This approach sees human nature as being deterministic. In other words, the behavior of people is determined by irrational forces, unconscious motivations, biological and instinctual drives, and certain psychosexual events during the first six years of life determine who and what they are. In psychoanalytic therapy the life instincts of the client (known as Eros) play a central role in analysis...

In the face of contradictory information, people must rely on their instincts as much as the facts to size up potential threats.