reality principle

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun In psychoanalysis, the satisfaction of instinctual needs through awareness of and adjustment to environmental demands.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun (psychoanalysis) the governing principle of the ego; the principle that as a child grows it becomes aware of the real environment and the need to accommodate to it