What term refers to the drive that propels a person's behavior and psychological functioning?

• A. Superego
• B. Resistance
• C. Psychic energy
• D. Symbiosis

Answer: (C)

In Freudian theory, psychic energy is the life force that motivates all behavior and mental activity. This energy, often called libido, drives the urges of the id and is managed by the ego within the constraints of the superego. It explains why people act, think, and pursue goals, and how fantasies and conflicts arise as energy moves through the psyche. When this energy is redirected or blocked, defenses or symptoms can emerge.

The other terms aren’t about what motivates behavior: the superego is the internal moral conscience, resistance is a defense that blocks awareness in therapy, and symbiosis describes a mutual relationship, not a driving force of motivation.