Word association is connected with the work that Carl Gustav Jung was engaged in at the Burghölzli Psychiatric Clinic of the University of Zurich in the early stages of his career (Jung, 1917/1926/1943). Under the directorship of Eugen Bleuler, the Burghölzli Psychiatric Clinic was an international center of excellence in psychiatric research at the turn of the century. Jung became director of research on the Word Association Test. This test usually consisted of a hundred stimulus words that were read out singly to a subject who was to "answer as quickly as possible with the first word that occurs to you." The reaction time, verbal response, and test behavior were recorded and analyzed. Verbal responses were classified according to several linguistic categories. The test was used to diagnose psychological typology and psychopathology.

The Word Association Test (WAT) was based on earlier theories of the associationism school of...