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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