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Definition of Pleasure principle
1. Noun. (psychoanalysis) the governing principle of the id; the principle that an infant seeks gratification and fails to distinguish fantasy from reality.
Exact synonyms: Pleasure-pain Principle, Pleasure-unpleasure Principle
Category relationships: Analysis, Depth Psychology, Psychoanalysis
Generic synonyms: Principle
Antonyms: Reality Principle
Category relationships: Analysis, Depth Psychology, Psychoanalysis
Generic synonyms: Principle
Antonyms: Reality Principle
Medical Definition of Pleasure principle
1. A psychoanalytic concept that, in a human's psychic functioning, he/she tends to seek pleasure and avoid pain; a term borrowed by experimental psychology to denote the same tendency of an animal in a learning situation. Synonym: pleasure principle. (05 Mar 2000)