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Psychoanalytic theory has had a long-standing interest in the integrative functions of the ego (e.g., Blanck & Blanck, 1974, 1979; Erikson, 1963; Hartmann, 1958; Nunberg, 1931; Rapaport, 1951). The transformation of instinctual drives into higher-order structures whose aims and objects are derived from the instincts, but which satisfy them only indirectly, is amply recognized. The mechanism believed responsible for these transformations is sublimation. Examples of sublimated structures include the transformation of oral drives into an interest in gourmet cooking, the transformation of anal messiness into a pleasure in molding clay sculptures, and the transformation of sexual curiosity into curiosity about other people and the world at large.
With development, sublimated structures become both increasingly removed from the drives and increasingly efficient at gratifying them indirectly. They expand to include a wider array of objects and they become more attuned to specific stimulus characteristics of these objects. They become more flexible, selective, stable, and cohesive. Thus, the interest in gourmet cooking can become transformed into a more generalized hunger for knowledge, encompassing increasingly abstract subjects such as mathematics and physics. The interest in clay sculpture can develop to include a generalized creative impulse toward a wide array of artistic expressions, including “clean” outlets such as knitting, sewing, and weaving. Curiosity about people and the world can lead to advanced scientific accomplishments.
Despite psychoanalytic recognition of such higher-order, integrated structures, a body of theory has not developed that identifies