noun
- plural of preconscious; mental processes or contents that are not currently in conscious awareness but can be readily brought into consciousness
Usage: psychology/psychoanalysis; technical term
Examples
- The therapist helped the patient access various preconsciouses that were influencing her behavior.
- In psychoanalytic theory, preconsciouses differ from truly unconscious material because they can be recalled with effort.
- The preconsciouses contain memories and thoughts just below the threshold of awareness.
- Freud distinguished between the unconscious and the preconsciouses in his model of the mind.