Part II    Psychodynamic Theories36
fei75766_ch02_019-071.indd 36  02/19/20 08:59 AMDynamics of Personality
Levels ofmental lifeandprovinces ofthemind refertothestructure orcomposition 
ofpersonality; butpersonalities alsodosomething. Thus, Freud postulated adynamic, 
ormotivational, principle toexplain thedriving forces behind people’s actions. 
ToFreud, people aremotivated toseekpleasure andtoreduce tension andanxiety. 
Thismotivation isderived from psychical andphysical energy thatsprings from their
basic drives.
Drives
Freud usedtheGerman word Trieb torefertoadrive orastimulus within aper-
son.Freud’s official translators rendered thistermasinstinct, butmore accurately 
theword should be“drive” or“impulse.” Drives operate asaconstant motivational 
force. Asaninternal stimulus, drives differ from external stimuli inthattheycannot 
beavoided through flight.
According toFreud (1933/1964), thevarious drives canallbegrouped under 
twomajor headings: sexorErosandaggression, distraction, orThanatos. These 
drives originate intheid,buttheycome under thecontrol oftheego.Each drive 
hasitsownform ofpsychic energy: Freud usedtheword libido forthesexdrive, but
energy from theaggressive drive remains nameless.
Every basic drive ischaracterized byanimpetus, asource, anaim,andan
object. Adrive’s impetus istheamount offorce itexerts; itssource istheregion ofthe
body inastateofexcitation ortension; itsaimistoseekpleasure byremoving that
excitation orreducing thetension; anditsobject istheperson orthing thatserves as
themeans through which theaimissatisfied (Freud, 1915/1957a).
Sex
Theaimofthesexual drive ispleasure, butthispleasure isnotlimited togenital 
satisfaction. Freud believed thattheentire body isinvested withlibido. Besides the
genitals, themouth andanusareespecially capable ofproducing sexual pleasure and
arecalled erogenous zones. Theultimate aimofthesexual drive (reduction ofsexual 
tension) cannot bechanged, butthepathbywhich theaimisreached canbevaried. 
Itcantakeeither anactive orapassive form, oritcanbetemporarily orpermanently 
inhibited (Freud, 1915/1957a). Because thepathisflexible andassexual pleasure 
stems from organs other thanthegenitals, much behavior originally motivated by
Erosisdifficult toberecognized assexual behavior. ToFreud, however, allpleasur -
ableactivities aretraceable tothesexual drive.
Theflexibility ofthesexual object orperson canbring about afurther disguise 
ofEros. Theerotic object caneasily betransformed ordisplaced. Libido canbewith-
drawn from oneperson andplaced inastateoffree-floating tension, oritcanbe
reinvested inanother person, including theself.Forexample, aninfant prematurely 
forced togiveupthenipple asasexual object maysubstitute thethumb asanobject 
oforalpleasure.
Sexcantakemany forms, including narcissism, love,sadism, andmasochism. 
Thelatter twoalsopossess generous components oftheaggressive drive.Final PDF to printer