Unconscious Fantasy and The Priming Phenomenon.
Anne Erreich
Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association April 2017 DOI: 10.1177/0003065117702105 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Keywords | Attachment Development Memory Object relations Post-traumatic stress Symbolism |
| Key points | Argues that experimental evidence on "priming" supports the psychoanalytic claim that the past matters, whether encoded in declarative or procedural memory, and that people are primed to experience the present in predetermined, often unique and personal ways. Contends that priming and memory encoding operate from very early in life, and that psychoanalytic data challenge philosophy of mind, cognitive science, and developmental psychology to further investigate these phenomena. |
Abstract
This paper is the third in a series of investigations into (1) the nature and development of unconscious fantasy, (2) its place in a contemporary model of mind that, parenthetically, suggests a possible solution to the problem of theoretical pluralism, and (3) its mode of operation in the mind. The aim of these investigations is to update the notion of unconscious fantasy, an indispensable construct in psychoanalytic theories that assume out-of-awareness mentation, and to situate that construct within contemporary views of mental functioning in disciplines such as philosophy of mind, cognitive science, and developmental psychology. At the same time, data accessible only through psychoanalytic work challenge these fields with findings that indicate the need for further investigation. This paper argues that experimental evidence on the phenomenon of "priming" lends support to one of the seminal claims in our field, one frequently attacked as an outmoded shibboleth: that is, that the past matters, whether encoded in declarative or in procedural memory. In common parlance, we are "primed" to respond to some situations in predetermined ways; the past primes us to experience the present in often unique and personal ways. There is evidence too that the priming mechanism and the encoding of subjective experience in declarative and procedural memory operate from very early in life.