If an average psychologist should be asked to explain how it happens that we often fail to recall a name which we are sure we know, he would probably content himself with the answer that proper names are more apt to be forgotten than any other content of memory. I was led to examine exhaustively the phenomenon of temporary forgetfulness through the observation of certain peculiarities, which, although not general, can, nevertheless, be seen clearly in some cases.
The process which should lead to the reproduction of the lost name is, as it were, displaced, and thus brings one to an incorrect substitute. Now it is my assumption that the displacement is not left to psychic arbitrariness, but that it follows lawful and rational paths. In other words, I assume that the substitutive name or names stands in direct relation to the lost name, and I hope, if I succeed in demonstrating this connection, to throw light on the origin of the forgetting of names.
When the correct name was imparted to me by an outsider I recognized it at once without any hesitation. The connection, too, in which the forgetting of the name took place appeared to me harmless, and led to no further explanation. I journeyed by carriage with a stranger from Ragusa, Dalmatia, to a station in Herzegovina.
This forgetting then made itself known as a disturbance of the newly emerging theme caused by the theme preceding it. In brief, before I asked my travelling companion if he had been in Orvieto we had been discussing the customs of the Turks living in Bosnia and Herzegovina. I had related what I heard from a colleague who was practising medicine among them, namely, that they show full confidence in the physician and complete submission to fate.
I know that if he could be saved you would save him. For I recalled that I wished to relate a second anecdote which was next to the first in my memory. These Turks value the sexual pleasure above all else, and at sexual disturbances merge into an utter despair which strangely contrasts with their resignation at the peril of losing their lives.
I refrained from imparting this characteristic feature because I did not wish to touch upon such a delicate theme in conversation with a stranger.
A patient on whom I had spent much effort had ended his life on account of an incurable sexual disturbance. I know positively that this sad event, and everything connected with it, did not come to my conscious recollection on that trip in Herzegovina. However, the agreement between Trafoi and Boltraffio forces me to assume that this reminiscence was at that time brought to activity despite all the intentional deviation of my attention.
I must recognize in this process the influence of a motive. There were motives which actuated the interruption in the communication of my thoughts concerning the customs of the Turks, etc.
To be sure, I wished to forget something other than the name of the master of Orvieto; but this other thought brought about an associative connection between itself and this name, so that my act of volition missed the aim, and I forgot the one against my will, while I intentionally wished to forget the other.
The disinclination to recall directed itself against the one content; the inability to remember appeared in another. The case would have been obviously simpler if this disinclination and the inability to remember had concerned the same content. The substitutive names no longer seem so thoroughly justified as they were before this explanation. Want to Read Currently Reading Read. Other editions. Enlarge cover. Error rating book.
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Anthea Bell Translator. The founder of modern psychiatry, Sigmund Freud powerfully believed that conscious decisions are underpinned by a guiding subconscious that can be understood only by analysis. Taken from one of his most important works, The Psychopathology of Everyday Life , published in a new translation by Penguin Modern Classics, this volume explores why we forget, how we remember and wh The founder of modern psychiatry, Sigmund Freud powerfully believed that conscious decisions are underpinned by a guiding subconscious that can be understood only by analysis.
Taken from one of his most important works, The Psychopathology of Everyday Life , published in a new translation by Penguin Modern Classics, this volume explores why we forget, how we remember and why our memories can sometimes prove deceptive.
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Freud explains why people forget things, especially people's names, in two essays. These pieces are interesting and informative, yet simultaneously trivial, given the ordinary examples he collects and analyses. This comment may say more about the reader than the writer, which may have given Freud something more to analyse.
Freud se twee kort stukke oor waarom mense dinge, take en name vergeet, is tegelyk fassinerend en beuselagtig. Apr 28, Jamie rated it did not like it. Really boring! I already forgot everything I read. One issue with dealing with the unconscious is finding its true meaning, and how it became unconscious in the first place. If a traumatic experience caused it to be repressed, then there may be a higher resistance for a patient to willfully express what happened.
When a subject falls a sleep, they relax their mind and body, and how Freud calls it the rational reality-testing processes of the mind become relaxed. Whereas Freud is best known for his work on the unconscious mind. The aim of psychoanalytic therapy is to release repressed emotions and experiences, because Freud believed that psychological problems are rooted in the unconscious mind.
Modern Man In Search Of A Soul describes the techniques of dream analysis that a psychoanalyst following Jung's ideas would ideally follow. Jung says that the unconscious exists and that without it dreams would be "merely a freak of nature". Without the unconscious the dream would simply be a group of memory fragments assembled in a strange order. With the unconscious dreams represent a window into the inner thoughts which are causally related to neuroses and are therefore important in a patients treatment.
Psychoanalytic psychologists believe that typical causes of mental disorders root from unresolved conflicts and trauma. Psychoanalytic treatment is based on the idea that people are motivated by unrecognized wishes and desires.
Treatment involves bringing the repressed conflict to consciousness so that the patient can learn to deal with it. There are many different ways in which the psychologist can bring the patient's conflict to consciousness including, rorschach ink blots, Freudian slip, and free.
Psychology, neuroscience try to explain them, He studied dreams to better understand aspects of personality as they relate to pathology. Freud believed that every action is motivated by the unconscious at a certain level. In order to be successful in a civilized society, the urges and desires of the unconscious mind must be repressed. Freud believed that dreams are manifestations of urges and desires that are suppressed in the unconscious. Open Document. Essay Sample Check Writing Quality.
Freud's Views on Forgetting a Proper Name and Dream Analysis In several of his books, including Introductory Lectures on Psychoanalysis and On Dreams, Freud combines the topics of forgetting a proper name and dream analysis, formulating a thesis that helps to clarify his theories on both.
He describes in psychoanalytic terms the mechanisms behind forgetting of a proper name and how they relate to the methods used in dream analysis.
By looking at the two topics from a joint perspective, we can gain a greater understanding of them and how they relate to other areas of psychoanalysis. The tendency toward forgetting of a proper name is an important theme in Freud's work.
He explained the way in which forgetting something like a name was actually a substitute for forgetting something that, unconsciously, an individual does not wish to remember.
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