death instinct

death instinct
death instinct n an innate and unconscious tendency toward self-destruction postulated in psychoanalytic theory to explain aggressive and destructive behavior not satisfactorily explained by the pleasure principle called also Thanatos compare EROS

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Freud's concept of an unconscious drive toward dissolution and death, in opposition to the life instinct.

Medical dictionary. 2011.

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  • death instinct — n. Psychoanalysis the destructive or aggressive instinct, based on a compulsion to return to an earlier harmonious state and, ultimately, to nonexistence …   English World dictionary

  • death instinct — death′ in stinct n. 1) psi Psychoanal. an impulse to withdraw or destroy, working in opposition to forces urging survival and creation (life instinct). 2) suicidal tendency or inclination • Etymology: 1915–20 …   From formal English to slang

  • death instinct — 1. suicidal tendency or inclination; predisposition to self destruction. 2. Psychoanal. an impulse to withdraw or destroy, working in opposition to forces urging survival and creation (life instinct). [1915 20] * * * …   Universalium

  • death instinct — noun (psychoanalysis) an unconscious urge to die • Syn: ↑death wish, ↑Thanatos • Topics: ↑psychoanalysis, ↑analysis, ↑depth psychology • Hypernyms: ↑ …   Useful english dictionary

  • death instinct — noun Date: 1922 an innate and unconscious tendency toward self destruction postulated in psychoanalytic theory to explain aggressive and destructive behavior not satisfactorily explained by the pleasure principle called also Thanatos compare Eros …   New Collegiate Dictionary

  • Instinct — is the inherent disposition of a living organism toward a particular behavior. Instincts are unlearned, inherited fixed action patterns of responses or reactions to certain kinds of stimuli. Examples of instinctual fixed action patterns can be… …   Wikipedia

  • instinct — [in′stiŋkt΄; ] for adj. [ in stiŋkt′, in′stiŋkt΄] n. [< L instinctus, pp. of instinguere, to impel, instigate < in , in + * stinguere, to prick: for IE base see STICK] 1. (an) inborn tendency to behave in a way characteristic of a species;… …   English World dictionary

  • Death drive — Part of a series of articles on Psychoanalysis …   Wikipedia

  • death —    by Bruce Baugh   Death is many things: a state of affairs, when a body s parts, through external causes, enter into a relation that is incompatible with that body s continued existence; an impersonal event of dying, expressed through an… …   The Deleuze dictionary

  • death —    by Bruce Baugh   Death is many things: a state of affairs, when a body s parts, through external causes, enter into a relation that is incompatible with that body s continued existence; an impersonal event of dying, expressed through an… …   The Deleuze dictionary

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