The word association test

Word Association Test (WAT)

History and Background

Word Association Test

A test assessing personality traits and conflicts, in which the subject

Carl Jung He was a Swiss psychiatrist, an influential

thinker and the founder of analytical psychology. Jung is considered as the first modern psychologist to state that the human psyche is "by nature religious" and to explore it in depth.

Author

Francis Galton• African Explorer and elected Fellow in the Royal

Geographic Society • Creator of the first weather maps and establisher of the

meteorological theory of anticyclones• Coined term "eugenics" and phrase "nature versus

nurture"• Developed statistical concepts of correlation and

regression to the mean • Discovered that fingerprints were an index of personal

identity and persuaded Scotland Yard to adopt a fingerprinting system

• First to utilize the survey as a method for data collection• Produced over 340 papers and books throughout his

lifetime• Knighted in 1909

Word association was first developed as a research instrument by Francis Galton and was subsequently developed by Carl Jung as a clinical diagnostic tool.

Galton introduced the first word-association test to psychology. He used a list of 75 stimulus words with which he read and noted his responses. Galton, who thought that there might be a link between a person's I.Q. (intelligence quotient) and word associations.

HISTORY

Word association is connected with the work that Carl Gustav Jung was engaged in at the Burghölzli Psychiatric Clinic of the University of Zurich in the early stages of his career (Jung, 1917/1926/1943). Under the directorship of Eugen Bleuler, the Burghölzli Psychiatric Clinic was an international center of excellence in psychiatric research at the turn of the century. Jung became director of research on the Word Association Test.

This test usually consisted of a hundred stimulus words that were read out singly to a subject who was to "answer as quickly as possible with the first word that occurs to you.”

Thank you-Jamaica Manibug

ADMINISTRATION

Administering a word-association test is relatively uncomplicated.

A subject is asked to respond with the first word or idea that comes to mind.

The table has three columns: the test word, reaction time and patients – response.

Jung's Word Association

Test

Jung's first English language papers on the

subject is taken from his lecture notes at Clark University in Massachusetts in September, 1909.

Jung presents his method of using 100 words.

Identify abnormal patterns of response as a

means to identify psychological complexes, along with what he calls

"intellectual and emotional deficiencies."

Methods

1. Patients Instructions

"We're now going to do a word association test. This test contains 100 words. After I say each word, I'll be expecting you to respond with a word. I want you to answer as quickly as possible with the first word that occurs to your mind."

2. Recording the results

The table has three columns: test word, reaction time, and patient-response.

Record the number of seconds of the delayed response.

3. Reproduction

The reproduction method was invented

by Jung to "fine-tune“, " the accuracy of

examiner identified complexes.

Types of Reproduction Disturbance

False Unrelated RecallFalse Related RecallNo RecallDelay in RecallPartial RecallSpontaneously corrected False Recall

4. Interpretation

5. Re-writing

6. Final Thoughts

****END****

-Alexis Mirabueno

Word association test

DEFINITION OF WAT: : a test of personality and mental function

in which the subject is required to respond to each of a series of words with the first word that comes to mind or with a word of a specified class of words.

Generally, a list of words (stimuli) is given to subjects (either in writing or in oral form). The subjects are asked to respond with the first word that comes into their mind (responses).

Word Association Test

Dog 49, mouse 8, black 4, animal 2, eyes, gut, kitten, tom 2, bit, Cheshire, claw, claws, enigma, feline, furry, hearth, house, kin, kittens, milk, pet, pussy, todd 1

(of 100 people asked)

‘Cat’ stimulates

SCORING WAT Scoring are not scores in the sense we use

scores on other test.◦ (a beginner in the field may prefer to score them

for his own sake, because test scores help in accumulating and systemizing experience.)

Kinds of associative disturbances

BlockingObject NamingDefinitionsAttempted DefinitionsRepetitions


Partial RepetitionsClang AssociationPhrase CompletionClose reaction properAttributes


ImagesSuspectedSelf- References


Perseveration*Repeating the same reaction on most or all

stimulus words having some link between them

*Reacting to stimulus word with a word appropriate to the previous stimulus word

*Reacting to a stimulus word with a word appropriate to the previous reaction word


Unrelated reactionDistant reactionMildly distant reactionNeologismsAffective reactions


AlternativesProper nounsVulgar reaction

Mishearing of stimulus wordNot knowing the stimulus

word


THANK YOU…

Significance of Various

Types of Associative Disturbanc

es

1. Blocking Shows it’s greatest incidence in

deteriorated unclassified schizophrenics and in inhibited pre schizophrenics.

2. Object Naming• Occur occasionally in depressive

psychotics and inhibited schizophrenics.

3. Repetition and Partial Repetition• Occur most frequently in acute or

deteriorated unclassified schizophrenics and in inhibited pre schizophrenics.

4. Definitions and Attempted Definitions Occur with a very high incidence in

depressives and deteriorated unclassified schizophrenics.

5. Closed Reaction Proper• Outstandingly often encountered in

simple schizophrenia.

6. Self - References• Occur at times chronic and deteriorated

unclassified schizophrenics and depressive neurotics.

7. Perseverations Crop up in chronic schizophrenics, acute

paranoid schizophrenics, and simple schizophrenics; also in over ideational pre schizophrenics and mixed neurotics.

8. Clang Associations• Present in schizophrenics and pre

schizophrenics; most in ideational are pre – schizophrenics and least acute in schizophrenia.

9. Phrase Completion Occurs most in chronic unclassified

schizophrenia, acute paranoid schizophrenia, and over ideational pre schizophrenia.

10. Images and Suspected Images• Occur most often in pre schizophrenics

and obsessive – compulsive.

11. Attributes Appear at a maximum in chronic and

deteriorated schizophrenics, and are also paranoid in conditions.

12. Unrelated Reactions• Are commonest in deteriorated

classified schizophrenics.

14. Mildly distant reactions• Occur most often in simple schizophrenics,

but also in depressive psychotics.

15. Multiword reactions• Have by far the highest frequency

deteriorated unclassified schizophrenics followed by acute unclassified schizophrenics.

16. Emotional reactions They turn up most frequently in the test

of over ideational pre schizophrenics and acute unclassified schizophrenics.

17. Alternate reactions• Are not often given except by some

schizophrenics.

18. Vulgar responses• Are most prevalent in men of relatively

little education and limited cultural background.

19. Subtotal of close reactions

• Characterized by depression with some incidence of schizophrenia also.

THANK YOU!

Education

The word association test