pleasure principle

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noun Psychoanalysis.

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

Origin of pleasure principle

First recorded in 1910–15

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

British Dictionary definitions for pleasure principle

pleasure principle

noun

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 egoSee also hedonism

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

pleasure principle in Medicine

pleasure principle

[plĕzh′ər]

In psychoanalysis, the tendency or drive to achieve pleasure and avoid pain as the chief motivating force in behavior.pain-pleasure principle

pleasure principle in Culture

pleasure principle

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.