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The mechanisms of dreams, of wit and of the common mistakes of everyday life show plainly that even in normally adjusted adult individuals there are ever-present tendencies to revert not only to the wishes and emotional patterns of childhood but to irrational modes of thinking as well. This fact confronts us with a dynamic problem. If regression is so easy and attractive, what are the incentives that can induce one to follow the path of normal development? In other words, what are the dynamic or economic conditions that are necessary in order that development may proceed normally in spite of these ever-present regressive tendencies? What are the dynamic and economic conditions that determine whether irrational or rational modes of mental functioning shall prevail?
In a first approach to this problem Freud (1911) distinguished between pleasure principle and reality principle. According to the pleasure principle, one is dominated by the impulse to gain immediate pleasure and to avoid immediate pain. The reality principle demands, however, that a person renounce immediate pleasure and even endure pain for the sake of an assured future pleasure.
This distinction already enables us to state the problem of reality adaptation in dynamic terms. The hope of future pleasure is a notoriously weak force when pitted against immediate satisfaction. We should like to know therefore how one learns to renounce immediate pleasure and endure pain for the sake of future pleasure. What forces are strong enough to induce the psyche to renounce pleasure now and to accept pain for the sake of the future?