According to Sigmund Freud's psychodynamic theory of personality, the mind consists of three basic parts: the id, superego and ego. The id is the unconscious part of the mind that is driven by the "pleasure principle," or the desire for immediate gratification of our urges (Stangor, 2011, p. 339). The superego is the part of the mind that tells us what we should or should not do. The ego is "the largely conscious controller or decision-maker of personality" (Stangor, 2011, p. 339).
One of the times when I felt these competing forces was when I had an afterschool job working in a coffee shop. A coworker had cleaned up one of the shelves in the back room without being asked and then she went home for the day. About an hour later, the boss came in and assumed that I was the one who had cleaned the shelf. My id wanted to receive the praise but my superego told me that it would be wrong to be praised for someone else's work. Also, my superego reminded me that the boss might learn the truth later and then I would look foolish. The conflict was resolved when my ego decided that I should tell the boss the truth. Thus, my id did not win in this case. I think my knowledge of the conflicts between id, superego and ego will be useful in my work as a psychologist specializing in child development. For example, if I see a child hit another child, I can understand the situation in terms of the child's ego and superego not being developed enough to stop the aggressive drives within his id.
In my opinion, Freud was correct in his view on the importance of the unconscious in causing us to do what we do. I also agree that there are certain "animalistic" drives within our personality, which we gradually learn to control. However, I also believe that people are more than animals. There is more to life than the sexual and aggressive urges that Freud identified. As argued by Abraham Maslow, people are also motivated by "higher needs," s...