Sigmund Freud's Theory: Superego

According to Freud's theory, superego is the third and last element of  personality. Superego means "above I" which can be interpreted as "above self". The superego consists of morals and values which have been learned from society and family. The superego can give the feelings of guilt when one has done something morally wrong (the conscious). The superego can also give the feeling of pride and accomplishment when one has done something right (ego ideal). The superego tries to the person's behaviors to stay as civilize as possible. It attempts to resist the id's unacceptable urges. It also attempts to make the ego follow idealistic standards rather than realistic principles. The superego is in  a person's conscious, preconscious, and unconscious. I believe the superego is like a trainer or a teacher. It tries to teach teach the ego and id how to behave themselves. Without the superego, we would not be a civilized society. The ego would just do whatever the id commands it to do. It does not know what is right or wrong unlike the superego.

The superego's way of viewing compares to id
and ego is described well in the picture.

Sigmund Freud's Theory: Ego

Based on Freud's theory, the ego is the second of the three elements of personality. Ego is Latin for the term "I" which can be understood as being "self". According to Freud, the ego is a part of the id. However, the ego looks more at the reality. The ego attempts to accomplish what the id desires by taking a realistic approach. Sometimes, this could mean delaying the task for an appropriate time and place instead of doing it immediately. This is called the reality principle. Other times, the ego has to follow a secondary process in which the ego attempts to find an object in the real world that satisfies the mental image that was originally created by the id's primary process. Yet, the ego does not have the concept of what is right or wrong. The ego believes what it has done is good as long as the id and the ego are not harmed. To describe how the id and ego work together Freud had thought of the analogy of a horse and it's rider. This analogy is further described in a quote spoken by Freud below.  To be honest, I sometimes believe that the ego is like a more mature id. The id gets what it wants, however in more realistic terms. It's sort of like the id becomes a tame beast when the concept of ego is added.

The id is represented by the horse. While, the ego is
represented by the horse's rider.

Sigmund Freud's Personality Theory: Id

In Freud's theory, the id is the first of the three elements of personality. It is the personality of a newborn child. Ego and superego are developed later on. Id is the Latin word for the word "it". The id is basically instinct. It is impulsive and unconscious. The id goes according to its pleasure principles. Pleasure principles basically are avoiding painful things and aiming towards pleasurable things. The id wants its desires to be fulfilled immediately regardless of what the consequences may be. The desires aim to fulfill biological urges such as hunger. Sometimes to relieve the tension that can be caused by not fulfilling the pleasure principle, the id forms a mental picture of  the thing it wants in order to satisfy its need at that time. I believe in this theory strongly. Everyone has this instinct when they were younger. Based on my observations in the world, I believe that the id part of the human personality stays dominant until the person is around the ages of five and seven. As a person grow's up, they're able to control it more.

The id represents instinct. The id will do anything to reach what it aims for.

Sigmund Freud's Theory: A Preview

I've decided to do more research regarding Sigmund Freud, because Freud was close friends with Carl Jung. Then, later on, they had different views on personality in which their friendship slowly grew apart. I want to learn more regarding how Freud's views may have influenced Jung's theory. Hopefully, by researching more about Freud, I will reach a conclusion. For my next posts, I hope to cover the topics of id, ego and superego which were a part of Freud's theory. Freud had believed that these three parts make up the human personality which come together to make intricate human behaviors. I will continue to explain more in my upcoming posts.

A basic summary of this part of Freud's theory