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 composed of three distinct but simultaneously acting and working dimensions: id; ego; superego. Freud’s theory postulates that the complex interrelationship between these three dimensions is what allows an individual to evolve from the pleasure-seeking, instinctual self (the id) to the reality-seeking, integrated self (the ego). As Freud (1998: 4) himself put this developmental process into a nut-shell, “Where id was, there ego shall be.”
The id is the dimension of the personality that is pure...