In classical psychoanalysis, the process whereby
primitive,libidinous impulses and aggressive drives are redirected and refined
into new, learned, "noninstinctive" behaviors. Typically, the term is used with
the understanding that the learned behaviors are socially acceptable whereas the
deep, primitive impulses would not be. Freudian theory regards creative and
artistic tendencies as manifestations of sublimation. Also generally, and more
loosely, any redirection of energy from the socially unacceptable to the
acceptable.