cathexis

cathexis \kuh-THEK-sis\, noun:

1. Psychoanalysis. the investment of emotional significance in an activity, object, or idea.
2. Psychoanalysis. the charge of psychic energy so invested.

She remembered so clearly the surprise of that first cathexis with Earth across the light-years…
-- Ian Watson, Very Slow Time Machine, 1979

Now our primary libidinal cathexis is with machines. Cars, power tools, computers, Kitchen Aids, audiophile equipment.
-- Curtis White, Requiem, 2001

Cathexis ultimately comes from the Proto-Indo-European root segh- meaning "to hold." It entered English in the 1920s.