Who hasn’t forgotten something or lost an object at some point? It is also common to sometimes reverse words or realize that you have said something that you should not have said. These unconscious episodes cause strange mishaps.
This phenomenon known as a failed act in psychology refers to the fact that some behavioral actions or words, said apparently by chance or by mistake, actually hide a deeply rooted meaning that allows important issues related to the individual unconscious to come to light. In this Psychology-Online article, we will tell you what is a failed act in psychologythe different types and some examples.
What is a failed act
The failed act or parapraxia is defined in English as freudian slipa psychic phenomenon in which an action does not have the expected result, but another. For example, at an important dinner you try to take a full glass of wine from the table and instead turn the glass over. It seems like an involuntary act, but it is subject to psychoanalytic research that is explained as an unconscious desire to be noticed.
How important are failed actions? This psychic phenomenon was first described by the famous neurologist, Sigmund Freud, to demonstrate that there is an unconscious will that we do not control and that, sometimes, pushes us to do things that we do not consciously want to do.
According to Freudian theory, failed acts in psychology hide the neurotic conflict between doing a certain action and not doing it. For example, a conscious exhibitionistic desire is repressed and releases the energy of the repressed action with the failed act. Thus, any failed act reveals the link between the act and a repressed impulse.
Types of failed acts
The most common failed acts can be verbal lapses, errors, loss of objects and forgetfulness in general. Next, we will show you the main types of failed acts:
- Forgetting words and other familiar names, for example, saying one name for another.
- Forgetfulness of intentions.
- Verbal, writing and reading lapses.
- Loss of objects that makes them impossible to find.
- Loss or breakage of objects.
- Errors despite having knowledge of the subject in question.
- Some common gestures and movements.
- Automatic execution of intentional acts in inappropriate circumstances.
Failed actions express an unconscious conflict, but they should not worry you at all, since they are totally normal. According to Freud, these episodes should not alarm us, but rather are a moment of self discovery. From each failed act, a reflection can be extracted about what the adopted behavior means and what hidden desires it expresses. Find out what the are.
Examples of failed acts
In daily life it is easy identify multiple examples of failed acts. Let’s look at some:
- Taking the wrong highway exit, even if you take the same route every day.
- Put salt in coffee instead of sugar.
- Pronounce one word instead of another. An example of a very common failed act is saying “I bought the dog” instead of “the bread”).
- Losing your car keys just when you have to go to work.
- Forgetting to respond to an important email or leaving your wallet at the restaurant.
- Forgetting the train ticket even though you have dedicated a good part of your time to planning the trip can be another example of a very clear failed act.
Difference between lapses and failed act
The failed act itself acts on our behavior in the same way that the slip operates in words, for example, in the case of saying one word instead of another. In fact, the so-called lapse is another “normal” way of expressing a conflict between what can be done and what is desired.
In fact, the main failed acts are lapses and they can refer to language, to losing something, to forgetting a word, to a lapse in reading, a lapse in writing and even a lapse in listening to something. The lapse is a form of compromise that is created when we try to find the barriers of .
This article is merely informative, at Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.
If you want to read more articles similar to Failed act in psychology: what it is, types and exampleswe recommend that you enter our category.
Bibliography
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- Mules, B. (2022). I lapses and gli atti mancati: l’inconscio che parla. Retrieved from: https://www.psicoterapiapsicologia.it/articoli-psicologia-psicoterapia/i-lapsus-e-gli-atti-mancati-linconscio-che-parla
- Scaccia, F. (2018). Lapsus e Atti mancati. Retrieved from: https://www.psicologodellerelazioni.it/blog_lapsus_atti_mancati.php
- Petrini, P., Renzi, A., Casadei, A., Mandese, A. (2013). Dictionary of psychoanalysis. With elements of psychodynamic psychiatry and dynamic psychology. Milan: Franco Angeli.