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It is interesting that the slang term for a momentary or chronic state of failure linguistically blends with the notion of incompetent sexual partnering. “‘Screwing up’” is easily applied to both underachievement and to poor work performance. The meaning of the term incorporates a whole body of dynamic studies about problems of learning and performance as they appear in the issues of self cohesion, in the difficulties of affect regulation, in poor self—other distinctions, and in the roles of conflict, symptom formation, and executive dysfunction. The metaphor is a synopsis of simultaneous meanings. The term is usually applied to an underachieving individual who does not congruently match some indicators of ability and achievement. Interpersonally, the screw-up cannot adequately complete a task without provoking criticism, overinvolvement of supervisors, and scornful appraisals by peers. The screw-up is not the domain of either gender. To screw up means that one neither penetrates nor is penetrated by knowledge and mastery. There are the associative implications of being a kind of intellectual eunich, again carrying the associations of infertility, unmanifested potential, and inability to partner or to reproduce.
Psychoanalysis, in its evolving pluralism, provides a fresher means of understanding these issues of learning and underachievement at those points where the relational self, the recognition of meaning, and the applications of learning and performance interface (Cohler, 1989; Mandel & Marcus, 1988; Mandel, Marcus, & Dean, 1995) in the classroom, in the workplace, and in the consultation office. An overview of psychoanalytic studies on underachievement parallels the issues and controversies within