Preconscious

Preconscious

In Freudian psychoanalysis, the word preconscious is applied to thoughts which are unconscious at the particular moment in question, but which are not repressed and are therefore available for recall and easily capable of becoming conscious.

'Preconscious' thoughts are thus 'unconscious' in a merely 'descriptive' sense, as opposed to a 'dynamic' one.

Classical psychoanalysis therefore permits itself to

"distinguish two kinds of unconscious -- one which is easily, under frequently occurring circumstances, transformed into something conscious, and another with which this transformation is difficult and takes place only subject to a considerable expenditure of effort or possibly never at all. [. . .] We call the unconscious which is only latent, and thus easily becomes conscious, the 'preconscious', and retain the term 'unconscious' for the other". [Freud, "New Introductory Lectures on Psychoanalysis" (1932)]

As explained by David Stafford-Clark,

"If consciousness is then the sum total of everything of which we are aware, pre-consciousness is the reservoir of everything we can remember, all that is accessible to voluntary recall: the storehouse of memory. This leaves the unconscious area of mental life to contain all the more primitive drives and impulses influencing our actions without our necessarily ever becoming fully aware of them, together with every important constellation of ideas or memories with a strong emotional charge, which have at one time been present in consciousness but have since been repressed so that they are no longer available to it, even through introspection or attempts at memory". [David Stafford-Clark, "What Freud Really Said" (1965)]

Freud's original German term for the preconscious was das Vorbewusste; the unconscious being das Unbewusste.

ee also

* Consciousness
* Jacques Lacan
* Philosophy of mind
* Rapid eye movement sleep
* Unconscious mind


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  • Preconscious — Pre*con scious, a. Of or pertaining to a state before consciousness. [1913 Webster] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • preconscious — (adj.) 1860, from PRE (Cf. pre ) + CONSCIOUS (Cf. conscious) (adj.) …   Etymology dictionary

  • preconscious — In psychoanalysis, one of the three divisions of the psyche according to Freud s topographic psychology, the other two being the conscious and unconscious; includes all ideas, thoughts, past experiences, and other memory impressions that with… …   Medical dictionary

  • preconscious — I. adjective Date: 1860 not present in consciousness but capable of being recalled without encountering any inner resistance or repression • preconsciously adverb II. noun Date: circa 1922 the preconscious part of the psyche especially in… …   New Collegiate Dictionary

  • preconscious — preconsciously, adv. /pree kon sheuhs/, adj. 1. Psychoanal. absent from but capable of being readily brought into consciousness. 2. occurring prior to the development of consciousness. n. 3. the preconscious portion of the mind; foreconscious.… …   Universalium

  • preconscious — /ˌpriˈkɒnʃəs/ (say .pree konshuhs) adjective 1. Psychology absent from the conscious mind but capable of being easily recalled to it. 2. of or relating to a state before the development of consciousness. –noun 3. the preconscious part of the mind …  

  • preconscious Psychology — adjective of or associated with a part of the mind below the level of conscious awareness, from which memories and emotions that have not been repressed can be recalled. noun (one s/the preconscious) this part of the mind. Derivatives… …   English new terms dictionary

  • preconscious — 1. adjective (of memories) that one is not aware of, but can be recalled through conscious effort 2. noun The sum of these memories …   Wiktionary

  • preconscious — Synonyms and related words: anima, coconscious, collective unconscious, conscience, conscious self, death instinct, ego, ego ideal, ego id conflict, ethical self, foreconscious, id, libidinal energy, libido, mind, motive force, persona,… …   Moby Thesaurus

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