However, no matter how much of the theory has kind of been reduced to crap, he still managed to invent the long-standing idea of the unconscious.Id, ego and super-ego are the three parts of the psychic apparatus defined in Sigmund Freud's structural model of the psyche they are the three theoretical constructs in terms of whose activity and interaction mental life is described. In fact, there are people who still fully endorse the whole theory.
For the most part, the theory has been debunked because there was no substantial evidence to support his claims, although they can seem pretty believable. If someone exhibited behavior that was either consistently too Id-like or Superego-like, Freud would have diagnosed the person as suffering from some kind of mental disorder because of a maladapted Ego. Your Ego, however, would compromise between the two and allow you to go to your classes, do a little homework and studying in between, go home and take a short nap before work, and oh yeah-eat. Your Superego would probably bombard you with feelings of shame and promises of never-ending failure if you don’t wake up 2 hours earlier to review material before class, study in between classes, get all your homework done before work, go to work early, and get back home to study more and do the bulk of a paper due next month before the next day. Your Id would tell you to put the alarm off, stay in bed, sleep and eat all day, and skip work. To apply that to real life, imagine that you have a very early class on a rather rainy day, along with about three other classes and work later on. In fact, the very best analogy I can think of is a parent who is so completely concerned with perfection for their child that not even the most reasonable extrinsic factor resulting in anything less would be an acceptable excuse.Īnd now that we understand the Superego, let’s get back to the Ego as a barrier between it and the Id: Suppose the Superego and the Id are at two extremes with the Ego as a wall in the middle, and animalistic instincts from the Id and unreasonable strivings for perfection from the Superego are continuously trying to break through the logical and reasonable Ego. It contains values and morals learned from society and parents that have been internalized. Now, the best way I can describe the Superego is as your conscience, but only kind of on steroids. And here is where it can get a bit confusing: The Ego is meant to act as a mediating barrier between the Id and the Superego.
The Ego represents the bulk of our personality and the part of the mind involved in reasoning and daily decision-making. The Ego, along with the Superego, is described by Freud as being preconscious, meaning they are both partly unconscious, but they contain elements of the mind that can be recalled and utilized. Lastly-though certainly not least important-is that the Id is unconscious, meaning we would have no voluntary access to or control of it, though it is what drives us to do most things. Impulses from the Id are usually toward instant gratification of basic needs, much like how we understand a baby or a toddler might behave when they start crying because they’re hungry.
Our thoughts and actions are influenced greatly by our personality, and knowing this, Freud developed the theory of the Id, Ego, and Superego to explain the relationship between personality, thought, and action.įreud explained the Id to be the most basic component of our minds, containing our most primal thoughts and instincts which are largely motivated by sex or aggression. (To be clear, that’s not what going to a psychologist is like.)Īnyway, Freud is so interesting because he is the first person to acknowledge the theory of the “unconscious mind.” Prior to him, people couldn’t even imagine the idea of some hidden substance that lies beyond the thought processes and behaviors which we are aware of. It’s very likely that you have-and it’s also even more likely that for those of you who aren’t studying or haven’t studied psychology, he’s responsible for most of your ideas about the stereotypical psychologist: Some old man with a beard glasses, and a notepad, asking you to tell him what you see in some inky blob of a picture and then proceeding to tell you everything that’s wrong with you based on your answer. Figuratively raise your hand if you’ve ever heard of someone named Freud!
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