Personality and Situational Influences Upon Verbal Slips: A Laboratory Test of Freudian and Prearticulatory Editing Hypotheses

Earlier studies of laboratory-induced verbal slips have demonstrated the existence of a “prearticulatory editing” phase of speech/language production, the supposed function of which is to evaluate the linguistic integrity of phoneme sequences destined for articulation, allowing articulation of linguistically legitimate sequences, and preventing articulation of linguistically anomalous sequences. Freud's view of verbal slips as a manifestation of speakers' private internal states, these internal states resulting from interactions of personality and situational influences, may be viewed as a prediction that prearticulatory editing involves personality/situation-based semantic criteria. The prediction was tested and supported. Implications are discussed.