drive

1. In psychoanalysis, a basic compelling urge. 2. In psychology, classified as either innate ( e.g., hunger) or learned ( e.g., hoarding) and appetitive ( e.g., hunger, thirst, sex) or aversive ( e.g., fear, pain, grief). SEE ALSO: motive, motivation.

- acquired drives SYN: secondary drives.

- exploratory d. the d. typical of toddlers and some animals to investigate the unfamiliar or unknown.

- learned d. SYN: motive (1).

- meiotic d. differential fitness in males and females.

- physiological drives those drives such as hunger and thirst which stem from the biological needs of an organism. SYN: primary drives.

- primary drives SYN: physiological drives.

- secondary drives those drives not directly related to biological needs; a secondary d. can be learned as an offshoot of a primary d., in which case it is often referred to as a motive. SYN: acquired drives.

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drive 'drīv n

1) an urgent, basic, or instinctual need: a motivating physiological condition of the organism <a sexual \drive>

2) an impelling culturally acquired concern, interest, or longing <a \drive for perfection>

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(drīv) 1. the force which activates human impulses. 2. to activate or cause to move.