pleasure principle

American  

noun

Psychoanalysis.

1. an automatic mental drive or instinct seeking to avoid pain and to obtain pleasure.

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pleasure principle British  

noun

1. psychoanal the idea that psychological processes and actions are governed by the gratification of needs. It is seen as the governing process of the id, whereas the reality principle is the governing process of the ego See also hedonism

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pleasure principle Cultural  

1. In psychoanalysis, the demand that an instinctive need (usually sexual or aggressive) be gratified, regardless of the social or practical consequences. Sigmund Freud held that the id was dominated totally by the pleasure principle, but that, with the development of the ego and superego, individuals become aware of the demands of social reality (the reality principle), and thereby learn to temper and regulate their quest for pleasure.

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Etymology

Origin of pleasure principle

First recorded in 1910–15

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

pleasure principle

It won’t if we adopt a Mozartean pleasure principle that is substantive, not superficial.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 30, 2021

The pastry chef Grayson Claes, who comes to Sona from Eleven Madison Park, has a keen sense of how to complicate a dessert without losing the pleasure principle.

From New York Times ● Jun. 7, 2021

The excessive, destabilising bit of the pleasure principle that’s channelling the death drive.

From The Guardian ● Dec. 24, 2019

When it comes to eating, I believe in Freud’s pleasure principle: I avoid all pain.

From Washington Post ● Jul. 22, 2019

The transition from the pleasure principle to that of fact is the most important advance in the development of the ego.

From A General Introduction to Psychoanalysis by Sigmund Freud