Mental Energy
Mental or
psyche energy or activity is the concept of a principle of activity powering the
operation of the mind or psyche. Many modern psychologists or neuroscientists
would equate it with increased metabolism in neurons of the
brain.
Philosophical accounts
The idea
harks back to Aristotle's conception of actus et potentia. "Energy" here used in
the literal meaning of "activity" or "operation". Henry More in his 1642
Psychodia platonica; or a platonicall song of the soul defined an "energy of the
soul" as including every phantasm of the soul. Julian Sorell Huxley defines
"mental energy" as "the driving forces of the psyche, emotional as well as
intellectual" (On living in a revolution xv.192, 1944).
Psychoanalytic accounts
In The Ego
and the Id, Freud argued that the id was the source of the personality's
desires, and therefore of the psychic energy that powered the mind. Freud
defined libido as the instinct energy or force. Freud later added the death
drive (also contained in the id) as a second source of mental
energy.
In 1928,
Carl Jung published a seminal essay entitled "On Psychic Energy". Later, the
theory of psychodynamics and the concept of "psychic energy" was developed
further by those such as Alfred Adler and Melanie
Klein.
Just as
physical energy acts upon physical objects, psychological energy would act upon
psychological entities, i.e. thoughts. Psychological energy and force are the
basis of an attempt to formulate a scientific theory according to which
psychological phenomena would be subject to precise laws akin to how physical
objects are subject to Newton's laws. This concept of psychological energy is
completely separate and distinct from (or even opposed to) the mystical eastern
concept of spiritual energy.
In 1874, the
concept of "psychodynamics" was proposed with the publication of Lectures on
Physiology by German physiologist Ernst Wilhelm von Brücke who, in coordination
with physicist Hermann von Helmholtz, one of the formulators of the first law of
thermodynamics (conservation of energy), supposed that all living organisms are
energy-systems also governed by this principle. During this year, at the
University of Vienna, Brücke served as supervisor for first-year medical student
Sigmund Freud who adopted this new "dynamic" physiology. In his Lectures on
Physiology, Brücke set forth the then-radical view that the living organism is a
dynamic system to which the laws of chemistry and physics
apply.
The origins
of Freud's basic model, based on the fundamentals of chemistry and physics,
according to John Bowlby, stems from Brücke, Meynert, Breuer, Helmholtz, and
Herbart.
Neuroscientific accounts
Mental
energy has been repeatedly compared to or connected with the physical quantity
energy.
Studies of
the 1990s to 2000s (and earlier) have found that mental effort can be measured
in terms of increased metabolism in the brain. The modern neuroscientific view
is that brain metabolism, measured by functional magnetic resonance imaging or
positron emission tomography is a physical correlate of mental
activity.
psyche energy or activity is the concept of a principle of activity powering the
operation of the mind or psyche. Many modern psychologists or neuroscientists
would equate it with increased metabolism in neurons of the
brain.
Philosophical accounts
The idea
harks back to Aristotle's conception of actus et potentia. "Energy" here used in
the literal meaning of "activity" or "operation". Henry More in his 1642
Psychodia platonica; or a platonicall song of the soul defined an "energy of the
soul" as including every phantasm of the soul. Julian Sorell Huxley defines
"mental energy" as "the driving forces of the psyche, emotional as well as
intellectual" (On living in a revolution xv.192, 1944).
Psychoanalytic accounts
In The Ego
and the Id, Freud argued that the id was the source of the personality's
desires, and therefore of the psychic energy that powered the mind. Freud
defined libido as the instinct energy or force. Freud later added the death
drive (also contained in the id) as a second source of mental
energy.
In 1928,
Carl Jung published a seminal essay entitled "On Psychic Energy". Later, the
theory of psychodynamics and the concept of "psychic energy" was developed
further by those such as Alfred Adler and Melanie
Klein.
Just as
physical energy acts upon physical objects, psychological energy would act upon
psychological entities, i.e. thoughts. Psychological energy and force are the
basis of an attempt to formulate a scientific theory according to which
psychological phenomena would be subject to precise laws akin to how physical
objects are subject to Newton's laws. This concept of psychological energy is
completely separate and distinct from (or even opposed to) the mystical eastern
concept of spiritual energy.
In 1874, the
concept of "psychodynamics" was proposed with the publication of Lectures on
Physiology by German physiologist Ernst Wilhelm von Brücke who, in coordination
with physicist Hermann von Helmholtz, one of the formulators of the first law of
thermodynamics (conservation of energy), supposed that all living organisms are
energy-systems also governed by this principle. During this year, at the
University of Vienna, Brücke served as supervisor for first-year medical student
Sigmund Freud who adopted this new "dynamic" physiology. In his Lectures on
Physiology, Brücke set forth the then-radical view that the living organism is a
dynamic system to which the laws of chemistry and physics
apply.
The origins
of Freud's basic model, based on the fundamentals of chemistry and physics,
according to John Bowlby, stems from Brücke, Meynert, Breuer, Helmholtz, and
Herbart.
Neuroscientific accounts
Mental
energy has been repeatedly compared to or connected with the physical quantity
energy.
Studies of
the 1990s to 2000s (and earlier) have found that mental effort can be measured
in terms of increased metabolism in the brain. The modern neuroscientific view
is that brain metabolism, measured by functional magnetic resonance imaging or
positron emission tomography is a physical correlate of mental
activity.
