test used in psychology to study the organization of mental life, with special reference to the cognitive connections that underlie perception and meaning, memory, language, reasoning, and motivation. In the free-association test, the subject is told to state the first word that comes to mind in response to a stated word, concept, or other stimulus. In “controlled association,” a relation may be prescribed between the stimulus and the response (e.g., the subject may be asked to give opposites). Though more complex analyses may be used for special purposes, the reaction time for each response and the words the subject gives are the basic data provided by the test.

Association tests also are a common procedure in psychoanalysis and are used to investigate personality and its pathology. In the latter the subject's reaction to emotionally charged memories and ideas provoked by certain of the test stimuli may produce atypical or revealing associations or, more often, unusually long or short reaction times.