Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalytic theory describes personality in terms of the interactions between the id, ego, and superego. According to Freud, the id is the primal, instinctual part of the mind that operates according to the pleasure principle and seeks immediate gratification. The ego develops as a mediator between the id and reality to ensure that the id’s impulses can be satisfied in a practical way. The superego incorporates parental and societal standards and serves as the moral center of the personality. An individual’s personality results from how these three components interact and find compromise among each other.
The Id
The id is the only component of personality that is present from birth. It is the source of bodily needs, wants, desires, and impulses, particularly our sexual and aggressive drives. The id operates entirely unconsciously, according to the pleasure principle, which demands immediate gratification of all desires, needs, and urges. If these needs are not satisfied immediately, the result is a state of anxiety or tension. The id is demanding, impulsive, irrational, amoral, selfish, and childish in its behavior.
Key Features of the Id
- Operates according to the pleasure principle – seeks to avoid pain or unpleasure and obtain pleasure
- Strives for immediate gratification
- Governed entirely by unconscious, primitive drives for sex, aggression, and irrational impulses
- Has no concept of objective reality or morality
- Selfish and demanding
- Includes the libido – instinctual sexual energy
- Primary source of psychic energy
In early development, before the ego forms, the id acts as the dominant force and governs behavior according to its unchecked impulses. The id knows no logic, reason or morality. If unrestrained, the id would lead to self-destruction due to acting on every whim and impulse. However, as the ego and superego develop, they provide checks on the id’s instincts and drive for immediate gratification.
The Ego
The ego develops from the id as children interact with the demands of reality. It acts according to the reality principle, which strives to satisfy the id’s desires in realistic ways that will benefit the individual in the long term rather than bring grief. The reality principle weighs the costs and benefits of an action before deciding to act on an impulse. By developing this capacity to tolerate delays in gratification, the ego can determine whether expressing an impulse will cause harm to the individual. The ego’s job is to prevent the id from going too far in its demands and to make compromises to meet social expectations.
Key Features of the Ego
- Emerges due to demands of reality
- Operates according to the reality principle
- Deliberates and mediates between id and superego
- Provides rational thinking and problem solving
- Controls and regulates impulses to align with reality
- Operates via secondary process thinking which follows rules of logic and reality
- Governs conscious decisions and voluntary actions
If a child throws a tantrum and screams for candy at the checkout line of a store, the ego helps them regulate the impulse to demand sweets by thinking through the potential consequences. The child may remember mom’s warning that they can’t have candy now but will get some after dinner. The ego allows the child to tolerate the short term frustration of denying the impulse for the long term gain of obeying their parent’s rules.
The Superego
The last component of personality to develop is the superego. This involves the internalization of moral standards and ideals originally imposed by parents and society. The superego acts as a censor for society, enforcing restrictive norms and taboos. It strives for perfectionism and judges our own behavior in comparison to an ego ideal – the imaginary picture of how we ought to be. The superego aims for high moral ideals and restraint over impulses that society would deem unacceptable. It controls our sense of right and wrong and guilt.
Key Features of the Superego
- Develops due to societal and parental rules and moral guidelines
- Judges behavior against moral standards
- Provides guidelines for making moral decisions
- Includes the ego ideal, or the imaginary picture of how you ought to be
- Causes feelings of pride or guilt
- Operates via conscious and unconscious components
The superego strives to make the ego act on idealistic standards rather than realistic principles. It tries to make the ego feel guilty and anxious for rejecting moral standards and falling short of ego ideals. For example, if a student cheats on a test, their superego may make them feel guilty for acting immorally, while their ego would have permitted the cheating to get a good grade.
Interactions Between the Id, Ego and Superego
According to Freud, a healthy, well-adjusted personality results from a balance in the dynamic interactions of the id, ego, and superego. The human mind is in a constant state of conflict as the ego negotiates with the demanding id and restrictive superego. Neurosis results when this conflict becomes too intense.
Freud argued that we are rarely aware of the constant negotiations between the components of personality that operate at a largely unconscious level. The interactions between the id, ego and superego can be visualized in the iceberg metaphor:
| Component | Location |
|---|---|
| Id | Submerged, unconscious |
| Ego | Partly submerged, partly conscious |
| Superego | Above water, largely conscious |
In a healthy personality, impulses from the id are moderated by the ego before being acted on. But conflicts arise when the id persists in seeking immediate gratification against the ego’s wishes. The ego then becomes frustrated as it cannot act on the id’s impulses without disobeying the superego.
Extreme imbalances between components also cause problems. A dominating id can result in impulsive behavior and psychological problems. An overbearing superego can lead to feelings of perfectionism, guilt, and depression. A highly dominant ego could result in rationalizing immoral actions.
Psychosexual Stages of Development
Freud believed personality solidifies during childhood, largely before age five. He proposed five psychosexual stages of development that contribute to adult personality. Fixation at any stage, where the child overly indulges in a stage’s pleasure drives, can lead to maladaptive traits in adulthood:
Oral Stage (birth to 1 year)
Pleasure is focused on the mouth, such as through sucking, biting, and swallowing. Fixation can lead to smoking, overeating, or nail biting in adulthood.
Anal Stage (1 to 3 years)
Pleasure focuses on bowel and bladder control. Fixation can lead to obsession with order or messiness, stinginess, or stubbornness.
Phallic Stage (3 to 6 years)
Pleasure focuses on the genitals. Fixation can lead to vanity or exaggerated masculinity.
Latency Period (6 years to puberty)
Sexual feelings go dormant and energy is focused into other pursuits such as school, friendships, hobbies.
Genital Stage (puberty onward)
Maturation of sexual interests. Fixation can lead to sexual overindulgence, promiscuity, or inhibition.
Defense Mechanisms
To reduce conflicts between the id, ego, and superego, the ego relies on defense mechanisms. These unconscious protections shield the conscious mind from anxiety coming from unacceptable thoughts or impulses. Defenses are a normal way to develop and adapt, but excessive use indicates psychological problems. Examples of common defense mechanisms include:
Repression
Blocking unacceptable urges and impulses from the conscious mind.
Reaction formation
Expressing an opposite attitude to cover up true feelings.
Projection
Attributing one’s own unacceptable urges onto others.
Displacement
Redirecting emotions from a threatening target to a harmless one.
Sublimation
Channelling unacceptable impulses into socially accepted pursuits.
Denial
Refusing to acknowledge painful thoughts, feelings, or events.
Conclusion
In summary, Freud’s personality theory sees human nature as fundamentally in conflict between primal drives, social demands, and the conscience. Personality forms through the dynamic interactions between the id, ego, and superego. Childhood development shapes personality as these components emerge and learn to negotiate between each other. A balance between the divisions allows for a healthy personality, while overemphasis of any single part causes problems. Freud’s ideas formed the foundation of psychoanalysis and contributed groundbreaking insights on the unconscious and childhood development that still influence psychology and psychotherapy today.