reality principle (redirected from reality principles)

reality principle

n.

In psychoanalysis, awareness of and adjustment to environmental demands in a manner that moderates the pleasure principle and assures ultimate satisfaction of instinctual needs.

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reality principle,

an awareness of the demands of the environment and the need for an adjustment of behavior to meet those demands, expressed primarily by the renunciation of immediate gratification of instinctual pleasures to obtain long-term and future goals. In psychoanalysis this function is held to be performed by the ego. Compare pleasure principle.