This is the second lecture in Sigmund Freud's Introduction to Psychoanalysis course, which describes erroneous actions as a tool for the psychoanalyst. How are erroneous actions defined and are they all related to psychoanalysis?
The study of psychoanalysis begins not with some kind of examination and observation of the course of the disease, but with simple mental phenomena that can be noticed in every healthy person. And our object of research will be erroneous actions: slips of the tongue, slips of the tongue, cleansing, mishearing, short-term forgetting, hiding (according to Z. Freud). It seemed, why study such trifles? But little things often become the causes of illness. And one should not underestimate a subtle change in behavior: it is from them that a young man can understand that he has won the girl's favor, or, on the contrary, she flirts and attracts his attention. Prolonged handshake, gazing, forgetting keys - all this is a small part of everyday life.
In psychoanalysis, erroneous actions are not considered if they are caused by physiological or psychophysiological reasons. After all, mistakes in pronunciation or forgetting can be easily explained by an obvious disease. But how to explain the cases when a person tries to remember a word, says "that it spins on the tongue," and when someone else pronounces it, he immediately remembers this word. Or cases when they try to correct typos several times, but they still slip into the finished text?
There is no fault of "evil spirits" or the other world. One of the main reasons that psychoanalysis considers is suggestion. Moreover, a person can inspire an action or thought to himself, presenting false as reality. It all depends on inner desires. If a person is hungry and wants to buy a beautiful cake, although he came for milk, he will unconsciously buy a cake, sometimes forgetting about what he wanted to buy.
When we make a reservation, in addition to suggestion and self-hypnosis, the ratio of sounds also affects. If two words are similar and have been recently spoken, then they can change places without the speaker's notice. Another reason for slips of the tongue is word associations. It happens when we see something or someone associated with some word or phrase, which is spoken out loud by itself. Many poets and writers regarded the erroneous actions of the heroes as motives for action. Secret motives are secret desires. And Sigmund Freud agrees with them, suggesting that some of the erroneous actions are associated with the unconscious activity of our mind.
