Sublimation - Psychology Definition For sublimation psychology offers a definition that relates to human urges and behaviors. At some time in their lives, virtually everyone has urges and desires that are socially unacceptable or problematic in other ways. Sublimation is a psychological defense mechanism that an individual may use to channel those unacceptable feelings and urges into something harmless and possibly even productive and beneficial. Sublimation has been a useful component of understanding behavior in social psychology interpersonal psychoanalysis, Freud’s Idea Of Sublimation In sublimation, Sigmund Freud believed that energy was derived from the desires of the id, particul