Secondary Autonomy
Quoting Blanck and Blanck
"As thought processes develop, involving delay of drive discharge,
intelligence serves the ego by aiding the organization of percepts
and memory traces, making meaningful action possible. This organization
of the inner world -- the world of internalizations -- is the
very process of structuralization. As this proceeds, certain forms
of behavior change in function. A process, which had originated
as a defense -- for example, the essential mechanism of reaction
formation in toilet training -- acquires adaptive autonomy when
the purpose changes to maintenance of hygienic habits and orderliness.
With change in function, the activity becomes pleasurable in its
own right; whereas when it is still in its archaic defensive form
it counteracts pleasure. The end result of change in function
is attainment of secondary autonomy. (The Pearl Beyond Price,
pg 135)
