Sublimation (Psychology)

In psychology, sublimation is a mature type of defense mechanism in which socially unacceptable impulses or idealizations are transformed into socially acceptable actions or behavior, at times resulting in a long-term conversion of the initial impulse. Sigmund Freud regarded sublimation as a sign of maturity and civilization, defining it as the process of deflecting sexual instincts into acts of higher social valuation, and considered it what makes it possible for higher psychical activities, such as scientific, artistic or ideological pursuits, to play so important a part in civilized life. Later psychology textbooks describe sublimation similarly, as the translation of a distressing desire into an acceptable form, occurring when the transformation of sexual or aggressive energies serves a higher cultural or socially useful purpose, as in the creation of art or inventions.