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To gather data for the study of the inner experience which people call 'pleasure', a questionnaire was distributed to about 3, 000 residents of the United States, differing in age, sex, education, and geographical location. Recipients were asked to 'think of any experience which gave you a lot of pleasure, joy, or delight. Try to put yourself back into the mood you had at the time. What were the inner feelings, the sensations inside, that you felt?'
A sample of the responses was selected and studied in the light of psycho-analytic theory to determine the basic experiential models which served as foundations for the subjective pleasure experiences reported. The basic model was found to be a picture of loving care by the mother, exemplified by the feeding relationship. Other models were ancillary to, derivatives of, developments from, or distortions of this basic model. They included pictures of part or all of the sequence 'to be lifted, held, and fed'; other pictures of bodily care; successful performance of bowel duties; models of sexual stimulation in relation with parent or self; pictures of defiant sexual or aggressive behaviour; and combinations of these.
The various models are directly related to dependency and being fed: as reward for obedience, as punishment by threatened withdrawal, as substitutions of another person or the self for the feeding mother, or as erotization of the alimentary orgasm.
(Author's Summary)