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Psychology vocabulary · Personality

Unconscious

Meaning in psychology, with examples

/ʌnˈkɒnʃəs/nounCommon term

In psychology, unconscious means: In psychodynamic theory, the part of the mind holding thoughts, memories and wishes that we are not aware of but that still influence our feelings and behaviour.

In Turkish: bilinçdışı

How it is used

Used as a noun (the unconscious) in psychoanalysis and as an adjective (unconscious processes, unconscious bias) in cognitive and social psychology, where it simply means outside awareness. In medicine, unconscious also means not awake.

Example sentences

  1. Freud believed that dreams offered a route into the unconscious.

  2. Unconscious bias training aims to make staff aware of hidden assumptions.

Common collocations

  • the unconscious mind
  • unconscious processes
  • unconscious bias
  • make the unconscious conscious
  • defence mechanismIn psychodynamic theory, an unconscious mental strategy that protects a person from anxiety or painful feelings, such as denial, projection or repression.
  • psychodynamic therapyA form of talking therapy, developed from psychoanalysis, that explores how unconscious feelings, early relationships and repeated patterns shape a person's present difficulties.
  • cognitive biasA systematic error in thinking or judgement that makes people depart from logic or evidence in predictable ways, such as confirmation bias.
  • memoryThe ability to take in, store and later recall information and experiences; the word can also mean one particular thing that is remembered.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Personality

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This page explains English vocabulary for learners. It is not medical advice.