The Primary Processes: A Preliminary Exploration of A-Rational Mentation from an Evolutionary Viewpoint

In this article we investigate research on nonhuman animal cognition revealing the predominance of primary processes-like operations that are effective and adaptive from an evolutionary perspective. But first and from a different direction, we review a body of recently popular empirical work on human heuristics and biases that proposes System 1 and System 2 as a dual-process model of cognition and emotion; this without acknowledging Freud’s primary and secondary processes. Thus, we explore the parallels between primary process and System 1, as we evaluate the case for the evolutionary nature of primary process. We guide the reader through literature on animal cognition and that of System 1 biases and heuristics to provide the psychoanalytic reader with the opportunity to make important links to psychoanalytic concepts.