![]() ![]() Grasps the reality of the external world and adjust desires and needs accordingly (Samuels, 2019)Īssociation with Freud’s structural Model of the psyche Seeks immediate gratification of desires and needs (Renkins, 2017) The interplay between these principles forms a significant part of Freud’s psychodynamic theory and explains the decision-making and behavioral patterns of individuals. In this sense, while the Pleasure Principle is about immediate gains, the Reality Principle is about long-term, sustainable benefits, working within the confines of what is socially acceptable and practically feasible. Taking the cake scenario again, the Ego, under the Reality Principle’s influence, would resist the temptation considering the diet you’re on. It links to the Ego and helps conform to societal norms, thus delaying gratification and ensuring actions are grounded in practicality, rather than mere pleasure-seeking (Gaude, 2021). However, the Reality Principle comes in to counter these primal urges. ![]() The Id, guided by the Pleasure Principle, would urge you to devour it without further ado. Suppose you’re on a diet, and you see a piece of cake. The pleasure principle, associated with the Id’s workings, seeks immediate fulfillment of need without considering the consequences – a direct reflection of our primal instincts (Freud & Strachey, 1955). The Reality Principle vs The Pleasure PrincipleĪccording to Freud’s theory of personality, the reality principle and the pleasure principle represent two contrasting forces within us. This principle acts as a bridge between our innate desires (Id) and our moral compass and societal norms (Superego). In essence, the Reality Principle serves as the governing force directing us to fulfill our needs and desires realistically and socially acceptably. For instance, a toddler might want to grab a toy off a store shelf (drive of the id – the Pleasure Principle), but the parents would deter the child, teaching them about property rights and the need to make a purchase (enforcing the Reality Principle). The Reality Principle allows us to take actionable steps, not based on immediate gratification (as propounded by the Pleasure Principle), but on a greater understanding of the environmental demands and norms (Civitarese, 2018). To ensure harmonious living within a social structure, an individual must learn to cope with these urges, and consequently, the Reality Principle comes into play (Freud & Strachey, 1955). Given our primal urges and desires, dictated by the “id” (another of Freud’s fundamental constructs), we could easily find ourselves slipping into behaviours that our society deems unacceptable. In simple terms, the Reality Principle is about being practical. In truth, we make reality out of pleasure.References Freud’s Reality Principle: Definition "eality isn't just there so that we bump our heads up against the false paths along which the functioning of the pleasure principle leads us. Lacan thus challenges the idea that the subject has access to an infallible means of distinguishing between reality and fantasy. "The reality principle is a delayed action pleasure principle." He emphasizes Freud's position that the reality principle is still ultimately in the serve of the pleasure principle. That is, he rejects any account of human development based on an unproblematic notion of " reality" as an objective and self-evident given. Since, however, the ultimate aim of the reality principle is still the satisfaction of the drives, it can be said that "the substitution of the reality principle for the pleasure principle implies no deposing of the pleasure principle, but only a safeguarding of it." įrom early on, Lacan is opposed to what he calls "a naive conception of the reality principle." However, the subject soon discovers that hallucinating does not relieve his needs, and is thus forced "to form a conception of the real circumstances in the external world." Ī new " principle of mental functioning" is thus introduced (the " reality principle"), which modifies the pleasure principle and forces the subject to take more circuitous routes to satisfaction. According to Freud, the psyche is at first regulated entirely by the pleasure principle, which seeks to experience satisfaction via a hallucinatory cathexis of a memory of prior satisfaction. ![]()
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