In the Two Principles of Mental Functioning of 1911, contrasting it with the reality principle, Freud spoke for the first time of 'the pleasure-unpleasure principle, or more shortly the pleasure principle'. Freudian developments įreud used the idea that the mind seeks pleasure and avoids pain in his Project for a Scientific Psychology of 1895, as well as in the theoretical portion of The Interpretation of Dreams of 1900, where he termed it the 'unpleasure principle'. įreud's most immediate predecessor and guide however was Gustav Theodor Fechner and his psychophysics. Precursors Įpicurus in the ancient world, and later Jeremy Bentham, laid stress upon the role of pleasure in directing human life, the latter stating: 'Nature has placed mankind under the governance of two sovereign masters, pain and pleasure'.

Specifically, the pleasure principle is the animating force behind the id. In Freudian psychoanalysis, the pleasure principle ( German: Lustprinzip) is the instinctive seeking of pleasure and avoiding of pain to satisfy biological and psychological needs. This article is about the psychoanalytical term.