Meaningful Mistakes: The Freudian Slip Hypothesis

Is there a hidden meaning behind our everyday mistakes and cognitive stumbles? Sigmund Freud thought so, and this idea is thought to have become a core feature of his system of psychoanalysis. Today, many people still refer to embarrassing verbal errors as “Freudian slips,” with the implication that people may be revealing their hidden desires or fears when they trip over their words. But does this idea stand up to scientific scrutiny? Many modern psychologists are skeptical of Freud’s theories, instead regarding verbal mistakes as chance events resulting from the complexity of language processing in the brain. Not everyone within the field agrees, though, and some evidence from research appears to support the Freudian slip hypothesis.

What is a Freudian slip?

In the broadest terms, a Freudian slip can be defined as a seemingly small error that offers a clue to a person’s anxieties, desires, or hidden thoughts. The phrase generally comes from the older term “a slip of the tongue,” meaning an accidental stumble in speech that causes a person to say the wrong word. 

However, Freud’s theory wasn’t limited to accidental substitutions of words. In his 1901 work The Psychopathology of Everyday Life, he proposed that blunders ranging from forgetting words and names to dropping or misplacing objects could be traced back to difficult but unconscious emotions. He called these kinds of revealing errors “Fehlleistungen,” meaning “faulty actions.” Today, researchers often refer to them as “parapraxes.”

Freud also thought these rejected urges, anxieties, and ideas could be common causes of mental health disorders. In this view, an individual could develop serious cognitive and behavioral disturbances when they try to avoid facing certain wishes or fears that don’t fit their self-image. Freud usually regarded unintended actions and verbal mistakes as potentially important diagnostic clues.

Uncovering the possible meaning of Freudian slips

To tease out the hidden meanings behind mistakes, psychoanalysts in the Freudian tradition may use a technique called free association. This typically involves inviting the person being analyzed to say everything that comes to mind when they reflect on a particular fumble they’ve made, no matter how irrelevant or foolish they seem.

The idea is generally that, by allowing their mind to jump from one idea to the next without being constrained by rational thought, the individual may allow their suppressed thoughts and feelings to be expressed.

Freud gave the example of a conversation with a man who forgot the Latin word “aliquis” while quoting a poem by Virgil. He invited the speaker to free-associate on the forgotten word, which led to discussions of liquids, reliquaries, blood, calendars, and expected events being missed. Eventually, this led the man to acknowledge that he was anxious that his sexual partner might have missed her menstrual period due to an unwanted pregnancy. 

In psychoanalysis, this kind of free association can be applied to anything that is viewed as a product of the subconscious mind. Along with errors in the spoken word, this may include things like:

• Dreams
• Daydreams
• Hallucinations
• Accidental actions
• Pathological delusions
• Lapses in memory

Common Freudian slip examples

The concept of a Freudian slip may be easier to understand with some examples. There are many possible types of parapraxes.

Word substitutions

Many well-known examples of Freudian slips fall under this category, perhaps because they tend to have the greatest potential for comedy. In this type of error, a person says one word when they mean another, similar word. 

Example: A doctor trying to avoid acknowledging a sexual attraction to their patient says “erection” instead of “injection.”

Forgetting words or phrases

Instead of substituting one word for another, a person might make a Freudian slip by simply failing to recall a word that reminds them of something they’re trying not to think about. 

Example: Someone who is afraid of losing their job struggles to come up with the name of the movie Terminator in a casual conversation with a friend. 

Misspellings

Freud believed that parapraxes could happen with either written or spoken words. Someone who’s writing or typing quickly might accidentally make a typo that betrays their true feelings.

Example: In response to an invitation from a “friend” who you actually can’t stand, you write, “I already hate lunch” instead of “I already ate lunch.”

Accidental actions

According to Freud’s theory, subconscious thoughts and feelings could be expressed in actions as well as words. Seemingly simple blunders might reflect the urges that a person is trying to keep hidden.

Example: Someone who’s worried about their appearance accidentally takes a selfie when trying to snap a picture of their friend.

Does the Freudian slip hypothesis hold up?

Since Freud’s initial development of psychoanalytic theory, many researchers and clinicians have challenged his ideas about the subconscious mind, including his explanation of parapraxis. Cognitive psychologists often argue that a slip of the tongue can usually be explained by simple errors in mental processing.

Few people today believe that all our inattentive mistakes and verbal slip-ups are due to taboo impulses breaking through from our subconscious mind. However, there have been a few intriguing experiments suggesting this may happen in at least some cases.

One notable example may be a 1979 experiment on laboratory-induced verbal mistakes, led by researcher Michael Motley. Participants were asked to rapidly read pairs of words that were designed to be easy to mix up. When they were in the presence of an attractive, scantily dressed lab assistant, they tended to be more likely to make sexually suggestive “Freudian slips.” The absolute number of errors didn’t change, but their content did. 

Though many researchers dispute Motley’s findings, they’ve generally been replicated by at least one subsequent study. Further investigation may be needed to determine how widely applicable these results are. 

A possible explanation for Freudian slips is that when we feel anxiety about thoughts—either because they’re disturbing to us personally or they would be socially inappropriate to express—our brains may be more likely to pay attention to them. This may mean that trying to suppress a particular idea could actually have the opposite effect, causing it to recur more frequently. 

In other words, if you’re trying hard not to think about or say something, you’re likely bringing it to the forefront of your mind. That could make it more likely to slip out if you’re distracted, sleep-deprived, or upset.

Freudian slips in literary and cultural studies

Why has the idea of Freudian slips remained so popular, even though many psychologists are skeptical of its validity? Part of the reason could be that it makes for an excellent literary device. Writers often find it useful to have characters reveal their true desires in climactic moments of stress. 

For example, many Americans will never forget the moment on Friends when Ross, standing at the altar, called his fiancée “Rachel”—the name of the woman he really loved. The use of this literary trope may reinforce the public perception that this phenomenon is real and common.

In fact, there may be hints in creative works that the idea of the Freudian slip could predate Freud himself. Some researchers have noted that Shakespeare’s characters sometimes demonstrate parapraxis, making speech errors that give hints of their concealed wishes, opinions, and intentions.

Therapy may help you explore your Freudian slips

Have you experienced a slip of the tongue or an unintended action and found yourself wondering what it could mean? Do you think that you may have impulses or anxieties that your conscious mind has failed to recognize? 

If so, you might benefit from consulting with a mental health professional trained in psychodynamic therapy. This type of treatment is generally derived from Freud’s psychoanalytic practice, though it’s been enhanced and updated based on subsequent research.

If you’re unsure whether you’re ready to commit to the time and expense of therapy, you may want to consider working with a therapist online. For many clients, internet-based therapy is more affordable and convenient than in-person mental health treatment. It can empower you to attend sessions from any location where you can connect to the web, including the familiar setting of your own home. 

Despite the added physical distance between provider and client, remote therapy seems to be just as beneficial to mental health as more traditional methods. Researchers reviewing scientific research on this practice have generally found no difference in effectiveness between online and face-to-face therapy. An analysis of 20 randomized controlled trials shows that teletherapy and in-person therapy have similar treatment outcomes and reducing symptoms. The added ease of consulting with a therapist online may make it an excellent way to begin exploring your unconscious desires and motivations.