Superego Of Sigmund Freud

Sigmund Freud, an Austrian neurologist, constructed a theory in which a person's mind is separate into 3 parts which Aldous Huxley took advantage of and used it in his novel Brave New World: id, superego, and ego. These three parts, according to Freud, come together and create one’s personality and behavior. In Freud’s theory, the id is the innermost, unconscious aggressive and sexual desires and ideas; also, the id tries to fulfill those urges, and it provides the energy that is needed to manage one’s personality. On the other hand, the superego is the complete opposite from the I.d. The superego, the last part to be developed in one’s personality, is responsible for sensing right from wrong in someone's conscious and unconscious state. The

Born in 1856, Sigmund Freud was an Austrian neurologist that studied psychology. Since 1939, he has been addressed as the founder of psychoanalysis. The Freudian Id is breaking up the human psyche into the id, the ego, and the superego. If one were to divide each aspect of the Minotaur into the parts of the Freudian psyche, they might notice that the id is represented by the Minotaur’s head, the ego is represented by the aristocratic King Minos and lastly, the super ego which is represented by the labyrinth.

The id is the unconscious part of our mind that "contains our secret desires, darkest wishes, (and) intense fears" ("Psychoanalytic Criticism" 2). The id is entirely irrational and serves only to fulfill urges and wishes that the person most desires. The superego is also unconscious and is driven by the morality principal. It "represents the demands of morality and of society" (Mullahay 39). The superego urges us to do what will be accepted by our peers and by society. It can be compared to our conscious in the sense that it drives us to do what is right so that we won’t feel guilt or remorse. The third part to the trio is the ego, which is based solely on logic and rationality, and is part of the conscious mind. The ego "represents reason and sanity" and makes sensible and logical decisions even though these decisions may not fulfill all of our desires (Mullahay 36). "The ego (can be called) the battleground for forces of the superego and id" in that it "regulates (the) id and comes to terms with (the) superego" ("Psychoanalytic Criticism" 2).

The unconscious contains the instincts, those driving force for all human behavior. In Freud’s later writing he revised the conscious- unconscious distinction and came up with the id, ego and superego. The id is the unconscious, the least accessible part of the personality. The id includes the sex and aggressive instincts. Freud wrote, “We call it…a cauldron full of seething excitations. [The id] knows no judgments of value, no good and evil, no morality” (Freud, 1933, p 74). The id seeks immediate satisfaction without regard for the circumstances of reality. The id operates under the pleasure-seeking principal. For example, a newborn’s mind consists only of the id, which is responsible for the satisfaction of physical desires. The id, represents a human being’s most primitive desires, and a person ruled only by the id would do everything strictly for his or her own pleasure, breaking societal norms in the process and risking punishment. (SparkNotes, 2007)

Freud strategized that the personality was composed of three elements; the id, ego, and superego. The id is the component of personality that is present from birth, and is exclusively unconscious. “According to Freud, the id is the source of all psychic energy, making it the primary component of personality” (Cherry,1). On the other hand, the ego is the element of the personality that is responsible with reality. “According to Freud, the ego develops from the id and ensures that the impulses of the id can be expressed in a manner acceptable in the real world” (Cherry, 1). It

Freud Sigmund, based on his study of the psychosexual development, came up with the Structural Model which refers to the three parts of a person’s personality. These parts are known as the Id, Ego and Superego. He believes that by the time of the birth, a newborn, has already the Id which is the pleasure-seeker portion of our personality and through that we are able to know and get our basic needs satisfied. (Sarah Mae Sincero (Jun 15, 2012). Psychodynamic Theories of Personality ,Retrieved Aug 03, 2015 from

According to Freud, the id is unconscious, made up of instinctive drives or libidinal, subject to social interferences and driven by the pleasure principle. Therefore, id is fully and permanently unconscious. The ego is on the other hand, governed by reality principle where we adopt to our environment, natural and cultural world. It is sort of a defense mechanism that stores in unconscious state. The superego is again largely unconscious; it is a source of guilt or it is best described as conscience, acts as a moralizer, and constantly evolves with culture and community.

One of the many theories Freud developed is the theory of the mind. His theory explains the drives and motives of the mind. Freud came up with the idea that the mind was made up of three major sectors that all portrayed different drives: the id, ego, and superego (Snowden 104). At birth, the id is the sole personality that is developed; it consists of sexual and aggressive urges. The main purpose of the id is to seek pleasure, which is whatever will satisfy a person in a

One major portion of Sigmund Freud’s perspective on psychology involves the personality structure of the id, ego, and

Freud’s structural and topographical model of personality, revolves around the id, ego and superego (McLeod, 2008). As a newborn, I was born with my id which allowed me to get my basic needs met. As an infant, I would cry if I was hungry or tired or just wanted to be held, I did not think of anyone else. The second part of my personality started around when I was three years old, and according to Freud this is when I began to develop my ego. An example of this would be if I was hungry I would want to satisfy my id, but at the

In relation to Freud’s theory the Id is “ functions in the irrational and emotional part of the mind. At birth a baby’s mind is all Id - want want want. The Id is the

Freud described humans as having three essential components that built personality. The three components were the id, the ego, and the superego. He described the id, as being what governed an infant’s drive to overcome their primitive biological desires. According to his theory infants had no other goal than to release the tension that built up when their

Sigmund Freud created strong theories in science and medicine that are still studied today. Freud was a neurologist who proposed many distinctive theories in psychiatry, all based upon the method of psychoanalysis. Some of his key concepts include the ego/superego/id, free association, trauma/fantasy, dream interpretation, and jokes and the unconscious. “Freud remained a determinist throughout his life, believing that all vital phenomena, including psychological phenomena like thoughts, feelings and phantasies, are rigidly determined by the principle of cause and effect” (Storr, 1989, p. 2). Through the discussion of those central concepts, Freud’s theory of psychoanalysis becomes clear as to how he construed human character.

One advantage of Freud’s concept of the ego, id and superego in relation to understanding human development and individual behaviour is that it gives a good overall description of development of the human psyche. It recognises the

It is essential to assess human psyche or personality as an identity or the totality of a person, with an approach from Sigmund Freud of psychoanalysis theory, the id, ego and super-ego (McLeod, 2007), which develops at every stages of human’s life, irrespective of age, sex and status. Those three structures motivate a person’s actions, a spontaneous reaction, a voluntary or involuntary action, all these can be termed to what Sigmund