Object-relations theory implicitly assumes primary drives to cope with the fact that some kinds of transaction with objects are not gratifying but are feared and avoided. Fairbairn's conception of motivation assumes that there is an independent primary drive which may be called 'need for love', independent of other gratifications. Such an instinctual-drive concept is defined solely by its direction towards a goal, and rests on an arbitrary intuition as to the 'real' goal of observed behaviour. As Freud pointed out, what is required for the objective identification of a drive is the discovery of its physiological source.

Freud recognised that a drive can be gratified only by a 'specific action' performed upon a suitable object, and that object relations set up in very early life are especially long-lasting. The concept of fixation can bridge the gap between infantile instinctual reactions and adult object relations.