The psychoanalytic theory of motivation: drive or affect?

Abstract

During the last two decades, the self-image of psychoanalysis has changed. This paper suggests that Paul Ricoeur's model of reflection may be used to put these changes into focus. According to Ricoeur, we may look for the subject in an archaeological look backward, or in a teleology reaching forward. The aim of this paper is to put psychoanalytic motivational theory in perspective through this model. Freud stated clearly that the drive gets us going, but contemporary psychoanalysts mostly vote for the affect as the principal motive. Following the metapsychological sequence model (with drive at one end and feelings at the other), it is stated that the drive is to be found at the archaeological end and the affect in the teleologicaI goal. The question of affect or drive is thus described as an issue of archaeological/teleological perspectives, and it is stated that the turn to the affect motive may be seen as a sign of a general ideological turn in psychoanalysis. To conclude, the author discusses the consequences of eliminating drive from motivational theory, and proposes a dialectic that preserves both affect and drive.

Key words:

• motivation
• drive
• affect
• metapsychology
• archaeology
• teleology