# Reaction Time Reaction time occupies a foundational position in Jung’s experimental depth psychology, serving as the primary quantitative instrument through which the presence, intensity, and topography of emotionally charged complexes are mapped. Across the Experimental Researches corpus, reaction time is never treated as a mere chronometric datum; it is consistently interpreted as a psychodynamic index — a temporal signature of unconscious interference. Jung establishes that prolonged reaction times, those exceeding the probable mean for a given subject, mark the sites where a feeling-toned complex has disrupted the smooth flow of associative response. The instrument — a one-fifth-second stopwatch — is deliberately modest, yet its yield is theoretically rich: differential times across stimulus-words reveal gender differences (male subjects faster than female), educational gradients (educated subjects faster than uneducated), and grammatical-categorical effects (abstract nouns generating the longest latencies, concrete nouns the shortest among most groups, with educated men as a telling exception). Beyond statistical averages, reaction time functions diagnostically — in criminal investigation, differential psychiatric diagnosis, and psychoanalytic exploration — and in tandem with galvanometric and pneumographic measures, it triangulates the somatic signature of the complex. The core theoretical claim is that extended reaction time reveals how long the psyche requires to detach itself from a conscious or unconscious preoccupation and attend to the new stimulus, making it one of depth psychology’s most precise experimental windows onto the unconscious. ## Primary passages ### Jung, C. G., Experimental Researches, 1904 > The average reaction time came out at 1.8 seconds. The times of male subjects (1.6 seconds) are on average shorter than those of female subjects (2.9 seconds). The quality of the stimulus word exerts a certain influence on the reaction time. --- ### Jung, C. G., Experimental Researches, 1904 > Lengthened reaction time may therefore be regarded as a complex indicator, and be employed for the selection from a series of associations of such as have a personal significance to the individual. --- ### Jung, C. G., Experimental Researches, 1904 > The reaction time shows how long the mind requires to detach itself from its conscious or unconscious preoccupation, and turn to the new stimulus. --- ### Jung, C. G., Experimental Researches, 1904 > Very long reaction times nearly always occur in quite definite places… The stimulus words water, ship, lake, and to swim stimulated this complex. During the short interval between stimulus word and reaction something unpleasant (the complex) had crossed the subject’s mind. --- ### Jung, C. G., Experimental Researches, 1904 > The time differences can frequently be as much as twenty or thirty seconds without there being at first any indication of the reason… the internal associations, particularly reactions to abstract stimulus words, on the whole require a longer time than the external associations. --- ### Jung, C. G., Experimental Researches, 1904 > Between the stimulus word and the reaction (the ‘reaction time’)… She has, with relatively short times overall, four unusually long times, ranging from 3.4 to 5.0 seconds. --- ### Jung, C. G., Experimental Researches, 1904 > Abstract terms produce the longest intervals (1.95 and 1.98 seconds); if the reaction word is a concrete one a longer time is taken than that produced by a concrete stimulus word. --- ### Jung, C. G., Experimental Researches, 1904 > Emotions, especially feelings of unpleasure, are expressed in abnormally long reaction times… The arithmetical mean time of all correctly repeated reactions is 3.0 seconds. The mean of those not repeated is 5.0 seconds. --- ### Jung, C. G., Experimental Researches, 1904 > Series I. Probable average of reaction times in associations with unusually high galvanometer curves 2.2 sec. Series I. Arithmetical average of the corresponding galvanometer curves 5.2 mm. --- ### Jung, C. G., Experimental Researches, 1904 > Everyone of the incorrect reactions has a reaction time not only higher than that of the preceding reaction but prolonged beyond the average of the others. Two of the incorrect associations follow emotionally charged reactions. --- ### Jung, C. G., Experimental Researches, 1904 > Out of 200 stimulus words, 48 aroused prolonged reaction times in 5 or more out of 11 subjects. 17 stimulus words produced prolonged reaction times in 5 subjects. Of these 76% referred to emotionally charged content. --- ### Jung, C. G., Experimental Researches, 1904 > The probable mean for concrete nouns is 1.67 secs., for general concepts 1.95 secs., adjectives 1.70 secs., verbs 1.90 secs. --- ### Jung, C. G., Experimental Researches, 1904 > The disturbance begins with a reaction that is shorter than that of the immediately preceding correctly reproduced association… those complicated by ‘mistakes’ were excluded from the calculation. --- ### Jung, C. G., Experimental Researches, 1904 > The probable mean reaction times in this case, in which the subject belongs to the educated class, is 2.0 seconds. Excessively long reaction times therefore are those above 2.0. --- ### Jung, C. G., Experimental Researches, 1904 > Measurement with a 1/5 second stop watch not only appears entirely satisfactory, but has been proved adequate by several other writers in numerous experiments. --- ### Jung, C. G., Experimental Researches, 1904 > Abnormally long reaction times frequently occur in the complex reactions; unfortunately, however, no systematic measurements were taken with this subject. --- ### Jung, C. G., Experimental Researches, 1904 > Reaction time longer than the average (measured with a stop watch)… complex characteristics thus served the purpose of ascertaining emotionally charged content. --- ### Jung, C. G., Experimental Researches, 1904 > The incorrectly reproduced associations occasionally have an arithmetical time mean that exceeds the general arithmetical mean… I then stressed one feature in particular, repression (Freud), because precisely this feature seemed to me best to explain the inhibition of the correct reproduction. --- ### Jung, C. G., Experimental Researches, 1904 > The extension of the reaction time usual in similar situations failed to occur… a preceding emotionally charged association can leave a trace in the unconscious and unconsciously constellate the reaction. --- ### Jung, C. G., Experimental Researches, 1904 > The long reaction times may be due to this affected manner of expression, though this can hardly be the only cause… Only the reaction time here is what we expect. --- ### Jung, C. G., Experimental Researches, 1904 > A reduction in the average height of the galvanometer curve, which is clearly due to lessening of the power of the stimulus in the repetition. The same phenomenon is also seen in the average of the reaction times, which is shortened. --- ### Jung, C. G., Experimental Researches, 1904 > Semantic relationships (causing delay) occur… internal associations, while purely linguistic associations are very much less prominent. According to Ziehen’s observations on children, associations by means of internal connections are distinguished by the longer reaction times. --- ### Wong, Christina G., The Effects of Stimulant Medication on Working Memory Functional Connectivity in Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder > Medication reduced target and foil reaction times, in each case improving performance following medication. Task load × medication interaction tests showed there was a significant effect only for target reaction time. --- Canonical page: https://www.seba.health/concordance/reaction-time/