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{{Short description|Concept in classical psychoanalysis}}
{{Psychoanalysis}}
In [[psychoanalysis]], a '''Freudian slip''', also called '''parapraxis''', is an error in [[speech communication|speech]], [[memory]], or physical action that occurs due to the interference of an [[unconscious mind|unconscious]] subdued wish or [[Internalization (sociology)|internal]] train of thought. Classical examples involve [[slips of the tongue]], but psychoanalytic theory also embraces misreadings, mishearings, mistypings, temporary forgettings, and the mislaying and losing of objects.
==History==
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Freud, himself, referred to these slips as {{Lang|de|Fehlleistungen}}<ref name=LP/> (meaning "faulty functions",<ref name=LP/> "faulty actions" or "misperformances" in [[German language|German]]); the Greek term ''parapraxes'' (plural of ''parapraxis''; {{Etymology|gre|''παρά'' (para)|another||''πρᾶξις'' (praxis)|action}}) was the creation of his English translator, as is the form "symptomatic action".{{citation needed|date=March 2016}}
Freud's process of psychoanalysis<ref>Berg, Henk de. “The Birth of Psychoanalysis.” Freud’s Theory and Its Use in Literary and Cultural Studies: An Introduction, NED-New edition, Boydell & Brewer, 2003, pp. 1–16. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7722/j.ctt17t74hp.7.
As in the study of dreams, Freud submits his discussion with the intention of demonstrating the existence of unconscious mental processes in the healthy:
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A 1979 study investigated Freudian slips by having male test participants who had been primed with a stimulus either related to sex or an electric shock to read a list of words that had meaningful [[spoonerism]]s related to both stimuli. Primed participants had a far higher rate of [[spoonerism]] related to the specific stimulus.<ref name="Motley Baars 1979 pp. 421–432">{{cite journal |last1=Motley |first1=Michael T. |last2=Baars |first2=Bernard J. |year=1979 |title=Effects of Cognitive Set Upon Laboratory Induced Verbal (Freudian) Slips |journal=Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research |publisher=American Speech Language Hearing Association |volume=22 |issue=3 |pages=421–432 |doi=10.1044/jshr.2203.421 |issn=1092-4388 |pmid=502504}}</ref>
This aligns with the psychoanalytic theory that unconscious desires or fears influence speech, as demonstrated in Michael Fontaine's analysis of Plautus's Menaechmi. Fontaine explores how linguistic missteps, such as spoonerisms, can reveal latent desires and thoughts. Fontaine argues that in Plautus's plays, seemingly accidental slips of the tongue often carry significant psychological and thematic weight, revealing characters' unconscious motivations (Fontaine, 2007)<ref>Fontaine, Michael. “Freudian Slips in Plautus: Two Case Studies.” The American Journal of Philology, vol. 128, no. 2, 2007, pp. 209–37. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/4496959. </ref>. Just as the test subjects in the 1979 study were more likely to produce slips related to their primed stimuli, characters in Plautus's comedies reveal hidden truths through their verbal missteps, offering a comedic yet insightful view of the human psyche.
==Alternative explanations==
{{Main|Speech error}}
In contrast to psychoanalytic theorists, [[cognitive psychology|cognitive psychologists]] say that linguistic slips can represent a sequencing conflict in grammar production. From this perspective, slips may be due to cognitive underspecification that can take a variety of forms – inattention, incomplete sense data or insufficient knowledge.<ref>Motley, Michael T. “Slips of the Tongue.” Scientific American, vol. 253, no. 3, 1985, pp. 116–27. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/24967793. </ref> Secondly, they may be due to the existence of some locally appropriate response pattern that is strongly primed by its prior usage, recent activation or emotional change or by the situation calling conditions.<ref name="abc">"Language and Communication" B. MacMahon 1995 P. 15, 4, 289–328</ref>
Some sentences are just susceptible to the process of banalisation: the replacement of archaic or unusual expressions with forms that are in more common use. In other words, the errors were due to strong habit substitution.<ref name="abc"/>
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In general use, the term 'Freudian slip' has been debased to refer to any accidental [[slips of the tongue]].<ref name="oed"/> Thus many examples are found in explanations and dictionaries which do not strictly fit the psychoanalytic definition.
For example: She: 'What would you like—bread and butter, or cake?' He: 'Bed and butter.'<ref name="oed">{{cite
In the above, the man may be presumed to have a sexual feeling or intention that he wished to leave unexpressed, ''not'' a sexual feeling or intention that was dynamically repressed. His sexual intention was therefore ''secret'', rather than ''subconscious'', and any 'parapraxis' would inhere in the idea that he ''unconsciously wished to express that intention'', rather than in the sexual connotation of the substitution. Freudians might point out, however, that this is simply a description of what Freud and Breuer termed the [[preconscious]] which Freud defined as thoughts that are not presently conscious but can become conscious without meeting any resistance.<ref>Sigmund Freud, ''On Metapsychology'' in Volume XIV of The Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud p. 173</ref> In Freud's theory, he allows parapraxes to be generated in the preconscious,<ref>Sigmund Freud, ''The Psychopathology of Everyday Life'' in Volume VI of The Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud p. 209-210</ref> so he would allow for thoughts that one tries to put outside of consciousness to have effects on conscious actions.
=== Human-computer interaction ===
Beyond [[slips of the tongue]], these accidental human errors also commonly occur in the realm of [[Human–computer interaction|human-computer interaction]]. In the context of [[interaction design]], slips refer to an incorrect action that is taken with the correct intention.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/book/the-glossary-of-human-computer-interaction/human-error-slips-and-mistakes|title=Human error (slips and mistakes)|date=25 June 2023 |language=en}}</ref> As opposed to mistakes, which refer to an incorrect action due to an incorrect intention, slips result from automatic behaviors that are triggered by external factors, distracting the user from carrying out their intended goal. There are many different types of slips in interaction design, including capture errors, description similarity slips, data-driven errors, associative activation, loss of activation, and mode errors.
Capture errors occur when a familiar behavior takes over a less frequently occurring behavior.<ref>{{Cite web|title=What are Capture Errors?|url=https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/topics/capture-errors|access-date=2021-12-13|website=The Interaction Design Foundation|language=en}}</ref> An example of a capture error would be driving to the office on a Saturday when the intention was to go to the grocery store.
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==See also==
{{Columns-list|colwidth=22em|
*[[Bushism]]
*[[Cognition]]
*[[Eggcorn]]
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{{Sigmund Freud|state=collapsed}}
{{Nonverbal communication}}▼
{{Authority control}}
▲{{Nonverbal communication}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Freudian Slip}}
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