eugen Bleuler taking over its management. It was under this intellectually engaging setting that Jung started the same line of ideas of pursuing experimental methods in psychiatry.

Later in the year 1903, Jung, along with his assistant Franz Riklin started experimentation in the word association test. The method had already been introduced decades ago – first, in 1879 by Francis Galton, but it had been applied to measure cognitive performance. These pioneers were interested in quantifying how fast and what they respond to a list of stimulus words to determine sharpness of mind, and verbal fluency.

Nevertheless, they did not pay attention to a very important part: the psychological interpretation of delays or other forms of unexpected answers. Jung, on the contrary, shared an interest in the same anomalies. In other words, rather than dismissing them as unimportant, he believed they expressed aspects of the unconscious mind.

When creating his version of the test, Jung changed the emphasis on the errors, hesitations, and emotionally active responses. He concluded that these were not random disturbances. Rather, they disclosed the existence of what he termed as the feeling-toned complexes, encompassment of emotionally charged thoughts, recollections, and associations in the unconsciousness. According to Jung, these complexes had the capacity to temporarily interfere with conscious mind so that there is a delay or distortion in the answer given by the subject.

Through it, Jung managed to turn the word association test into a strong instrument of revealing emotional conflicts, repressed memories, and unconscious material over the simple cognitive assessment tool. His innovation did not merely increase the clinical utility of the test but gave empirical backing to Freudian theory of repression, so making the WAT a core component of the evolution of analytical psychology.

Word Association Test and Freud’s Repression

Jung noted that there were strong similarities between his own discoveries and those of Freud after reading his influential book The Psychopathology of Everyday Life (1901). Here, Freud explained how the slips, mistakes and random deviations that happened in everyday life were not by chance but were manifestations of unconscious inhibition which Freud referred to as repression.

Expanding on this thesis, Jung using the Word Association Test provided strong evidence which supported the theory of Freud. Specifically, the test showed that the distorted or delayed reactions were mostly associated with emotional complexes that had been pushed into the unconscious. This made WAT, and continues to be, one of the statistically approved instruments in justification of the psychoanalytic model of Freud.

Jung Meets Freud

Based on such similarities, Jung presented his findings to Freud. Freud, in his turn, considered experimental proof of his theoretical statements. As a result, the two met in Vienna in 1907 and the commencement of a strong intellectual cooperation and friendship. In course of time, Jung progressed to being one of the confidants of Freud. Together with Eugen Bleuler, he tried advancing psychoanalysis and played a major role in its international notability.

Remarkably, it was Jung and his work on the Word Association Test that prompted him, to be invited to speak at the renowned Clark University conference in 1909, this being the venue that first introduced psychoanalysis to the United States academic community.

Supporting Freud’s Theory

In the year 1903, Bleuler had also assigned Jung with the top researcher role in the Word Association Test. Within the next three years, Jung and collaborator Franz Riklin continued many more tests not only on psychiatric patients but also on healthy people, enabling them to further develop their analysis and compare their findings in various psychological profiles.

Jung subsequently collaborated with neurologist and professor at Columbia University, Frederick Peterson to include physiological measurements in the test procedure. Through a pneumograph and a galvanic skin response apparatus, they found out that individuals who were subjected to emotionally charged words not only exhibit a delayed verbal activity but also a unique physical reaction, which includes a higher skin conductivity level, and slowed breathing. These bodily alterations were directly associated with delayed or prolonged responses, another testament to the emotional influence of complexes that were unconscious and another hard empirical evidence that can support the idea of repression proposed by Freud.

Word Association Test (WAT): Objectives and Characteristics

The Word Association Test (WAT) developed by Carl Gustav Jung is a special and brilliant means to delve into the psyche of a human being. In its fundamental principles, the test is based on the notions that the unconscious mind can influence and, in some instances, overriding the consciousness will. According to Jung, even only one word could evoke traumatic memories of the past or unresolved inner conflict.

The process itself is quite elementary. In the test the administrator reads one stimulus word and requests the subject to provide the immediate response with the first word in his or her mind. Hesitation, distortion or other abnormal affiliation is all considered to be emotionally loaded which implies doubt of unresolved psychological material. Jung noted that there were usually the longest silences that pointed at the most strongly entrenched conflicts; that is, where the neuroses lay.

WAT Application in Clinical Setting

The Word Association Test belongs to the type of projective techniques and can never be interpreted as a stand-alone effort, without the wider frames of a clinical assessment. To draw precise conclusions the examiner does not only consider the verbal answer but also the physical reactions of the subject, the tone of the voice and their facial expressions.

In its typical version, the WAT contains 100 stimulus words. With each one, the subject has to answer straight away with a single related word. The reaction time is noted by the examiner who also takes note of physical conditions of discomfort and change of demeanor. Upon completion of the test, the reactions are evaluated against stimulus words which assist in discovering the emotional complexes that are likely to be shaping the answers of the subject.

Forensic Applications of Word Association Test

Jung further saw the value of the Word Association Test outside the therapy room. He modified the process to be used in a forensics context and used it successfully during criminal investigations. Several published case studies record how the WAT has exposed hidden information or emotional engagement in a crime. This forensic adaptation has a conceptual connection with the modern polygraph, or the so-called lie detector. Similarly to the WAT, the polygraph is based on the belief that certain questions that can emotionally arouse a person will bring measurable changes in psychological and physiological behaviors. The device measures fluctuations of the blood pressure, pulse, respiration and skin conductivity during the response of the subject to a set of questions. Although its efficiency is disputed, the polygraph is employed in a few nations, including the United States, especially in criminal investigations as well as in vetting people in occupations that necessitate a high level of trust.

Test Description in Jung’s Own Words

As has been mentioned, the influence of the Word Association Test was why Carl Gustav Jung was invited to speak at the Clark University Congress in 1909. Jung explained the procedure himself in his first lecture there:

The experiment starts as the test person is given the following instruction: Respond as soon as you can to the first word that comes to your mind. This directive is easy to such an extent that anyone can follow it. The job, too, is incredibly simple, so one may have thought that it was a job that everyone can do with the utmost ease and speed. However, the behavior is very different to what one would have expected.

What seems to impress us most at first is that the reaction time is significantly extended in many of the test persons. This may give an impression, at first, of intellectual struggles–incorrectly, as in many cases we are dealing with highly intelligent individuals of perfect elocutions. The rationale can be found more in the feelings. To know the matter thoroughly we must remember that any psychic event is never an event but is always the effect of the total psychological past.”

Evaluation of the Word Association Test

The standard evaluation is utilising the Zurich Institute’s 100-word WAT list. Potential complexes are marked by:

1.Increased reaction time (greater than 0.4 seconds above the median).

2.Well, the wrong replacements in case of repeatedly taking the test.

3. Semantic signs like:

No response.
Repeating of the stimulus word.
Clang associations (e.g. big pig).
Off topic behaviors, i.e. calling out random things in the room.
Multiple-word answers.
Profanities, colloquialisms or neologisms.
Predetermined, stereotyped replies.

4. Behavioral indications:

Facial expressions, movements of the body or laughter.
Stammering or articulation errors.

After the test, the subject is interviewed by the examiner to determine the stimulus words that were bothersome. Complexes reported by self may also be presented.

The Term “Complex”

The man who first made use of the term complex was Theodor Ziehen, one of the first child psychiatrist in Germany back in 1898. It was its interpretation by Jung that became part of psychoanalytic theory. Jung refers to complexes as unconscious, independent structures that consist of arrayed emotions, ideas, and memories. He called them feeling-toned complexes of ideas–the hot spots whose existence the Word Association Test was destined to reveal.

Jung illustrated that deep inside every complex, an archetype would be found. When they remain unresolved, complexes can still exert an unconscious and usually destructive force, possibly to the extent of neurosis. Notably, he did not consider neurosis as negative only. Rather he interpreted it as a symptom–an endeavor of the psyche to attract attention to unnoticed or repressed parts of the personality. And that neurosis, as he characteristically put it, is a blessing, if the patient is neurotic, because neurosis is the check against a monolateral lifestyle.

C.G.Jung on Complexes

Jung gave more detailed analysis of nature of the complexes in his 1911 paper On the Doctrine of Complexes. He described how complexes interrupt the associations in the WAT to yield unpredictable or incomplete reactions. People are not even aware of how much influence they have, and complexes impede their responding.

Jung referred to complexes as psychic things beyond conscious direction, and able to act against the wishes of the person. In some cases, they may act temporarily instead of ego and have a personality different to that of their own. He even related the so-called popular symptoms of so-called demon possession to the activity of such independent complexes, referring to them as exerting a quasi-alien will upon the individual.

The Reliability of Word Association Test

Word Association Test was one of the widely used tests in clinical practice during many years. Nowadays it is used primarily in Jungian programmes or as an addition to a projective technique.

In 2013, Jungian therapist and psychiatrist Dr. Leon Petchkovsky and his group at Wesley Hospital in Brisbane used the WAT in an experiment assessed using Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI). In the study, the researchers used brain activity to compare the response to emotionally charged words and use of neutral responses in complex reactions.

The results indicated that trigger words triggered mirror neurons, heightened activity in the amygdala, the hippocampus, and the insular cortex. Those effects were most impressive among people having Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and evidently the WAT can bring about quantifiable neurological responses.

The Word Association Test in Analytical Psychology

One of the most significant contributions to analytical psychology by Jung was the WAT which gave scientific proof to the theory of repression of Freud. The findings of Jung resulted in his first encounter with Freud and subsequent fruitful collaboration.

Jung abandoned the test later in his career, and, as the years passed, he ceased using the test altogether and turned instead to dream analysis and the use of his so-called active imagination, a process by which a person can access the unconscious.