<p>Does free association writing or talking captures  unconscious thoughts? Or maybe they don't because you are conscious during the process?</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-10-14T15:25:01.980Z
Related: https://psychology.stackexchange.com/questions/10982/predictive-experiments-on-neuroscience-of-free-will
Chris Rogers
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-08-22T13:08:33.400Z
I personally think you answered the question yourself. If something is unconscious, then it is... well... not conscious.
Jens Kouros
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-08-22T14:04:00.163Z
The problem with attempting to answer this question empirically is . . . how would you assess whether freewriting contents reflected the unconscious?  I guess you could do some kind of implicit associations test, but doing it before would prime the content to appear in the freewriting, and if the freewriting was first and the IAT after, the freewriting content would already be primed for the IAT . . .
Krysta
<test><unconscious><psychoanalysis>
Are unconscious thoughts captured by free association?
Reall
# Are unconscious thoughts captured by free association?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2013-08-21)

Does free association writing or talking captures unconscious thoughts? Or maybe they don't because you are conscious during the process?

**Tags:** test, unconscious, psychoanalysis

> **Comments:**
> **username_2**: I personally think you answered the question yourself. If something is unconscious, then it is... well... not conscious.  
> **username_3**: The problem with attempting to answer this question empirically is . . . how would you assess whether freewriting contents reflected the unconscious?  I guess you could do some kind of implicit associations test, but doing it before would prime the content to appear in the freewriting, and if the freewriting was first and the IAT after, the freewriting content would already be primed for the IAT . . .  
> **username_1**: Related: https://psychology.stackexchange.com/questions/10982/predictive-experiments-on-neuroscience-of-free-will  

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