CHAPTER III THE PSYCHOANALYTIC THEORY OF MOTIVATION. 3.1 Historical Background of Psychoanalysis

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1 CHAPTER III THE PSYCHOANALYTIC THEORY OF MOTIVATION One of the paradigms for the present study of human motivation is Psychoanalytic theory. Before going specifically into the details of the motivational theory, we shall attempt a survey of Psychoanalytic theory. 3.1 Historical Background of Psychoanalysis Psychoanalysis was one of the most influential theories of 20th century, but it was no less controversial. Both chance and selfdeterminism played their role in the development of the theory. Chance, because Sigmund Freud, the father of psychoanalysis, had been dragged into the field of psychiatry for personal reasons. Determinism because, Freud's obsessive nature and penchant for rejecting people who did not totally agree with him largely determined the history of psychoanalysis (Boeree). Freud owed influences both to his contemporaries in the field of psychiatry and to the scientific tradition of his time (Burns 70). Freud was born on the 6 th of May 1856 in Freiberg in a small town in Moravia- a part of Austria- Hungary. Hailing from a middleclass Jewish family, he graduated in medicine and started his research career involving the dissection of nervous system of eels. Following this, he worked for the next six years in the Psychological Laboratory under Brucke, from where he acquired the outlines of physical sciences in general (Strachey 13). Here he worked on the anatomy of central nervous system. Unable to support his family with the

2 earnings from laboratory studies, in 1882 he left Brucke and began to work at Vienna General Hospital. In 1885 he started work at Salpetrere, the famous Parris Hospital for nervous diseases, with Charcot, the then reigning figure in psychiatry. Freud s career with Charcot influenced much of his later theories. In 1886 Freud returned to Vienna and got married. He set up a private clinic there to practise as a consultant for nervous diseases. Charles Darwin in On the Origin of Species rejected the special divine status of man, and henceforth mind became a legitimate subject for scientific investigation. The concept of psychic energy governed much of Freud s theories. The channelling out, displacement and sublimation of the energy played a key role in defence mechanisms and neurotic behaviour in Freudian psychoanalysis. These concepts were much influenced by the then emerged notion of law of conservation of energy, according to which energy can neither be created nor be destroyed. Freud's application of these principles into his concept of psychic energy led him to the postulation of sublimation and displacement of that energy. The laws of thermodynamics (which gave rise to much of 20th-century physics) dominated scientific thinking then. These proposed that energy is never lost simply transformed. Nineteenth-century Europe was economically booming; its industry driven by mechanical innovations such as trains, factory presses, ships engines, all based on harnessing conserved energy. Whether water, steam, or internal combustion engines, they all demonstrated the enormous power of damming up energy 92

3 and channelling its escape through a restricted outlet. Freud s ideas of the human mind are shot through with this metaphor whether blocked instinctual drives or repressed memories, he believed our greatest destructive and creative achievements stemmed from forces denied their natural release (Burns 70). Freud was a thoroughgoing determinist. Being influenced by the nature of physical sciences, the then predominant trend in psychology was concerned with conscious contents of mind. Freud deviated much from this standpoint and postulated the role of unconscious mental activities in interconnecting the isolated conscious psychic activities. The conscious contents, Freud observed, are isolated acts and are to be interconnected with psychic activities, which are not conscious or observable, for a fuller explanation of psychic phenomena. So, according to Freud, in psychoanalytic theory, the mental processes are essentially unconscious, and those which are conscious are merely isolated acts and part of the whole psychic entity (Strachey 16). The Freudian psychoanalysis was developed out of the observation and the analyses of data derived from his clinical practice. However, there are three major practitioners who influenced Freud s theories. They are Anton Mesmer ( ), Jean Charcot ( ) and Joseph Breuer ( ). Franz Anton Mesmer, a distinguished German neurologist, was the one who suggested the influence of gravitational force on animal 93

4 spirit. The notion of gravitational force was later replaced with the magnetism and his theory is known as animal magnetism. He treated his patients by putting them into trance using magnetised bar over them. The method known as mesmerism is essentially one of suggestion. Later, mesmerism came to be known as hypnotism. Jean Charcot, who is considered as the father of modern neurology, was more concerned with the neurology of motor disorders, resulting diseases, aneurysms and localisation of brain functions. He used hypnosis in tracing women with hysteria 1. He associated hysteria with weakness in the nervous system and found that hypnosis brings the patients in a state similar to that of hysteria. Charcot however was only interested studying hysteria, not in curing it (Boeree). Joseph Breuer experimented with his patients using hypnosis in a slightly different way. During the hypnotic trance, Breuer asked the patients about their problems and conflicts, and discussed them in depth. The result was a marked relief from the symptoms and the development of insight into their problems. Freud worked in association with Breuer and they together proposed the influence of some unconscious elements in the obvert behaviour of human beings. This was one of the important developments in the history of psychopathology. Breuer and Freud also found that it is therapeutic to recall and relieve emotional trauma that has been made unconscious (in a process called repression) and release some of the emotional material became known as catharsis (Barlow and Durand 24). The understanding of 94

5 the inner material causing the obvert symptoms was referred to as insight. Breuer s systematic treatment of hysterical symptoms of Anna O provided scientific considerations about the effect of catharsis in treating neurotic illness (Barlow and Durand 24). The method of using catharsis during hypnotic trance was replaced by Freud by the method of free-association. In freeassociation, the patient repeats all ideas and impulses regardless of their significance (Page 417). This is regarded as the therapist s gateway to the patients unconscious mind. The method of treatment consisted in patient s gaining insight into his/ her own repressed memories and conflicts. 3.2 An Outline of the Psychoanalytic Theory The term psychoanalysis has three distinct meanings. Firstly it is a school of psychology, which emphasises psychic determinism and dynamics. As a school of psychology it also emphasises the importance of childhood experiences in moulding one s adult personality and behaviour. Secondly, psychoanalysis, with its emphasis on the role of unconscious in determining human behaviour, is a specialised method for investigating the unconscious mental activities. Finally, psychoanalysis is a therapeutic method for the investigation and treatment of mental disorders, especially the neurotic disorders (Page 179). Our concern here is the theoretical one, taking psychoanalysis as a study of psychic determinants of human behaviour. Psychoanalysis as a psychological theory has undergone constant 95

6 revisions both during Freud's time and afterwards. Psychoanalysis is considered to be a High-Level theory containing various sub theories such as levels of consciousness, psychic structure of personality, psychosexual development, defence mechanisms and theory of instincts, and it serves to unify them to some extent (Farrel 21). It is to be noted that much of psychoanalytic theory was derived from Freud s clinical experience in treating neurotic patients. So the theory focused more on the origin of abnormal behaviour in the formulation of the concept of mind. It is also to be considered that the distinction between sanity and insanity is not that of type but that of degree. The defence mechanisms that serve to compensate for the frustrations of the sane human, in exaggeration lead to the abnormality, of both neurotic and psychotic. Hence it can be seen that clinical data may not be insufficient for the formulation of a theory of mind The Theory of Instincts Freud recognized two fundamental motivating forces. The first one is the constructive one called the Eros or life urges and the other is the destructive one called the Thanatos or the death urges (Freud, BPP). Eros finds its output through drives known as Self-preservation drive or ego drive and sex drive which play a significant role in Freudian psychoanalysis. The sex drive in the organism is based on a special form of energy called libido. This has its seat in that part of personality called id, which is essentially unconscious. The libido or sex energy is best 96

7 released through amorous activities. However, society can see no more menace to its culture than would arise from the liberation of sexual impulses and a return to their original goal (Page 180). In psychoanalysis,... major importance is attached to the sex and aggression drives, since their development and expression are thought to determine, in large measure, the happiness and mental health of mankind. Love and hate, as viewed by psychoanalysts are not necessarily mutually antagonistic. Often the two are inseparably fused (Page ). The motivating principle in life is the pleasure principle, which according to psychoanalysis, is the tendency to avoid pain and to seek pleasure. This dominates in sex drive. As one attains maturity, this is supplemented by the reality principle, which is the voice of reason that aims at rational acts to avoid future pains. The Nirvana principle is expressed in death drive, which is aimed at the final return of living matters to the inorganic state. A detailed account of the theory of instincts is taken up later in this chapter Levels of Consciousness Deviating from the view held during his time, Freud introduced the threefold division of mind into conscious mind, pre-conscious mind and unconscious mind. Of these three divisions of mind, it is the conscious mind of which we generally are aware. The conscious mind is constituted by events, memories, fantasies and the sensations from sense organs along with the feelings emotions and the like, of which 97

8 one is aware at the moment. In the next moment when one is not aware of these mental images they become latent. Some of the latent memories can come back to conscious mind again to form the content of the moment and thus it becomes conscious. The activity of conscious mind is not governed by its constituents alone. The unconscious mental processes, much different from those observed in conscious mental states, act behind the latter. These two -the unconscious and the conscious- functionally differentiate into two levels of mind, the conscious mind and the unconscious mind. Between these two levels is the third level called the pre-conscious mind. The pre-conscious mind (the contemporary term is available memory) consists of the past psychic experiences and desires which are readily recallable and is the storehouse for conscious mind. Freud explains, The majority of conscious processes are conscious only for a short time; very soon they become latent, but can easily become conscious again.in the condition of latency they are still something psychical. We call the unconscious which is only latent, and thus easily become conscious, the preconscious and retain the term unconscious for the other ( NIL ). The unconscious proper - excluding the preconscious from the whole realm of unconscious - consists of the buried memories, thoughts, emotions and impulses for which conscious mind has no direct voluntary access. Neither the social or moral rules nor the 98

9 categories of space and time have any relevance in this psychic division. While conscious and preconscious mind are characterised by internal consistency, temporal arrangement and adaptability to outer world, the unconscious is timeless, chaotic, infantile and primitive (Page 184). The unconscious has two sources for its contents -of inheritance and of experience. The inherited contents are primitive, pleasure dominated, and brutal instincts. The contents formed out of individual s experience are repressed in nature. These inherited instinctual drives and repressed memories have no direct access to conscious mind. However, they exert a profound influence on the conscious mental processes. Freud, basically being a neurologist always believed that physical treatments (medicine) would eventually be the cure for mental illness (Burns 44). This is because he thoroughly believed in the neurological foundation of mind and the possibility of reducing psychology to neurology. Freud belongs to the materialistic tradition in the history of psychology (Stokes 139). The Freudian concept of conscious mind is analogous to the modern notion of qualia or subjectivity of conscious experience. His notion of pre-conscious mind and unconscious mind may be compared with those neural processes that never give rise to consciousness. In this way it can be seen that Freud s triple division of conscious, preconscious and unconscious mind are not ontological entities, but only the functional levels of consciousness. It is significant here to note 99

10 that Freud never mentioned the notion of self-consciousness in his description of the levels of consciousness The Psychic Structure of Personality Freud distinguished three parts or functional principles within the mind; the id, the ego and the superego. The dynamics of interplay between these functions determines one s actions and obvert behaviours. These principles of psychic dynamism are central to the interpretation of abnormal behaviour in psychoanalysis. Id is the prime-mover; it is the source of all psychic energy. The psychic energy or drive within it called the libido, if left totally unchecked, will lead to amorous activities and if fully checked will lead to damming up of libido. Both are dangerous, to the society and to the individual respectively. Id is governed by the pleasure principle, with an overriding goal maximising pleasure and eliminating tensions and conflicts associated with achieving pleasure. The characterising way of processing information or thinking by id is referred to by Freud as primary process. The primary process is primarily emotional, irrational, illogical and filled with fantasies and preoccupations of sex, aggression, selfishness and envy (Barlow and Durand 25). This dark and inaccessible part of personality functionally belongs to the unconscious mind.... the logical laws of thought do not apply in the id, and this is true above all of the law of contradiction. Contrary impulses exist side by side, without cancelling each other 100

11 out or diminishing each other no alterations in its mental processes is produced by the passage of time (Freud, NIL 106). The instincts or drives are dominated by the pleasure principle (the chief characteristic of psychic energy) and are inherited. And id is the part of personality from where the fundamental instincts seek their first outlet. Id contains everything that is inherited, that is present at birth, that is fixed in the constitution- above all, therefore, the instincts, which originate in the somatic organization and which finds their first mental expression in id in forms unknown to us (Freud, OP 2). Fortunately, according to Freud, the dangerous and selfish drive does not go unchecked. The instinct of id, which is primitive and somewhat brutal, seeking its direct expression in activities, is faced with dangers from external world. So a portion of id- that has been expediently modified by the proximity of the external world with its threats of dangers- called ego (Freud, NIL 109), modifies the instinctual needs of id to match for the needs of society. The ego forms the second part of personality, which is partially conscious and partially unconscious. Freud explains, This system is turned towards the external world, it is the medium for the perceptions arising thence, and during its functioning the phenomenon of consciousness arises in it. It is the sense organ of the entire apparatus; moreover it is receptive not only to excitations from outside but also to 101

12 those arising from the interior of the mind The ego controls the approaches to motility under the id s orders; but between a need and an action it has interposed a postponement in the form of the activity of thought.in that way it has dethroned the pleasure principle which dominates the course of events in the id without any restriction and has replaced it by reality principle, which promises more certainty and greater success what distinguishes the ego from the id is a tendency to synthesise in its contents, to a combination and unification in its mental processes which are totally lacking in the id (NIL107-09). The ego is governed by reality principle instead of pleasure principle that governs the id. The information-processing or thinking of ego is characterised by logic and reason and is referred to as the secondary process. Ego is drawing power from the id while controlling it as a rider on a horse. The horse in this metaphor is id; the primitive and animal like source of energy. The rider is the ego which may be weak or strong, clumsy or skilful. The rider can direct the energy (if skilfully and well-controlled) towards positive aims. The third part of personality called the super-ego is the moral censor, which is identified with the voice of conscience. The superego is partially unconscious and partially conscious. So, the man in psychoanalysis is a primitive being, driven by pleasure dominating principles, being exposed to external world. Ego meets the demands of id by channelizing it to the activities acceptable to external world that 102

13 are being censored by the super-ego. About the formation of superego, Freud says, The long period of childhood, during which the growing human being lives is dependence upon his parents, leaves behind it a precipitate, which forms within his ego a special agency in which this parental influence is prolonged. It receives the name of super-ego (OP 3). The role of ego is to mediate the conflict between the id and the superego. Ego must find some outlet for the instincts of id and at the same time it has to restrict them within the demands of superego. According to Freud, ego is often caught between the id and the superego and also it has to compensate for the demands of external world. We are warned by a proverb against serving two masters at the same time. The poor ego has things even worse: it serves three severe masters and does what it can to bring their claims and demands into harmony with one another. These claims are always divergent and often seem incompatible. No wonder that the ego so often fails in its task. Its three tyrannical masters are the external world, the super-ego and the id (Freud, NIL 110). The relationship between the structure of personality and the levels of consciousness is compared by Freud himself to an iceberg floating on water. Only one third of the iceberg is visible and the visible part (conscious mind) is largely controlled by the invisible (unconscious mind). 103

14 Conscious Level Pre-conscious Level Unconscious Level Fig: 3.1 The levels of consciousness and the structure of personality (modified from Boeree) Anxiety and Defence Mechanisms The immoral, anti social, brutal and primitive instincts of the id are rarely given a direct outlet to the external world. Ego regulates and transforms them to meet the demands of the external world and the super ego. As noted earlier, the aim of ego is to harmonize the demands of the three tyrannical masters it serves. In the process of harmonizing the needs of id, superego and the external world, ego often becomes the battleground of conscious and unconscious conflicts. We have noted earlier that ego essentially is the part of id that is functionally modified to meet the requirements of external world. Any split in this constitution shown by the inability of ego to satisfy the demands of the id, indicates the weakness of the ego. On the other hand, if the ego is to satisfy id s demands then it shows the strength of the ego. So Freud asserts, 104

15 On the other hand the ego is identical with the id, and is merely a specially differentiated part of it. If we think of this part by itself in consideration to the whole, or a real split has occurred between the two, the weakness of the ego becomes apparent. But if the ego remains bound up with the id and indistinguishable from it, then it displays its strength. 2 Anxiety: In the earlier analogy of the horse and its rider, the rider s privilege to guide the powerful animal to meet his aim is not always warranted; at times the horse takes the route at its will. In doing so, the weakened ego falls into the state of anxiety; realistic, moral or neurotic. The ego, driven by the id, confined by the superego, repulsed by reality, struggles to master its economic task of bringing about harmony among the forces and influences working in and upon it If the ego is obliged to admit its weakness, it breaks out in anxiety- realistic anxiety regarding the external world, moral anxiety regarding the superego and neurotic anxiety regarding the strength of the passions in the id (Freud, NIL ). Ego need not always to fall into neurotic anxiety. The instinctual needs of the id may be given indirect outlet in satisfying the id. The Ego achieves this with various dynamic processes. These processes include defence mechanisms such as fantasy, identification, sublimation and displacement, and other mental activities such as dreams. In many of these processes the thirst of id is satisfied through 105

16 symbolized acts. The symbolization enables the ego to meet the needs of id and repressed unconscious contents without committing the individual to the dangers from external world, which would have been imposed on him/ her if a direct outlet to these instincts was given. Defence Mechanisms: Defence mechanisms are unconscious activities; they are not directly known to the person. They are individualistic too; different individuals use different sets of them. They are considered to be normal, and only if exaggerated beyond limit they give rise to abnormality. It is to be noted that the primary intention of them is to meet the demands of id without being in conflict with the external world. Some of them are given below. a) Denial: It is the non-perception of reality that is anxiety generating as in the case of going for a second diagnosis by denying the credibility of the first one, when a critical illness is diagnosed. b) Fantasy: It is the conjuring of an imagined scenario to replace a real one. It is done in all day dreaming. c) Compensation: A deficit in a particular area is compensated using the skill in a different area as in the case of student who is poor in his studies performs well in sport. d) Projection: Placing one s own unacceptable impulses on others as in the case of blaming the question setter for low grade in the examination. e) Displacement: Redirecting the impulses on a low risk target as done in slamming the door instead of hitting a person. 106

17 f) Sublimation: Redirecting the impulses through socially approved channels. This is obvious in one s interest in expelling his aggression by working as a butcher. g) Reaction Formation: This is to do actions opposite to one s actual motivation. This happens when an alcoholic works in anti-liquor movement. h) Regression: It is the instance of one s return to earlier stage of development. An adult crying on listening to a bad news is an example. i) Repression: It is the defence mechanism that is most important in psychoanalysis. In this the unfavourable events are pulled back to unconscious. Even though it can never become explicit, it has profound influence on the later behaviour of the individual. This is done when a girl, for example, is sexually harassed in her childhood. The memory becomes latent and is never recollected in her life, but may be expressed as a fear to be alone in house or workplace. Most of the psychoanalytic clinical techniques are intended to investigate into the repressed unconscious memories that give rise to the neurotic symptoms. In doing so, the patient gains insight into his/her mental dynamics and this reduces the symptoms Dreams Dream is the process through which the ego maintains its strength without having a dissatisfied id. The interpretation of dreams plays a significant role in psychoanalysis as a therapeutic technique. Dream analysis is significant also in psychoanalytic theory as a mode 107

18 of revealing the unconscious; other processes being slips of tongue, fantasies, inner conflicts, mental symptoms and the like. Freud finds that sleep fulfils one of the necessary conditions for psychosis in the sense that it is turning away from reality. In psychosis, the mental symptoms like hallucination and delusion are repressed experiences and unconscious conflicts that find expression through actions. Similarly dream as a wish-fulfilling activity (Freud, Dreams) fulfils the expressions of the day s residues in terms of stressful thoughts and repressed experiences. Dream as a wish fulfilling activity is not accomplished through any direct means. It is one of the ways that provide an outlet for the repressed content in the unconscious. However, the contents of dreams are not the direct expressions of the repressed contents but are censored by the ego. The censoring makes it necessary to interpret the dream in order to reveal the unconscious. Often the contents of a dream as observed in the process of dreaming, which Freud calls the manifest dream, are symbolized acts. They express the conflicts and stress, the meaning of which is to be found in latent-dream. The practical task of transforming the manifest dream to latent dream and explaining how the latter has become the former is known as dream interpretation or dream work. The latent- dream, which is the actual meaning of dream, is censored through various processes and it becomes necessary to unroll these processes before the manifest contents are interpreted. The processes through which the latent content is transformed to the 108

19 manifest content are condensation, displacement, representation and secondary revision. Condensation is the means through which many elements of the latent dream are represented through a single manifest dream. So condensation results in the dream s multiple layers of meaning; the censorship is served by the apparently superficial association through which the composite figures are formed (Roth 47). Displacement is the shifting of accent from one dream element to another. So displacement is the principal means of dream distortion and hence it becomes necessary to identify the way the distortion is done here in order to interpret it. Representation is the way of forming symbols in dream. Through this, complex and vague concepts are converted into dream image. Dream symbols are mostly sexual in meaning and are disguised verbally. Secondary revision is the final stage of dream work. Freud used the method of free association to discover the latent dream content. Secondary revision covers up the contradiction between the dream and the dreamer s everyday life. So in psychoanalysis, dreams, the royal road to the unconscious (Lear 88), can be interpreted as the ego s endeavour to satisfy the essential needs of the id without imposing any harm either from the superego or from the external world. 109

20 3.2.6 Psychosexual Development The psychic energy supplied by id takes a child through three stages of development in becoming an adult. They are (a) infantile sexuality (b) latent period and (c) genital stage. The psychic energy - specifically called the libido- is sexual in nature. It manifests in its biological, social and psychological form during these stages of development. During these development processes, the sexual instinct may undergo more or less serious failures to pass through certain stages of development called the fixation of the instinct. The fixation will have serious consequences in later life as it determines certain characteristic traits of the individual. i) Infantile Sexuality: The period of infantile sexuality stretches from the birth of the child till the age of six years. There are three specific stages of development in this. a) Oral state: Dominated by pleasure principle, oral stage last for first two years of infancy. Mouth becomes the source of pleasure and sucking, biting and related activities that bring pleasure are reckoned to be sexual in nature. In Freud s own words, The first organ to make appearance as an erotogenic zone and to make libidinal demands upon mind is, from the time of birth onwards, is mouth. The baby s obstinate persistence in sucking gives evidence at an early stage of a need for satisfaction which, although it originates from and is stimulated by the taking of nourishment, nevertheless seeks to obtain pleasure independently of 110

21 nourishment and for that reason may and should be described as sexual (OP 12). At this stage, the child knows the world through mouth. Character fixation at this stage is marked by the interest in the activities like eating, gum chewing, smoking and talkativeness in later life. (b) Anal Stage: During the age of two to four years the child becomes aware of himself as an independent individual, who can control the emotions of his parents at will, with toilet habits. Pleasure is derived from expulsion and retention. The psychic force -the libido- is turned towards oneself to form what is called self-love or narcissism. The reality principle starts ruling over the pleasure principle. Fixation at this stage is characterized by liking of yellow colour, orderliness, rigidness etc. Further, Sadistic impulses already begin to occur sporadically during the oral phase along with the appearance of the teeth. Their extent increases greatly during the second phase, which we describe as the sadistic-anal phase, because satisfaction is then sought in aggression and in the excretory function (Freud, OP 12). (c) Phallic stage: During the age of four to six, little boys fall in love with their mother and hate their father and little girls like their father and hate their mother. This phenomenon is called Oedipus complex. The girl-father relation is specifically known as Electra complex. During this stage, the instinctual sex energy 111

22 gets localized in genital organs. Narcissism gives way to libido to make parent of opposite sex to become its object. Infantile masturbation is common among children at this stage. ii) Latent Stage: From the end of phallic stage to puberty, there is an apparent renouncement in the sexual interest of the child. During this period the child becomes interested in both the parents. Narcissistic interests are being reduced. With the beginning of education, moral and intellectual growth predominates other interests. iii) Genital Stage: Genital stage lasts from puberty to maturity. Firstly, the oral, anal and phallic stages of infantile sexuality are revived at the onset of puberty. The first phase of this stage called homoerotic stage is marked with the libido concentration on children of the same sex. By this, the child overlooks his heterosexual interests, which the society discourages at this early life. The child feels more comfortable with peer group of same sex and is even afraid of the opposite sex. The homoerotic period is followed by the period of heterosexuality. The narcissistic drive still persists. It is expressed in the early adolescent love affairs as this intends to demonstrate the ability to attract members of opposite sex. This allows the individual to attain self-confidence in sexual maturity. The genital stage starts with a dominating pleasure principle that in turn gives way to reality principle in attaining sexual maturity. 3.3 Criticisms of Psychoanalytic Theory The criticisms of Psychoanalytic theory arise mainly from two quarters. The first one is from within the realm of psychoanalysis 112

23 itself, directed mainly against the theory of sexuality. The other comes from outside the sphere of psychoanalysis and is intended mainly to question the scientific status of the theory and its methodology. Around 1912, Alfred Adler ( ) and Carl Gultsuv Jung ( ), both pupils of Freud departed from the mainstream of psychoanalysis with their dissent to the libido theory. However, they had not much in common. Both departed from the Freudian orientation and moved in their own way, establishing their own schools of psychology- Individual Psychology and Analytical Psychology respectively Alfred Adler Adler attacked the sexual aetiology of neurosis. He replaced the libidinal theory with the theory of inferiority feeling. He finds the feeling of inferiority in human being to be universal as it has its root in the very childhood, since the child by virtue of his being helpless and smaller before the adults. This inborn feeling of inferiority is supplemented by the attitudes of parents during the development period of the child. This feeling of inferiority necessitates the compensation for the feeling of inferiority that the individual ego is subjected to. In general, this is achieved in two ways. In the first way, through the flight into illness, one becomes able to manipulate the factors affecting the significance of the inferiority and also to gain the attention of others. The child s control over these factors helps him to assume a sense of superiority. The second way is that of direct compensation. In this, the 113

24 lack of ability to get attention because of the child s inferiority is overcome through a direct struggle to master his inferiorities. This is a struggle to achieve power, the struggle to become a complete man. It is this striving to become the complete man or the striving for superiority, which in Alder s theory is the guiding fiction. This determines the human action and development. By this the search for power in Alder s theory replaces the idea of sexual instinct in Freudian psychoanalysis. Adler even goes to the extent of interpreting sexual act as nothing but a struggle of two people to have power over each other (Thompson 157). Freud s criticism of Adler goes like this, From a highly composite unit one part of the operative factors is singled out and proclaimed as the truth; and for the sake of this one part the other part, as well as the whole, is repudiated. If we look at a little closer, to which group of factors it is that has been given the preference, we shall find that it is the one that contains what is already known from other sources 3 Thompson criticizes Adler for his attempt to build a whole system on the basis of a partial view but finds the positive aspects of Adler s theory. She argues, He (Adler) was the first to observe that much which was at that time called constitution is itself to a great extend the products of attempts at adaptation He was the first 114

25 person to describe a part of the role of the ego in producing neurosis and to show that the direction in which a person is going, that is, his goals, significantly contribute to his neurotic difficulties Another important contribution of Alder s has been his awareness of cultural factors (160-61) Carl G. Jung Jung had acquired a wide knowledge of symbolism, literature and philosophy of many cultures. This influenced very much the theoretical and therapeutic aspects of his version of psychoanalysis. Without an open conflict with Freud and without depending upon the sexual theory of Freud, Jung developed his theory side-by-side with that of Freud until he departed from mainstream psychoanalysis in Jung stresses the effect of parental neurotic difficulties on the development of the difficulties in the child. Since the child s mind is more sensitive and mouldable, during the developmental period, it is subjected to a deeper impression from the child s interaction with his parents. Jung emphasizes the significant role of mother in the development of child. This maternal influence is strong in the child even before the development of Oedipus complex and is regressive in nature. For Jung, regression is an important neurotic craving and is in its final analysis the desire to return to mother s womb as the symbol of security or rebirth. Jung finds that symbols are not limited to sexual interpretation. In this respect he presents a wider interpretation of the symbols than that of Freud. Thompson explains, 115

26 For Jung, the symbol also had a forward-moving significance, that sexual symbolism can be saying something about the future, about a positive purpose in life. So he points out that instead of concluding that all symbolism has a sexual meaning, sex itself is sometimes used as a symbol of something else (163). In Psychology of the Unconscious, Jung introduced the term primal libido, which essentially is a life force. This is the undifferentiated energy and a major part of this is sexual in nature. The sexual origin of libido is denied. According to Jung s theory of collective unconscious, the significant memories of the human race are a part of every one s heritage. This heritage includes not only human traits but also residues from the animal past. This collective unconscious represented the wisdom of the ages and hence it is viewed as superior to the individual values. This view influenced Jung s therapeutic approaches, which involves, in part, bringing the patient in contact with his collective unconscious. The interpretation of dream is used for this purpose. Jung s approach to repression is different from that of Freud. For Freud, repression contains memories and instincts, which the individual s ego is unable to tolerate because of their negative nature. Jung s idea of repression contains positive aspects of personality as well. He views education as a factor that introduces conflict in the individual s life. Education forces a person to divert from his individual line of life developing spontaneously. Finding out this individual line of life or self-realization then forms a major aspect of 116

27 his system of therapy. Jung s goal of therapy is different form that of Freud. Freud s therapy is a retrospective analytic understanding of the past. In Jung s analytical psychology the functional analysis looks at the future in order to find the meaning in the present and future. So self-realization forms an important guiding force in Jung s therapeutic technique. According to Thompson, As the Jungian school has developed, process of cure has tended to become rigid and ritualized, and patients are said to go through various stages until they finally reach self-realization. One cannot achieve this until after middle life. The system as it stands today has the quality of a religion. Jung believed that people needed a religious attitude, by which he seems to mean a respect for the dignity of human life, and a belief that it has a meaning. There is a quality of respect for the patient in Jung s thinking too often not indicated in other analytic approaches (168). This approach to therapy has been subjected to severe criticism. In this the patient is taken away from reality, which is substituted with mystical and semi- religious fantasies of life. This substitution does not root out the patient s problem, but an obsession of something else rules over the patient s problem. This is the classical mechanism of obsessional neurosis (Thompson 169). Jung s contribution includes the emphasis on parent-child relationship, viewing therapy as a patient-analyst mutual interaction and an attitude of respect for the patient and his neurosis. His mode of therapy also includes the 117

28 revealing of the repressed positive potentialities. This helps in developing the undeveloped aspect of patient s personality B. F. Skinner B.F. Skinner ( ), the great exponent of Behaviourism, in his essay Critique of Psychoanalytic Theory has levelled serious criticisms against psychoanalysis. These criticisms, by and large attack the methodology of psychoanalysis. According to Skinner, Freud took his mental apparatus as real rather than a scientific construct. By mental apparatus, Freud meant the conscious, pre-conscious and unconscious mind and the dissection of personality into id, ego and superego. The dynamism includes the interplay of forces, which are necessarily derived from psychic energy. Skinner says, No matter what logicians may eventually make of this mental apparatus, there is little doubt that Freud accepted it as a real rather than a scientific constrict or theory. One does not at the age of 70 define the goal of one s life as the exploration of an explanatory fiction. Freud did not use his mental apparatus as a postulate system from which he deduced theorems to be submitted to empirical check. If there was any interaction between the mental apparatus and empirical observations, such interaction took the form of modifying the apparatus to account for newly discovered facts (78). Another criticism of Skinner is about the use of analogies for explanation in theoretical psychology. Keeping in mind Freud s view 118

29 that analogies, it is true, decide nothing, but we can make one feel more at home, we may listen to Skinner s words, Freud was aware of the problems of Scientific methodology and even of the metaphorical nature of some of his own constructs. When this was the case, he justified the constructs as necessary or at least highly convenient. But awareness of the nature of the metaphor is no defense of it, and if modern science is still occasionally metaphorical, we must remember that, theory wise, it is also still in trouble. The point is not that metaphor or construct is objectionable but that particular metaphor and constructs have caused trouble and are continuing to do so (79). From a behaviourist point of view, Skinner criticises Freud on the use of introspection as a means for observing mental life. Further the manipulation of this mental life as a means for treatment is also questioned. This is done from a standpoint observing Freud as a thoroughgoing determinist and dualist. One further criticism on psychoanalysis is made on Freud s use of terms such as forces, processes, and mechanism from other disciplines. Skinner argues, Although it is occasionally necessary to refer to mental events and their qualities and to states of consciousness, the analyst usually moves on in some haste to less committal terms such as Forces, processes, organizations, tensions, systems, and mechanisms. But they imply terms at a lower level. The notion of 119

30 conscious or unconscious force may be a useful metaphor, but if this is analogous to force in physics, what is the analogous mass that is analogously accelerated? Human behavior is in a state of flux and undergoing changes that we call processes, but what is changing in what direction when we speak of, for example an affective process? (86, author s emphasis) Karl Popper Now we come to the criticism against the scientific status of psychoanalysis. The main exponent in this field is the Austrian- born British philosopher of science, Sir Karl Popper ( ). Popper s attacks on what he called pseudo-sciences were mainly directed against three theories. They are Marx s theory of history, Freud s psychoanalysis and Adler s Individual Psychology. It is the possibility of being refuted, and not that of confirmation, which he says, determines the scientific status of a theory. And in this sense both versions of psychoanalytic theories (that of Freud and Adler) are not refutable. The logical problem of induction requires infinite number of confirmatory evidence in order to prove a theory to be true. This is obviously impossible. Both the theories mentioned earlier, Popper says, are able to explain the whole realm of human behaviour. They are even potent enough to explain the explicitly conflicting behaviour with the same strength. He observes that these theories always fitted were always confirmed-which in the eyes of their admirers constituted the strongest argument in favour of these 120

31 theories this apparent strength was in fact their weakness (Popper 35). Popper denies the scientific status of these theories on the ground that they are non-testable and irrefutable. The argument goes on like this, The two psycho-analytic theories were in a different class. They were simply non-testable, irrefutable. There was no conceivable human behaviour which could contradict them. This does not mean that Freud and Adler were not seeing certain thing correctly: I personally do not doubt that much of what they say is of considerable importance, and may well play its part one day in a psychological science which is testable. But it does mean that those clinical observations which analysts naively believe confirm their theory cannot do this any more than the daily confirmations which astrologers find in their practice. And as for Freud s epic of the Ego, the Super ego, and the Id, no substantially stronger claim to scientific status can be made for it than for Homer s collected stories from Olympus. These theories describe some facts, but in the manner of myths. They contain most interesting psychological suggestions, but not in a testable form (Popper 37-38). Popper s attitude to psychoanalysis may be viewed from two perspectives. Firstly, we can question the very status of the scientific, and sideline it to be one among the various ways of looking into facts, 121

32 and thus deny scientific status to psychoanalysis without undermining its meaning and significance. In Popper s own view,... the problem which I tried to solve by proposing the criterion of falsifiability was neither a problem of meaningfulness or significance, nor a problem of truth or acceptability. It was the problem of drawing a line (As well as this can be done) between the statements, or systems of statements, of the empirical sciences, and all other statement -whether they are of a religious or of a metaphysical character, or simply pseudo-scientific (39) Adolf Grünbaum The second way of looking into Popper s view is to deny the argument that psychoanalysis is unscientific. This is the position that Adolf Grünbaum had held. Grünbaum disagreed with popper. He, while maintaining the falsification criteria of Popper shows that psychoanalysis is scientific. Grünbaum explains this with what he calls Freud s Master Proposition, also known as the Necessary Condition Thesis (NCT). NCT explains that, ONLY psychoanalysis can produce a durable cure of psychoneurosis. This, Grünbaum says, is a strong statement that could be falsified if, for example, another form of therapy such as behavior therapy cured someone of a neurosis, or even if spontaneous remission occurred. This falsifiability makes psychoanalysis scientific. Grünbaum further argues that NCT is in fact falsifiable, and falsifiable in a number of ways. This, according to him makes psychoanalysis a bad science. 122

33 Ned Block and Gabriel Segal evaluate Grünbaum s argument and put forward a modified NCT. Some of Grünbaum s arguments against NCT were the spontaneous remission of neurosis, the outcome of psychoanalytic treatment as that of placebo effect and Freud s own position that psychoanalysis often offers only temporary cure. Block and Segal offer their version of NCT (NCT*) like this: (NCT*) Other things being equal, a patient under analysis would get better unless some of the analyst s interpretations were correct. The hedge other things being equal allows for the possibility of exceptional cases of improvement caused by such things as spontaneous remission or placebo effect. And the reference to durable cures has been replaced with the more realistic idea of the patient s getting better; some of their symptoms disappearing or lessening (Block and Segal 65). They conclude, None of this goes to demonstrate conclusively that the theory is correct and Grünbaum is therefore right to the point to the possibility that other things might be true causes of the phenomena that psychoanalysis seeks to explain; but at the moment there is little by way of serious competition. Psychoanalysis is at least the best explanation that is currently on offer (66, emphasis added). 123

34 3.4 Motivation as Cause As we have seen earlier, Skinner describes Freud as a thoroughgoing determinist. Determinism in psychology means the denial of the concept of free will. This is to assert that every psychological event is necessarily subjected to psychological laws. Or, in other words, it is the theory of psychic causation. The term causation when described under the subject of psychology requires a further analysis. This is necessitated by the fact that the word causation is primarily used to describe the interconnection between the material objects or phenomena. When we work with psychological events, the elements that contributed from outside the human mind, we call stimuli; and that from within the mind, motivation. Here it is worth to remember Schopenhauer s words that Motivation is causality seen from within (Schopenhauer 214). That is to say, when the causal elements under consideration are psychological in nature, it is appropriate to use the word motivation to describe their casual aspect. When the phenomena under consideration are physical objects, the cause is attributed to an agent external to it. Richard D Charms explains,... the laws of mechanical cause chains are based on the assumption that the locus of causality for any movement (behavior) of physical object will be found external to that object. We have, therefore, two alternatives: (a) we can supply this principle to human (and animal) behavior and give up the notion of an internal locus; or (b) we can investigate the ubiquitous phenomenologically supported 124

35 conception of human being (and animals) as originators of causal sequences and as having loci of causation internal to themselves i.e., as motivated (46). Even when we replace the word cause with motivation, in the psychic realm, we are confronted with two major problems that are necessarily involved with the concept of causation. Firstly, whether the concept of motivation alone is sufficient to explain the whole psychic phenomena? This obviously raises the problem of plurality of causes of the causal theories. The second problem is the status of intentions and volitions in the mental causation; whether they stand external to the causal chain and still influence the causal process? If so, it guarantees the possibility of free will. Among these, the first one compels us to examine the concepts of necessary and sufficient cause. J.S Mill explains cause as always a sufficient condition. In his words, The cause, then, philosophically speaking, is the sum total of the conditions, positive and negative taken together; the whole of the contingencies of every description, which being realized, the consequent invariably follows (217). This sense of cause is much different from the one we normally have. We normally attribute cause to the single event or factor. In saying that the spark caused explosion in a laboratory, the condition under which the inflammable gas is formed in the laboratory is not taken into account. It is obvious that without the inflammable gas formed, the explosion could not have taken place. In Mill s sense it is 125

36 the whole of the situation that led to the explosion and he describes this as cause or the sufficient condition. But the sufficient condition may also include factors that are irrelevant. John Hospers explains, Sometimes too much is included in the statement of the sufficient condition. If pulling the plug is sufficient for the radio not to play, then pulling the plug plus the moon being full is also sufficient: every time you pull the plug and the moon is full the radio stops playing. But we do not consider the moon a casual factor because the radio stops playing when you pull the plug whether the moon is full or not. In this example the irrelevance of the moon is easy to see, but other examples are not quite so obvious (296). The necessary cause on the other hand is the condition in the causal process in the absence of which the effect fails to occur. We may say that oxygen is a necessary cause of fire we mean that in the absence of oxygen there cannot be an instance of fire. Our endeavour to explain cause as necessary or sufficient condition is determined by our specific intention towards the effect (Copi 450). We search for cause as a necessary condition when our aim is to cease the effect. We can remove the necessary element from the sum total of existing conditions and hence remove the effect. On the other hand where the effect is desirable or we want to produce the effect, we may view cause as a sufficient condition. Now it may also be seen that all necessary conditions put together form the sufficient condition. 126

37 If Mill s sufficient condition is taken as cause, the lack of any one element among the sufficient condition will not yield the effect. So, cause may be viewed as the element which when introduced to an already existing condition makes it sufficient to produce the effect. This concept of cause is essentially that of necessary condition. Our search for this element which is the one introduced mainly depends on our specific interest. Cohen and Nagel maintain a similar view. According to them, The search for causes may therefore be understood as a search for some invariable order between various sorts of elements or factors. The specific nature of this order will vary with the nature of the subject matter and the purpose of inquiry. Moreover, the specific nature of the elements between which the order is sought will also differ for different inquiries The kind of elements or changes for which we look depends on the structure of the order in which we are interested. The answer to question, Who killed the Archduke Ferdinand at Sarajevo? must be of the form: The person A,B,C and so on, are the assassins of the Archduke. On the other hand, the question, What killed the Archduke? must be answered according to the kind of specific order for which we are in search, and according to the purpose of inquiry What is an adequate answer to one question will not, in general, be adequate to another (248-49). 127

38 So, finally we see that the attribution of cause to a single event among others mainly depends on our specific interest. Then, in analyzing the psychic phenomena, we are apt to consider the external factors as more or less insignificant (though not irrelevant) and attribute their cause to psychic elements. This does not deny the importance of external or of physical factors. It may be noted that the external factors sometimes become irrelevant in the sense that the subject does not take it seriously. Whether a persisting noise of a machine will distract me from my reading or not largely depends on the way I take it. Hence, it only means that we are now considering the significance of psychic elements in determining an action. This particular element, which leads to an action, we call motive. And in the realm of psychology, motivation may be viewed as causation. Obviously a motive cannot be the cause in the sense of sufficient condition but may be seen as necessary cause and hence it is the cause that we intend to investigate. The second problem we stated viz. the status of intentions and volitions as factors of psychological causation may be examined specifically within the context of psychoanalytical motivational theory. In the Outline of Psychoanalysis, Freud called the force that acts behind the needs of id (which we saw earlier, as the prime mover) the instincts. They represent the somatic demands upon mental life. These instincts or drives the satisfaction of which is the prime intention of mental activity are essentially somatic needs. The aim of Eros one among the two fundamental motivating forces that Freud recognized- 128

39 (will be described later) is self preservation and preservation of the species. Such instincts, which are basically connected with the preservation of self and of species, may be considered as needs. These needs are not psychologically manifested enough for a direct observation. They are rather inferred from psychic activities. Intentions and volitions may be seen as manifestations of underlying instinctual needs. So they may be reckoned cause in a secondary sense only. To state it otherwise, intentions and volitions are the secondary elements in the chain of psychological causation. The first element, which is instinct, is necessarily unconscious. According to Freud, instincts act not only behind intentions and volitions but also behind all psychic activities. 3.5 The Psychoanalytic Theory of Motivation The motivational theory of psychoanalysis has developed through two major phases. In the first phase, with his most important essay on motivation, Instincts and their Vicissitudes, Freud described the fundamental motivation factors as instincts and examined their characteristics. Here, the motivating factors were taken to be sexual in their nature and were based on the pleasure principle alone. Later in 1922, with the publication of Beyond the Pleasure Principle, Freud introduced the concept of death instinct. This concept, finding its expression in aggressive and destructive activities, has profoundly changed Freud s view on motivation. This, according to Cofer and Appley may be attributed to three factors:- (1) dissatisfaction with the earlier explanation of aggression as a manifestation of the sexual instincts (The 129

40 widespread occurrence of cruelty and destruction of the First World War profoundly impressed Freud); (2) the conviction that the repetition - compulsion principle was more fundamental and all-pervasive than the more limited sexual and self-preservative instincts could explain; and, most important, (3) the need to find a force to counteract the then monistic life instincts (603-04). In Instincts and Their Vicissitudes, Freud distinguished between instincts and stimuli. Instincts, according to him, are principal motivating factor of behaviour. Stimuli, on the other hand refer to the external factors affecting the organism. Freud originally used the German word Trieb to express the motivating factor. Literally the word Trieb means the mechanical provocation to action (Bolles 61). Its translation into English as instinct created confusion since the original English meaning of instinct varies marginally from that of Trieb. Fenchel points out, However, the expression Trieb which Freud used does not signify exactly the same thing as the English expression instinct, as it is customarily translated. Inherent in the concept of instinct is the idea that it represents an inherited and unchangeable pattern; in the German concept of Trieb this exchangeability is by no means implied. On the contrary, the Trieb obviously are changed in aim and object under inferences stemming from the environment, and Freud was even of the opinion that they originated under the same influence. This 130

41 incorrect equating of instinct and Trieb has created misunderstandings. 4 Freud s theory of motivation is essentially a stimulus intensity reduction theory, according to which the intention of every motive is to keep the nervous system to the lowest level of stimulation. The stimulus reduction approach to the theory of motivation is arrived at from Freud s initial concept of equilibrium (Bolles 58) according to which the tendency of nervous system is to discharge any increase in excitation. But the energy can be discharged through pre-established channels. The psychic structure of personality, we have seen earlier, does not permit the direct outlet to all instincts necessitate the instincts to be reduced through channelization through the personality structure. So in stimulus intensity reduction, the excitation created by the instincts is reduced without having a direct discharge. According to Freud, instincts are characterized by their impetus, aim, object and source. Impetus is the obvert expression of the instinct. The aim is to reduce the intensity of the instinctual drive. Object is the means through which the organism establishes its aim. In determining the object, dream and various defence mechanisms like fantasy, sublimation displacement etc. play their role. This is because the direct expression of the instinct to the motivated object might not be warranted either by super-ego or by the external world. In Freud s own words, By the impetus of an instinct we understand its motor element, the amount of force or the measure of the demand upon energy which it represents. The 131

42 characteristic of impression is common to all instincts, is in fact the very essence of them. The aim of an instinct is in the every instance satisfaction, which can only be obtained by abolishing the condition of stimulation in the source of the instinct this remain invariably the final goal of every instinct. The object of an instinct is that in or through which it can achieve its aim. It is the most variable thing about instinct and is not originally connected with it, but becomes attached to it only in consequence of being peculiarly fitted to provide satisfaction. By the source of an instinct is meant that somatic process in an organ or part of the body from which there results a stimulus represented in mental life by an instinct. We do not know whether this process is regularly of a chemical natural or whether it may also correspond with the release of other, e.g., mechanical, forces. The study of the sources of instinct is outside the scope of psychology; although its source in the body is what given the instinct its distinct and essential character, yet in mental life we know it merely by its aims (Instincts ). Here it may be noted that in the description of the source of instinct, Freud maintains a biological explanation and leaves it outside the realm of psychology. Then it becomes implicit that he allows a biological explanation of organic behaviour (the contemporary 132

43 psychiatry) distinct from the psychological account. This differentiates between the neurobiology of consciousness and folk psychology (the contemporary name for the Freudian tradition) The Basic Instincts As stated earlier, Freud recognised two fundamental motivating factors; the life instincts (Eros) and the death instincts (Thanatos). Some reasons for Freud s postulation of the death instinct are to be discussed in the last section. Further, Freud noticed the inevitable significance of death as the final state of all organisms. He also based this postulation on the idea of the returning of all things to their origin. It must rather be an ancient starting point, which the living being left long ago, and to which it harks back again by all the circuitous paths of development. If we may assume as an experience admitting of no exception that everything living dies from causes within itself, and return to the inorganic, we can only say The goal of all life is death, and, casting back, the inanimate was there before the animate (Freud, BPP 47). Further the introduction of death instinct is influenced by the stimulus reduction nature of Freud s theory. The struggle for reduction of intensity and maintaining it at a constant level is the removal of inner stimulus tension (the nirvana principle), a struggle which comes to the expression in the pleasure principle (Freud, BPP 71) is one strong reason for Freud s belief in death instinct. 133

44 The aim of life instinct is the preservation of the individual and the species. The former is expressed through the drives such as thirst and hunger and the latter through sexual urges. During the development through psychosexual stages, the objects and the aim of sexual instincts become varied and the failure to pass through certain stages fixes the development at that stage. As seen earlier this determines some of the characteristic traits of the individual. Even though Eros is explained as consisting of two drives- the ego drive and sex drive - Freud recognized the principal energy behind both of them to be the same. He called this energy libido or sex energy. Libido is the principle of unification. This aims at preservation and maintenance. In Freud s own words, Our discussion so far results in the establishing of a sharp antithesis between the ego instincts and the sexual instincts, the former impelling towards death and the latter towards the preservation of life, a result which we ourselves must surely find in many respects far from adequate. Further, only for the former can we properly claim the conservative -or, better, regressive- character corresponding to a repetition compulsion. For according to our hypothesis the ego instincts spring from the vitalizing of inanimate matter and have as their air the reinstatement of lifelessness. As to the sexual instincts on the other hand: it is obvious that they reproduce primitive states of the living being, but the aim they strive for by every means is the union of two germ cells which are specifically differentiated (BPP 54). 134

45 The death instinct on the other hand is the principle of alienation. Here lies the contrast between Eros and death instinct. The death instinct seeks return to an earlier state of the organism- the physical constituent states; the life instinct aims at reunion. Freud explains, The aim of the first of these basic instincts is to establish ever greater unities and to preserve them thus-in short, to bind together, the aim of the second, on the contrary, is to undo connections and so to destroy things. We may suppose that the final aim of the destructive instinct is to reduce living things to an inorganic state. For this reason we also call it the death instinct. If we suppose that living things appeared later than inanimate ones and arose out of them, then the death instinct agrees with the formula that we have stated, to the effect that instincts tend towards a return to an earlier state. We are unable to apply this formula to Eros (the love instinct). That would be to imply that still living substance had once been a unity but had subsequently been torn apart and was now tending towards re-union (OP 6). The basic instinct, Freud says, cannot be localized to any region of the mind. The whole available energies of Eros- libido, he says, is present as yet undifferentiated ego-id and serve to neutralize the destructive impulses which are simultaneously present. And Freud illustrates such interaction between life and death instincts in biological functions such as eating and sexual act. Eating is a destructive activity with the object of incorporating it finally and 135

46 sexual act is an act of aggression having has its purpose in the most intimate union. However it is difficult to identify the source of death instinct. Coffer and Appley explain, The death instinct is, more or less silent as long as it operates internally and is expressed outwardly only through the act of aggression. This makes it difficult to identify its source very clearly (605). 3.6 Some Observations on the Psychoanalytic Theory of Motivation Noted below are some of the key observations on the Psychoanalytic theory of motivation that will be useful in formulating the final conclusion of this work Stimulus Intensity Reduction Nature This is a version of tension reduction theory of motivation. This model, according to Coffer and Appley, is perhaps the most widely met motivational hypothesis in biology and psychology (601) and is the key to the psychoanalytic theory of motivation. Freud correlates an increase in mental stimulation with pain and its decrease with pleasure thus, Even the most highly developed mental apparatus is subject to the pleasure principle, i.e. is automatically regulated by feeling belonging to the pleasure un-pleasure series, we can hardly reject the further hypothesis that these feelings reflect the manner in which the process of 136

47 mastering stimuli takes place-certainly in the sense that unpleasurable feelings are connected with an increase and pleasurable feelings with a decrease of stimulus (Freud, Instincts 120) The Dual Principle The dual principle on which the Psychoanalytic theory of motivation is based is life instinct and death instinct. This enables the theory to explain psychic phenomena on the basis of one or both the principles. This is an outcome of what Freud calls the necessary postulate regarding the functioning of the nervous system, which in Freud s conception is to master stimuli (Atkinson and Birch 209). Freud explains the stimulus intensity reduction thus, The nervous system is an apparatus having the function of abolishing stimuli which reach it, or of reducing excitation to the lowest possible level, an apparatus which would even, if this were feasible, maintain itself in an altogether un-stimulated conditions (Freud, Instincts 120) Arousal Aspect Charms explains the tension arousal aspect of Freudian motivational theory. According to him, Freud makes it particularly clear that he feels it necessary to account for the apparent pleasurable aspects of increasing stimulation in his account of sexual 137

48 forepleasure. He depends primarily on the ultimate reduction of tension for his explanation, but it is clear that the contradiction of the theory implicit in evidence that some tension is sought out and apparently pleasurable bothered him. In dealing with these phenomena, he comes close to an arousal jag type position (83) The Origin of Instincts From the interaction between life and death instincts and their counter balancing as suggested by Freud, it will be reasonable to search for a common source for both these instincts. To state it otherwise, the possibility of both the instinct to have arisen out of a single psychic principle or characteristic cannot be ruled out. Such an origin if discovered will be of immense value as it will enable us to bring the whole of psychic phenomena, which Freud brought under his theory of motivation, under one principle that unifies both the motivating principles of Freud Dialectical Interplay of the Basic Instincts Freud called the death instinct ego instinct and explained that it springs from the vitalising of inanimate matter, and have as their aim the reinstatement of lifelessness (Freud, BPP 54). In An Outline of Psychoanalysis, Freud states that We shall be justified in saying that there arises at birth an instinct to return to the intra-uterine life that has been abandoned- and instinct to sleep (27). And in New Introductory Lectures on Psychoanalysis, Freud speaks of the phantasy of returning into the mother s womb (120). All these show the importance of death instinct in Freud s theory. 138

49 It is significant here to note that birth (the acquiring of separate identity- alienation) is the primary realisation of the death instinct, which is governed by the nirvana principle. Death (the physical decomposition- identification) is the final realisation of the life instinct, which is governed by the pleasure principle. And life is a striving for the dialectical synthesis of birth and death, and is governed by reality principle. Freud s shift from a single motivating principle to the dual one can be seen necessitated by the insufficiency of a single principle to explain the dynamics of psychic life. The dual principle fulfils it in the way mentioned above. Hence life is a process of dialectical evolution aimed at the realisation of an ultimate motivating factor. Once such a stage is attained all principles (pleasure, nirvana and reality) becomes insignificant Relation to Indian Theories of Mind Freud s theory of levels of consciousness, has got a striking similarity with the Upanis adic concept of the levels of mind described in the last chapter. The levels of consciousness described in Upanis ads, jāgrat, swapna and sus upti correspond to Freud s notion of conscious, preconscious and unconscious minds respectively. However, there is no parallel in Freud s theory for the concept of turīya- the level of transcendental reality. Another similarity can be seen between Freud s theory of structure of personality and the Sām khya- Yoga theory of gun as (to be explained in the next chapter). It may be seen that the similarity between Freudian theories and the Indian theories of mind are not necessarily the one of accidental 139

50 coincidence. Freud was aware of the Upanis adic tradition as he had referred to the comparison of the dual nature of motivation with division of the primal reality into two as described in Brihadāran yakopanis ad (Freud, BPP 74-75). His remark here that Plato might have been influenced by this notion of Upanis ads in his formulation of the concept of Zeus shows Freud s regard for the traditional Indian theories of mind. NOTES 1 Hysteria: The neurotic illness which can have both physical and mental symptoms. Also known as conversion disorders its physical symptoms are characterised by its flight into incapacity. The mental symptoms are characterised by dissociation states. 2 Freud quoted in (Roth 68) 3 Freud quoted in Thompson (159) 4 Freud quoted in Charms R.D (79) 140

51 REFERENCES Atkinson, John W and David Birch. Introduction to Motivation. 2nd ed. New York: D Van Nostrand Company, Barlow, David H and Mark V Durand. Abnormal Psychology: An Integrated Approach. New York: Brooks/Cole Publishing Company, Block, Ned and Gabriel Segal. "A Methodological Critique of Psychoanalysis." Philosophy 2: Further Through the Subject. Ed. Grayling, A.C. London: Oxford UP, Boeree, George, C. "Freud and Psychoanalysis." < Bolles, Robert, C. Theory of Motivation. London: Harper and Row Publishers, Burns, Tom. Psychiatry: A Very Short Introduction. New York: Oxford UP, Charms, Richard D. Personal Causation. New York: Academic Press, Cochen, M.R and Ernest Nagel. An Introduction to Logic and Scientific Method. Delhi: Allied Publishers Private Limited, Cofer, C. N and M.H. Appley. Motivation Theory and Research. London: Wiley Eastern Limited,

52 Copi, Irving M. Introduction to Logic. 11th ed. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, Farrel, B.A. The Standing of Psychoanalysis. Oxford: Oxford UP, Freud, Sigmund. An Outline of Psycho-Analysis. Trans. James Strachey. London: The Hogarth Press and the Institute of Psycho-Aanalysis, Beyond the Pleasure Principle. Trans. C.J.M Hubback. London: The Hogarth Press, "Instincts and their Vicissitudes." Standard Edition Vol.14. Trans. James Strachey. London: The Hogarth Press, New Introductory Lectures on Psychoanalysis. Trans. James Strachey. London: Penguin Books, The Interpretation of Dreams. Trans. James Strachey. New York: Avon Books, Hospers, John. An Introduction to Philosophical Analysis. Delhi: Allied Publishers Private Limited, Lear, Jonathan. Freud. London: Routledge, Mill, John Stuart. System of Logic: Ratiocinative and Inductive. London: Longmans, Green, and Co., Page, James D. Abnormal Psychology. New Delhi: Tata McGraw-Hill Publishing Company Limited,

53 Popper, Karl. Conjectures and Refutations. London: Rutledge & Kegan Paul, Roth, Michael S. Psycho- Analysis as History: Negation and Freedom in Freud. Delhi: Oxford UP, Russell, Bertrand. The Analysis of Mind. London: George Allen and Unwin Ltd., Schopenhauer, Arthur. On the Fourfold Root of the Principle of Sufficient Reason. Illinois: Open Court Publishing Company, Skinner, B.F. "Critique of Psychoanalytic Theory." Eds. Fiegl, Herbert and Scriven, Michael. Minnesota Studies in Philosophy of Science, Vol.1. Minnesota: U of Minnesota Press, Strachey, James. Sigmund Freud: His Life and Ideas. Freud, NIL Stokes, Philip. Philosophy: 100 Essential Thinkers. London: Enchanted Lion Books, Thompson, Clara. Psychoanalysis: Evolution and Development. London: George Allen and Unwin Ltd.,