Primary Process

Primary process is Sigmund Freud‘s expression for the psychological mechanism that prompts us to seek immediate fulfillment of our wishes and desires. The primary processes, associated with the id, are dominated by what Freud referred to as the pleasure principle. The contrasting term is secondary process, a mechanism dominated by the reality principle. In a normal adult, the secondary processes regulate the primary processes so that one does not immediately act upon every urge that comes to mind. The primary processes are called primary because they characterize the psychology of infants, who have no grasp of such secondary process notions as delayed gratification. Freud’s understanding of dreams was that they represent fulfillment of desires normally controlled and repressed by our waking consciousness. Dreams are thus the product of primary processes and provide us with direct access to the functioning of the unconscious mind.