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Conscious Mind

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composed of three elements together with the Conscious mind itself. These three elements of the subconscious are known as the Id, the Ego and the Superego, all developing at different stages of our life and all working together with the Conscious mind to create complex human behaviours. The Superego plays the critical moralizing role. The Ego is the organised, realistic part, mediating between the desires of the Id and the Superego. The Superego can stop a person from doing certain things that the Id may want to do. All three elements interact in ways that have a powerful influence on each individual contributing to each persons own unique personality. The Id is governed by the pleasure principle. It is the most primitive part of the …show more content…

According to Freud, the Ego ensures that the impulses of the Id can be expressed in an acceptable manner – it is the reality check, striving to satisfy desires of the Id in socially realistic and appropriate ways. For example, if stuck in a very long meeting, a feeling of increasing hunger may tempt you to rush out of the room to find something to eat! The Ego realistically encourages you to wait, maybe imagining what you will eat once the meeting is over when you can satisfy the demands of the Id in an appropriate and realistic manner. Freud compared the Id to a horse with the Ego as the rider. The horse provides motion and power, the rider provides guidance and direction. The Superego is the morality principle. It holds all of our internalized ideals and moral standards that we acquire from parents, authority figures and society. It is our sense of right and wrong, providing guidelines for making judgements. Freud states that the Superego begins to emerge at around the age of three. The Superego acts to suppress any unacceptable urges of the Id and struggles to make the Ego act upon idealistic standards rather than upon unrealistic principles. These three aspects of the personality – the Id, the Ego and the Superego do not operate independently. They are unconscious forces operating under the surface of the thinking and logical Conscious, always interacting within a person thus influencing their overall behaviour and

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