Frued Id, Ego Superego

Personality & The Id, Ego & Superego

Sigmund Freud had many disciples with regard to his theories of human development, among them no illustrious psychoanalytic theorists than Alfred Adler and Karl Jung. Also among his disciples in her early career was Karen Horney. Freud's theory of psychological development is closely aligned with sexuality and is based on instinctual rather than emotional conflicts from interpersonal relationships. Freud believed neuroses developed from the unsuccessful resolution of his psychosexual stages of development, particularly the Oedipus conflict. Freud saw human personality or the mind as being composed of three distinct but simultaneously acting and working dimensions: id; ego; superego. This analysis will examine the theories of personality formation developed by Freud, particularly where his separation of the mind into the id, ego and superego are concerned.

Freud's theory of childhood development and later adult personality and function are rooted in his concept that development progresses from the unconscious, irrational, and pleasure-seeking self to the more conscious, rational and reality-seeking self. In comparison with contrasting views that neuroses later in life are not based solely on instinctual drives, Freud's framework definitely rests solely on the instinctual and not the cultural or social influences of the individual. Freud saw human personality or the mind as being compos

Related Essays

EVOLUTION OF PSYCHOLOGY Introduction Present .... Adler challenged Frued's pleasure principle and stated that human beings strive toward power .... He stated that Freud's ...., Super-...., and Id were not of .... (3533 14 )

KARL POPPER .... Freud's ...., Super-...., and Id were not .... This theory was in opposition to current psychologists Frued and Adler, who believed that their theories were .... (1413 6 )

regret having personified the ego, and established it as a separate being. It feels hemmed in on three sides and threatened by three kinds of danger, towards which it reacts by developing anxiety when it is too hard pressed" (Freud, 1998: 3). Taking away this checks and balances mechanism has the potential of making the ego too vulnerable to the powerful influences of the id or super-ego, either one of which can by itself prompt the ego (conscious mind) to act in a self-destructive manner. It is little wonder that the taxing demands on the ego often create a high degree of psychic stress and anxiety, "In this way, goaded on by the id, hemmed in by the super-ego, and rebuffed by reality, the ego struggles to cope with its economic task of reducing the forces and influences which work in it and upon it to some kind of harmony; and we may well understand how it is that we so often cannot repress the cry: �Life is not easy.' When the ego is forced to acknowledge its weakness, it breaks out into anxiety: reality anxiety in face of the external world, normal anxiety in face of the super-ego, and neurotic anxiety in face of the strength of the passions of the id" (Freud, 1998: 4). The ego can be strengthened via the individual

Category: Psychology - F