ABSTRACT
The so-called seething cauldron of the Unconscious contains those sexual and aggressive wishes that have been dominant in the first years of life and have subsequently become unacceptable to the more organized parts of the apparatus. In the topographical frame of reference the Preconscious lies between the Unconscious and Conscious systems. In general, a derivative of an instinctual wish may be conscious or unconscious, depending on its topographical location in the apparatus. The Preconscious is thought to develop gradually as a consequence of the psychological interaction between instinctual wishes and impulses, on the one hand, and the external world, on the other. In the work of the Preconscious, a great deal of integration and synthesis occurs. The reality principle plays a major part in the operation of the "second censorship" between the Preconscious and the Conscious, but it can be considered to be a dominant "principle" in the functioning of the Preconscious as a whole.
