The Meaning of Behaviour

On Dreams and Motivation: Comparison of Freud’s and Hobson’s Views

“…For this reason, “[a]ll behavior, with the possible exception of simple reflex actions, requires motivation” (Sewards and Sewards, 2003, p. 25) and thus motivation is a necessary consideration for any explanation of what we do 1 . While psychoanalytic theories of motivation are diverse (see Boag, 2017), the Freudian position developed here proposes a physiologically based theory of motivation which is consistent with a Darwinian evolutionary perspective and comprehensible within a natural science framework (see Maze, 1983). One way of appreciating Freudian motivation theory is with respect to desires and beliefs.…”

“…An act of drinking, for instance, is explicable with respect to both a desire to drink and a belief that water will satisfy that desire (Wollheim, 1991). Beliefs, however, while necessary, are not sufficient for explaining behavior since they are policy neutral and cannot explain why one person acts upon the belief and why another person does not (e.g., Maze, 1983, 1987; Michell, 1988; Mackay, 1996; Boag, 2012, 2016). The same belief may or may not be acted upon, depending upon what one desires (Maze, 1987), and so cognition alone cannot be the driver of action (see Boag, 2012, 2017, for further discussion).…”

“…While psychological acts themselves may be causally efficacious, using desires as explanations of actions conflates causes and effects since there is no clear distinction between the desire (as explanans ) and the behavior (as explanandum ) ( viz . if we try to explain S doing p by postulating a ‘desire for p ’ then the effect is logically connected to the cause and thus cause and effect are conflated with one another, and so no real explanation is provided—Maze, 1983, pp. 24–25).…”

“…24–25). Instead, causes and effects must be logically distinct to avoid the circularity associated with explaining the effect in terms of itself (see Maze, 1983; Boag, 2011, 2015b). Since a ‘desire for x ’ describes a relationship (what the person is doing, viz .…”

“…In Freud’s view, all mental activity—including dreaming—is motivated by endogenous stimuli ( Triebe , or the ‘drives’—Freud, 1905, 1915). Such motivational drives are the somatic engines that provide the motivational policy of cognition with respect to the urgency and content of desires, fantasy, and affective states (Maze, 1983). At the same time, Freud further recognizes that sleep is biologically necessary and he postulates that dreams serve the function of acting as the guardians of sleep: when a drive state arises during the night and threatens to interrupt sleep, the dreamt hallucinatory experience of satisfaction allows sleep to continue.…”