Failed Act (parapraxis, Lapses): Definition, Causes And Types
Failed acts are errors in behavior and cognition including memory or spoken and written language, which according to the classic approaches of psychoanalysis provide information about the unconscious processes of the person who commits them.
In this article we will describe what parapraxias consist of, what types exist according to Sigmund Freud and how they are given meaning from traditional psychoanalytic practice.
Parapraxies, also called failed acts, Freudian slips or lapses, are errors in speech, actions in memory, in reading or writing that, according to Sigmund Freud and other later psychoanalysts, reveal an interference of the unconscious part of the mind in manifest behavior.
Some examples of common failed actions may be forgetting to respond to an email regarding an interview for a job that we are not convinced about, mistakenly saying a sexual word to a person we are attracted to, and calling the current partner on the name of an ex-partner.
The word “parapraxis” comes from a translation of the word “Fehlleistungen”, used by Freud himself The Greek word means “another action,” while the German word can be translated as “wrong action.”
The first failed act that Freud recorded was that of a young patient who forgot a word when quoting a fragment of The Aeneid. The therapist determined through word association that the man associated the term with blood, and hypothesized that he had unconsciously blocked it in order to avoid remembering a traumatic event related to it.
Freud’s theory, and therefore psychoanalytic practice in general, is based on the belief that it is possible to infer conflicts and repressed unconscious impulses from many actions and experiences in which this structure of the mind intervenes.
Not only dreams can be studied as manifestations of the unconscious; according to psychoanalysis, In many cases we can detect similar elements during wakefulness Some cases are parapraxias, neurotic symptoms, defense mechanisms or the word association method.
Freud wrote that, since failed acts also occur in people who do not show any type of psychopathology, they can be considered a sign that unconscious processes also exist in those who do not suffer from neuroses or other psychological disorders.
Although on some occasions the psychoanalytic hypothesis seems to be correct, it should be kept in mind that frequently these types of errors can only be due to factors such as fatigue or chance. Let us remember that even Freud himself stated that “sometimes a cigar is just a cigar” when his own habit was called to his attention.
Types of Freudian slip
Freud described four types of failed act: verbal ones, or slips linguae, writing and drawing ones (lapses calami), listening and reading comprehension, and memory blocks motivated by unconscious factors.
Below we will describe the main characteristics of each of them.
1. Verbal (lapses linguae)
Slips of the tongue are the most common failed acts and also the best known by people in general ; For this reason, it is very common for the word “lapse” to be used to refer exclusively to verbal parapraxies.
Verbal slips by famous people are very popular on the Internet and on television. For example, Mariano Rajoy, President of the Government of Spain, told the leader of the parliamentary opposition in 2016: “What we have done, which you did not do, is deceive the people.”
2. Graphics (lapses manus)
Lapsus manus, as the failed acts that occur in writing or other graphic manifestations are called, they work in a very similar way to verbal ones. Like these, in many cases they can be explained by a decrease in the level of attention or alertness, as well as by other similar factors.
The concept “lapsus calami” is close to that of lapsus manus. It is used to refer exclusively to written errors, so it is more restrictive.
3. Listening and reading comprehension
These types of failed acts consist of wrongly understanding something we have heard or read It is relatively common for this to happen at times when we fear that our interlocutor will mention a specific issue, but also when there is simply a term very present in our mind.
An example of this type of error could be someone who, after returning from a date with a person they like, hears their partner ask “Were you with your lover?” instead of “Were you with your mother?”
4. Symbolic forgetfulness (lapses memoriae)
Symbolic or motivated forgetting is a type of failed act that has drawn special attention from psychology It is not uncommon for people to forget to attend medical or professional appointments that they particularly dislike, as well as to carry out tasks that do not interest them.
In many cases memory lapses manifest themselves in spoken language; Thus, failing to remember the name of a person we do not want to think about during a conversation would be an example of symbolic forgetting.
