| Which may be expected | Which really occur | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| For | Indifferent Reactions | Critical Reactions | Post-critical Reactions | Indifferent Reactions | Critical Reactions | Post-critical Reactions |
| A | 11.2 | 12.5 | 10.2 | 10 | 19 | 5 |
| B | 9.2 | 10.3 | 8.4 | 12 | 9 | 7 |
| C | 9.9 | 11.1 | 9.0 | 11 | 12 | 7 |
pected, while for B the real number is less than the one expected.
All this points to the fact that in the subject A the critical stimulus words acted with the greatest intensity, and hence the greatest suspicion falls on A. Practically one may venture to designate such a subject as probably guilty. The same evening A made a complete confession of the theft, and thus the success of the experiment was confirmed.
I maintain that such a result should be of scientific interest and worthy of consideration. There is much in experimental psychology which is less useful than the material treated in this work. Putting aside altogether the theoretical interest, we have in this case something that is not to be despised from a practical point of view, to wit, we have brought to light the culpable affair in a much easier and shorter way than is customary. What has been possible once or twice ought to be possible again in other cases, and it is well worth while to investigate the means of rendering the method increasingly capable of rapid and sure results.
This applicability of the experiment shows it possible to strike a concealed (indeed an unconscious) complex by means of a stimulous word; and conversely we may assume with great certainty that behind a reaction which shows a complex indicator there is a hidden complex, even though the test person strongly denies it. One must get rid of the idea that educated and intelligent test persons are able to see and admit their own complexes. Every human mind contains much that is unacknowledged and hence unconscious as such; and no one can boast that he stands completely above his complexes. Those who persist in maintaining it do not see the spectacles which they wear on their noses.
It has long been thought that the association experiment
