Free Associative Research Articles

Wondering and Wandering: In Defense of Free Association and the Fundamental Rule.

"Free association" and the "fundamental rule" are bedrock for psychoanalytic therapy and apply to what both patient and analyst should experience in the process. The article traces Sigmund Freud's revolutionary recognition of the importance of free association that began with his tribute to the works of Ludwig Börne and Friedrich Schiller. The author invokes other proposals akin to free association made by artists and scientists, including John Keats, Charles Dickens, Robert Frost, Thomas S. Kuhn, Arthur Koestler, and Albert Einstein. While emphasizing the importance and the liberatory potential of free association as it relates to effective treatment and discovery, the author contends that there is a "moral press" for both the patient and the analyst to permit free associative thoughts, particularly to question assumptions about how things are supposed to be.

Sociolinguistic Insights from Free Associative Experiment Data

This study delves into the intricate relationship between language, cognition, and society by employing a multidimensional approach. It combines free associative experiments and sociolinguistic analysis to offer a nuanced perspective on concept configuration. By focusing on the intersection of sociolinguistics and psycholinguistics, the research explores how sociocultural factors influence the way individuals associate concepts, exemplified through the study of “Altruism” in English native speakers. The findings underscore the significant impact of variables like age and gender on the concept configuration, revealing the fact that social variables shape linguistic consciousness. This integration of methodologies provides a comprehensive understanding of the concept configuration, emphasizing the need for a multidimensional approach in the study of language intricacies. In summary, this article highlights the importance of merging free associative experiments and sociolinguistic analysis to unravel the influence of social factors on concept associations. It contributes valuable insights into the dynamic nature of language, cognition, and society while emphasizing the relevance of age and gender variables in such investigations. This research lays a foundation for further exploration in the fields of sociolinguistics and psycholinguistics.

Vocal Psychotherapy with traumatised Greek clients

The purpose of this article is to describe my personal music therapy journey and my work in Greece with two individuals with psychological trauma, following Austin’s Vocal Psychotherapy model. Vignettes from sessions with two female clients who have experienced trauma are presented and examined through the lens of the theoretical foundations and the approach of this voice-based model of music psychotherapy. I examine trauma, its origins and its connection to the Ancient Greek drama, and how this is reflected in the contemporary Greek family. Trauma symptomatology is then analysed and explored, as well as its implication for dealing with the obstacles that inhibit growth and change. Using two case studies as examples, methods from Vocal Psychotherapy such as “Vocal Holding” and “Free Associative Singing” are presented. The descriptions illustrate the procedure through which the clients gain access to their feelings, memories and sensations so that unconscious material can become conscious and the processing of obstacles can lead to individuation allowing space for their true voice to emerge. Further analysis is done based on countertransference and the ways that I integrate my Greek origins within the Vocal Psychotherapy model.

Symmetric Polynomials in Free Associative Algebras—II

Let K⟨Xd⟩ be the free associative algebra of rank d≥2 over a field, K. In 1936, Wolf proved that the algebra of symmetric polynomials K⟨Xd⟩Sym(d) is infinitely generated. In 1984 Koryukin equipped the homogeneous component of degree n of K⟨Xd⟩ with the additional action of Sym(n) by permuting the positions of the variables. He proved finite generation with respect to this additional action for the algebra of invariants K⟨Xd⟩G of every reductive group, G. In the first part of the present paper, we established that, over a field of characteristic 0 or of characteristic p>d, the algebra K⟨Xd⟩Sym(d) with the action of Koryukin is generated by (noncommutative version of) the elementary symmetric polynomials. Now we prove that if the field, K, is of positive characteristic at most d then the algebra K⟨Xd⟩Sym(d), taking into account that Koryukin’s action is infinitely generated, describe a minimal generating set.

COMPUTER PROCESSING OF THE RESULTS FREE ASSOCIATION EXPERIMENT (based on information received from the British and Poles reactions to stimuli with the semantics of resilience)

The article presents the results of the free associative experiment conducted with the help of STIMULUS based on the reactions to stimuli with the semantics of resilience given by Englishmen and Poles and their psycholinguistic interpretation. Firstly, the authors describe the methodology used in the free associative experiment. In particular, they provide general characteristics of the questionnaire define stimuli (English crisis, crash, stress, pandemic, trauma / Polish kryzys, upadek, stres, pandemia, uraz), characterize the main participants of the free associative experiment (200 respondents, among which there are 75 Englishmen (representatives of Great Britain) and 125 Poles (representatives of the Republic of Poland)) aged 17-23 and 31-39), outline the stages of working out the reactions of Englishmen and Poles to stimuli with the semantics of resilience. Secondly, it is proven that the free associative experiment is aimed at studying the psycholinguistic meaning of a word, its categorical and objective meaning, the specificity of the meaning of some words, the reference words of comparative constructions, the connections between words, the organization of the human lexicon. Thirdly, the preparatory, practical and analytical operational stages of working with STIMULUS are described in detail according to the responses given by the English and Poles. Finally, the psycholinguistic interpretation of the responses to stimuli with the semantics of resilience with an emphasis on the coincidence of semes (from archisemes to differential semes) was carried out to confirm the respondents’ thinking with the help of synonymous associations.

Prioritising young peoples’ voices in research and work in youth offending services: Themes from free association research methods and a co-production project with young people

Aims:To influence educational psychology practice by sharing key themes from research and work capturing young peoples’ experiences of engaging with youth offending services (YOS).Rationale:The prioritisation of the voice of the child in educational psychology practice is central to inclusivity (Davie, 1993; Messiou, 2002). Professionals capture and respond to the voices of children and young people, with varying degrees of authenticity, accountability and longevity (Hart, 1992; Hart et al., 2004). It is important that adults facilitate and support meaningful participation (Hart, 2008) by employing appropriate methods to enable young people to share their narratives. This paper seeks to influence educational psychology practice through the authentic voice of young people; focusing on what they say works when they are engaging with youth offending services, and highlighting accessible methods used to elicit voices.Method:The author discusses their experience of using free associative methods; the Grid Elaboration Method (GEM) (Joffe & Elsey, 2014) and the Free Association Narrative Interview (FANI) (Hollway & Jefferson, 2008) as part of their qualitative doctoral research with five young people recruited through a local authority YOS, answering the research question ‘What do participants talk about when asked about their engagement experiences with youth offending services?’ The author describes how these approaches facilitated accessible means to hearing young peoples’ voices, capturing their views through codes and themes illuminated through thematic analysis. Prioritisation of child voice during this formative experience inspired a co-production project creating a whiteboard video describing young peoples’ experience of working with a YOS. It provided space, voice, audience and influence to young people involved (Lundy, 2007) and through it, an accessible resource exists for those who may engage with YOS in the future.Limitations:The small number of participants recruited for the original research study (five) and the co-production project in YOS (six), impedes generalisability. Further limitations relate to the interpretivist nature of the original piece of research and following co-production project. The psycho-social approach, inherently acknowledges the subjective nature of analysis undertaken, suggesting that each individual researcher may analyse the data from a subjective perspective and therefore may come to different themes than those illuminated by this researcher.Implications and discussion:Themes that emerged through the script and visual imagery during the co-production project are linked back to key themes from the author’s original research. Key considerations for educational psychologists working in YOS are shared, focusing on the role educational psychologists can play in supporting young peoples’ meaningful engagement through supporting relationship and identity development and the structural processes that serve psychological functions. Proposals for educational psychology roles in YOS that provide consultative and supervisory support as well as in strategic shaping of services are also shared.

Using the method of free associations when studying the relationship of society to the homeless family

The increase in the number of childless couples in Kazakhstan is an urgent problem. The World Health Organization calls the number of childless people in the country for medical reasons a «state issue», as it negatively affects demographic indicators. If earlier the main cause of infertility was considered female infertility, today, according to experts, the occurrence of such cases is directly related to the increase in the number of male infertility. In this context, it is important to study the attitude of society towards a childless family. The article discusses the use of the method of free association in the study of the attitude of society to a childless family. The purpose of the study: to analyze the opinions of Kazakhstanis (positive/negative/ neutral) in families without children and society’s perceptions of the concepts of «large family», «childless family», «childfree», «men’s health» «women’s health» when studying society’s attitude to childless families through associative experience with the definition of the relevant characteristics of associations based on the study is. The significance of the research work is that for the first time in sociology, the study of the at- titude of society to a childless family using the method of associative experience.  The main results of the research work: as a result of associative experimental research in society, the social idea of «childless family», «childfree» is associated with poor health quality, negative emo- tions, feelings and states in people’s minds; the social idea of «large family» is determined in everyday consciousness by positive emotions, feelings and states, the possibilities of a large family; increased the concepts of happiness in the family, «men’s health», «women’s health» are directly related to the con- cepts of having children. The practical significance of the study lies in the fact that the use of associative experience in the study of the qualitative diversity of social meanings and social problems, as well as for the analysis of associations, the prototypical analysis of P. Verges was used. The analysis of prototypes in sociological research makes it possible to identify the structure of the content of social ideas, in par- ticular, the ways of dividing value systems into groups in the mode of their application. Key words: childless family, infertility, men’s health, free associative experience, stimulating words, public opinion, assisted reproductive technologies.

Play, Free Association, and Enactment

In this article I define childhood symbolic play, free association, and enactments as distinct entities despite the important strands of connective tissue that bind them psychologically. To Freud’s definition of play being the same as fantasy, except for play’s need to use props and playthings to actualize itself, I add action as an obvious but yet nevertheless neglected component of childhood symbolic play. I suggest that the potential for free association begins with the achievement of formal Piagetian cognitive processes in early adolescence, an achievement that needs no props or actions to set it in motion since words and ideas generate further spontaneities in a creative flow of associations. In adult psychoanalytic process, I define enactment, not only in the modern sense of a shared unconscious communication that illustrates the complementarity of countertransference/transference mutuality, but as if enactment could be isolated from its enmeshment in the countertransference/transference milieu of analytic process and viewed momentarily as a transference entity exclusively. I take this point of view to emphasize longitudinally, an individual’s action in a developmental sequence, an imaginary developmental line from the six stages of sensorimotor actions that lead to symbolism, to thought as trial action, leading on then to symbolic play and to free association in adolescence, free associative communication being the essential core of analytic process despite the ubiquity of enactments that accompany it. I illustrate this imagined developmental line, which leads from the earliest sensorimotor acts to the decisive non-neurotic acts that characterize individuated post-analytic maturity, with psychoanalytic process from childhood, adolescence, and adulthood.

УСТНЫЕ АССОЦИАТИВНЫЕ РЕАКЦИИ РОССИЯН И НЕМЦЕВ НА НАИМЕНОВАНИЯ ПСИХИЧЕСКИХ СОСТОЯНИЙ: СРАВНИТЕЛЬНЫЙ КВАНТИТАТИВНЫЙ АНАЛИЗ

The article describes a cross-cultural study of associative oral representation of mental states. 32 Russian and 33German students – 53 female and 12 male aged from 20 up to 24 years participated in the research. The experimental procedure was developed on the basis of the DMDX program allowed to measure the time of speech response to the shown stimuli – names of 25 mental states. In the conditions of time deficiency probands had to call free and estimated associations (adjectives). The mean reaction time was calculated, quantitative content of associative fields was analyzed. In the Russian group associations (both free and estimated in the form of an adjective) to names of mental states were more quickly named. The average time of free oral associative reaction in the Russian group was 2114.6 ms, in the German - 2163.6 ms. The estimated associative response proved slower than the free associative response in both groups: the average time of the estimated oral associative reaction in the Russian group was 2246.9 ms, in the German – 2384.6 ms. During the experiment more evaluation associations in the form of adjectives were named than free ones. The vast majority of free associations to names of mental states were nouns. Most of the associations to names of mental states are unique.

Concept of "Migrant Parents" in the Language Consciousness of the Russian Language Carriers (on the Material of a Free Associative Experiment)

Concept of "Migrant Parents" in the Language Consciousness of the Russian Language Carriers (on the Material of a Free Associative Experiment)

On transience and other hatreds

This article originates in a free associative extended reflection on what the author sees as the many faces of our relationship to transience in Western culture. It begins with the image of plastic flowers in graveyards, wild flowers pushed to verges and marginal spaces, women, migrants and transient communities. Our relation to life, death and their relation to movement and limitation are key aspects being reflected on and taken up for further analysis. The result of the free associative experiment is to invite reflections on the Freudian concepts of Eros and Thanatos and revisit the highly controversial question of whether these should be viewed in terms of a dualist or a monistic understanding. What is being presented here is a way of working with free associations outside the consulting room and group processes, using free associations as a reflexive research tool within a psychosocial hermeneutic approach.

THE CONCEPT OF "SIN" IN THE CONSCIOUSNESS OF YOUNG PEOPLE: THE PSYCHOLINGUISTIC APPROACH

The results of the last sociological survey in Ukraine (November 2018) show the highest level of trust to the church and its leaders in comparison with other social institutions. The great confidence in the church is the reason why the Ukrainians turn to religious discourse. The aim of this research is to analyze verbal representation of the “sin” concept. The free word association test (WAT) was used for psycholinguistic analysis. An associative field is a specific cognitive structure that takes part in the formation of an individual’s linguistic worldview. Such associative field consists of its core and periphery. The core contains high frequency reactions and the periphery does the low frequency ones. The article reviews the main linguistic, sociological, philosophical and theological Ukrainian and foreign studies of the “sin” concept. The free associative experiment was conducted in 2017. The research covered 246 students aged of 17-20 years from Lesya Ukrainka Eastern European National University (102 students in biology; 96 students is psychology; and 48 students in publishing); they answered the questionnaires in written. As a result of the free WAT, 260 responses to the stimulus word of “sin” were obtained, they showed 114 different associations. Among the most frequent responses were “"hell”, “evil”, “murder” and “confession”. The logical and grammar characteristics of the obtained associations were analyzed. There were mainly the central paradigmatic reactions to the stimulus word of “sin”. The thematic features of the associations to “sin” were analyzed and four different thematic groups were identified: religion, morality, behavior and actions, emotions and feelings. The most numerous thematic group is “religion”. The least numerous thematic group is “emotions and feelings”. In conclusion, we found that the concept of "sin" is displayed on the cognitive world map as a religion and specific activity. Students view sin through the lens of religious beliefs, often refer to repentance, or view it more narrowly - through the lens of specific actions that they condemn and consider sinful. Less students talk about conscience and a moral evaluation of sin. Most students consider sin as a negative phenomenon that brings negative emotions. However, there are students who associate sin with laughter. Prospects for further study of this problem lie in an in-depth psycholinguistic analysis of religious discourse. &nbsp

‘Two for joy’: Towards a better understanding of free associative methods as sites of transference in empirical research

This paper explores the relation between transference and free association in the production of data in sociological and social research. Drawing on Laplanche’s notion of the analyst as a provocation for the transference and Lacan’s understanding of the analyst as cause of desire, we map transference as a condition for free association and theorise an ‘enigma of participation’ in research. We develop these ideas through a discussion of two astonishing moments in recent research interviews. We propose that free associative interviews can be understood as sites of transference that help us to glimpse the unconscious in social and political discourse and offer insights into the (im)possibilities of subjective change.

The Physical Discourse of Fan Fiction

The research of physical discourse, typical characters, stereotypical gender roles of fan fiction’s texts, based on “Harry Potter”, “Supernatural”, “The Song of Ice and Fire”/“The Game of Throne”, is realized in the article. The author uses Psycholinguistics (Frame Method and Free Associative Experiment), Hermeneutics, some elements of Comparative analysis to describe the main characteristics of the personages and explain peculiarities of their sexual interactions.
 Fan fiction prose is a kind of virtual mass literature, so it has special features inherent to mass literature in general, for example, comfort reading, typical personages in typical dramatic plot, often – happy end etc.
 The physical discourse is the most important part of fan fiction’s texts, because the experience of sexual interactions is desirable for a person and it is a base of human’s life. The frame “body” covers not only sex, but also love and security (for example, to be safe in one’s hands). The most frequent nouns of the frame are “hands/fingers” and “eyes/ gaze”. It is important to note that man’s hands and eyes often show his character. But woman’s eyes and hands realize her emotions and feelings. It depends on stereotypical gender roles of mass culture: man has a function to interact with the world, and woman has a function to safe life inside (to give birth), which is confirmed by the free associative experiment.
 Physical damages (scars, injuries, deceases – for man; rapes – for woman) make the personages more emotionally close to a reader of fan fiction; show an act of initiation (transition from the fandom text to fan fiction text).

Особенности языкового сознания русскоговорящих казахстанцев (на материале свободного ассоциативного эксперимента в Казахстане)

Особенности языкового сознания русскоговорящих казахстанцев (на материале свободного ассоциативного эксперимента в Казахстане)

Lexical-thematic constituents of inner lexicon of a child of young preschool age

The paper is devoted to one of the topical problems of contemporary linguistics, specifically to the children‘s speech researches and peculiarities of the formation of inner lexicon and lexical-thematic groups in it. It presents the analysis of a fragment of the free associative experiment with speaking children and Ukrainian-Russian bilinguals of young preschool age (that is period of age from three to five). The experiment took place in the Eastern part of Ukraine, precisely Kharkiv as well as in the Western part of the country – in Lviv. The total number of respondents is 416. This number is made of 208 respondents from Kharkiv (104 girls and 104 boys) and 208 respondents from Lviv (104 girls and 104 boys). In the paper we dwell on the issue of lexical-thematic constituents of inner lexicon of a child of young preschool age. The associative fields received in the experiment gave us an opportunity to form lexical-thematic groups of inner lexicon of Ukrainian speaking children and Ukrainian-Russian bilinguals of young preschool age. The analysis showed that there are 25 main lexical-thematic groups: «people», «proper names», «flora and fauna», «elements and nature phenomenon», «colours», «game, toys, sport games», «drinks, food and actions and characteristics connected with them», «alphabet, letters, sounds», «names of months, seasons and derivatives», «study», «clothes, accessories», «location», «direction of movement», «designation of movement», «transport and its components», «feeling of love», «house and its part», «quantity, size», «evaluation», «speech processes», «temperature state», «cognitive processes, memory», «words, that means sounds or their realization», «characters of fairy tale, myths and children‘s stories», «imperative». Taking into account the peculiarities of the problem we compared the results of our analysis with the lexical-thematic groups that were singled out by other researches basing on analysis of inner lexicon of children of other age groups. There were mentions and named the examples of the language norm‘s breaking as a result of impact of bilingualism onto a child‘s language and speech. The reactions that were received in our free associative experiment indicate the state of recipients as active language personalities. Different fragments of the world are in the sphere of their perception. The characteristics of the fragments are realized according to different parameters: time, space, movement, people‘s relationships, quantitative and quality characteristics of the objects. The conclusions made the necessity of further research of the other age group‘s inner lexicon and lexical-thematic groups in it obvious. Key words: children‘s speech, free association experiment, lexical- thematic groups, inner lexicon, monolingual, bilingual.

On "free associative activities".

Free association has been at the heart of the analytic process for decades, though nowadays the work with borderline and psychotic mental functioning has become more common. We discuss and compare contributions from the Kleinian and the French psychoanalytic models regarding the role of free association and the analyst when working with these disorders. Drawing on case material, we suggest a broader conceptualization of free association--free associative activities--which encompasses communications that cannot be expressed through verbal modes because of their primitiveness. Their working through in the analytic couple could allow a first representation of unsymbolized early psychic traumas.

Application of Associative Experiment in Forming the Foreign Communicative Competence

The article focuses on some problems in teaching foreign languages, solution of which is successfully achieved through the method of free associations. The article also concerns the functioning of associative experiment in the course of teaching of foreign languages. In a technique of teaching of foreign languages free associative experiment is used, first of all, for studying of associative structure of memory at perception and interpretation of unknown foreign words, and also for research of problems of bilingualism and monoligualism.

Free association in sex education: understanding sexuality as the flow of thought in conversation and curriculum

This paper draws on the theory and method of free association in psychoanalysis to frame an investigation of the content, structure, and function of the thinking expressed in conversations about sexuality and sexual health. The investigation emerges from an ongoing three-year study of the way adolescents, teachers, and peer sex educators negotiate and interpret the language of abstinence and the emotional terrain of sexuality in everyday speech and interaction. Through close readings of a film and related focus group data, the paper calls for attention to free associative movements of thought in sex education conversations. It argues that fostering free association in sex education will make room for the translation of sexuality into thought about the contours of sexuality in experience.

An Upper Bound for the Lower Central Series Quotients of a Free Associative Algebra

Feigin and Shoikhet conjectured in [4], Feigin and Shoikhet, Mathematical Research Letters, 14,2007,781-95 that successive quotients B m (A n ) of the lower central series filtration of a free associative algebra A n have polynomial growth. In this paper we give a proof of this conjecture, using the structure of a representation of W n , the Lie algebra of polynomial vector fields on , on B m (A n ) which was defined in [4]. Moreover, we show that the number of squares in a Young diagram D corresponding to an irreducible W n -module in the Jordan-Holder series of B m (A n ) is bounded above by the integer , which allows us to confirm the structure of B 3 (A 3 ) conjectured in [4].