Drive

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Sigmund Freud

Freud's theory of the drive was revised extensively throughout his career.


The drive, or instinct as it is usually translated in English, is a concept that exists on the border between the somatic (bodily) and the mental. It consists of a quantity of energy and its psychical representative (remember what we said above about the unconscious being representation). Jean Laplanche and Serge Leclaire define the Freudian drive as 'a constant force of a biological nature, emanating from organic sources, that always has as its aim its own satisfaction through the elimination of the state of tension which operates at the source of the drive itself' (1972 [1965]: 140).


According to Freud, there are four characteristics of the drive: its pressure, its aim, it's object and its source.[1]

By pressure Freud means the drive's motor factor, that is to say, "the amount of force or measure of the demand for work which it represents."Cite error: Closing </ref> missing for <ref> tag


Exerting pressure is a characteristic common to all drives and represents the drive's essence.

The aim of the drive is to seek its own satisfaction and it achieves this by removing the source of stimulation.

The object of the drive is that which the drive attaches itself to in order to achieve its aim.

Freud designates a particualrly close attachment between the drive and its object as "fixation".

Finally, the source of the drive is "the somatic process which occurs in an organ or part of the body and whose stimulus is represented in mental life by an instinct."[2]

The drive, in short, is something that originates within the body and seeks expression in the psyche as representation.

Freud is primariluy concerned with the aims of the drives and how they seek satisfaction.


It is crucial to acknowledge the distinction between an instinct and a drive.

An instinct designates a need that can be satisfied.

The examples Freud usually gives are those of hunger and thirst.

THese needs give rise to an excitation within the body that can be satisfied and neutralized.

The drive, on the other hand, cannot be satisfied and is characterized by the constancy of the pressure it exerts on consciousness.

See Also

References

  1. 1984c [1915]: 118
  2. 1984c [1915]: 119



French: pulsion
German: Trieb