Meetings of the New York Psychoanalytic Society

October 14, 1969. THE PLEASURE PRINCIPLE, THE CONSTANCY PRINCIPLE, AND THE PRIMARY AUTONOMOUS EGO. William Needles, M.D.

Empirical observations contradict the constancy principle, which holds that the psychic apparatus seeks to avoid excitation or keep it at a minimum. The pleasure principle refers to a tendency on the part of the psychic apparatus to operate in a way to achieve pleasure and avoid its opposite; the constancy principle refers to economics and deals with quantities of excitation. Freud believed there was a correlation between the two principles, unpleasure coinciding with a rise in quantity of excitation, and vice versa. The phenomenon of forepleasure, where there is both an increase in excitation and in pleasure, posed a problem for Freud but he held to this principle. Needles believes there are many situations in life in which an individual strives for stimulation without discharge. The exquisite pleasure in orgasm is due to sensory stimulation of the urethral mucosa by ejaculation, and is contrary to the constancy principle. Needles cited Schneirla's research which demonstrated that in all organisms, at an early ontogenetic stage of development, low intensity stimulations evoke approach reactions and high intensity evokes withdrawal.

The author believes that the constancy principle pertains to the id and not to the psychic apparatus as a whole; the ego has been excluded from consideration. But the ego plays a role and other stimuli (visual, tactile) produce pleasurable excitation. Dr. Needles emphasized the presence of ego activities in perception, memory, and the capacity to produce an image. The id can produce pleasure only by discharge; in the ego pleasure may come from certain excitations. An addendum to the constancy principle could be that the psychic apparatus tends to re-create a situation of pleasure that is equated with certain modes of excitation.