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.