Drive theory

In psychology, a drive theory or drive doctrine is a theory that attempts to define, analyze, or classify the psychological drives. A drive is an "excitatory state produced by a homeostatic disturbance", an instinctual need that has the power of driving the behaviour of an individual.

Drive theory is based on the principle that organisms are born with certain psychological needs and that a negative state of tension is created when these needs are not satisfied. When a need is satisfied, drive is reduced and the organism returns to a state of homeostasis and relaxation. According to the theory, drive tends to increase over time and operates on a feedback control system, much like a thermostat.

In psychoanalysis, drive theory (German: Triebtheorie or Trieblehre) refers to the theory of drives, motivations, or instincts, that have clear objects. When an internal imbalance is detected by homeostatic mechanisms, a drive to restore balance is produced. In 1927, Sigmund Freud said that a drive theory was what was lacking most in psychoanalysis. He was opposed to systematics in psychology, rejecting it as a form of paranoia, and instead classified drives with dichotomies like Eros/Thanatos drives, the drives toward life and death, respectively, and sexual/ego drives.

Freud's Civilization and Its Discontents was published in Germany in 1930, when the rise of fascism in that country was well under way, and the warnings of a second European war were leading to opposing calls for rearmament and pacifism. Against this background, Freud wrote "In face of the destructive forces unleashed, now it may be expected that the other of the two 'heavenly forces,' eternal Eros, will put forth his strength so as to maintain himself alongside of his equally immortal adversary."

In 1947, Hungarian psychiatrist and psychologist Leopold Szondi aimed instead at a systematic drive theory.Szondi Drive Diagram has been described as a revolutionary addition to psychology, and as paving the way for a theoretical psychiatry and a psychoanalytical anthropology.

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