According to Freud, each of us is born with a(n)

• A. desire to die and return to the earth.
• B. desire to live and reproduce.
• C. need to acquire possessions.
• D. urge to seek social approval.

Answer: (A)

Freud proposed two basic instincts guiding human behavior: life (Eros) and death (Thanatos). The life instinct drives growth, pleasure, and reproduction, while the death instinct reflects an innate push toward aggression, self-destruction, and a return to an inorganic state. From birth, these forces exist in tension, with the death drive manifesting as a natural impulse toward dissolution that Freud argued can be expressed in various ways, including aggression or risk-taking when life instincts are not adequately redirected. So the statement that we are born with a desire to die and return to the earth aligns with this death-instinct idea. The other options describe aspects of the life instinct or motivations not central to this Freudian framework (living and reproducing; acquiring possessions; seeking social approval).