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Id ego superego meaning
Id ego superego meaning







Since it can be satisfied in unreal ways, if we examine phenomena such as fantasies and dreams we can uncover the nature of the id. Instead, they can be satisfied through dreams and fantasy.īecause the id demands satisfaction, and knows nothing of restraint, it is said to operate as a primary process. This is a very important point, because it means that the id does not need to satisfy its desires in reality. It is highly mobile and capable of discharge, and the quality of the discharge seems to be disregarded. The energy associated with these impulses, however, is different from other regions of the mind. According to Freud, there is nothing in the id except instinctual cathexes seeking discharge (Freud, 1933/1965). It knows nothing of value judgments, no good, no evil, and no morality at all. The only goal of the id is to satisfy instinctual needs and desires therefore, it acts according to the pleasure principle. The oldest aspect of the psyche is the id, which includes all that we inherit at birth, including our temperament and our instincts. Freud acknowledged this lack of understanding, and went so far as to say that even if we could localize them within the brain we wouldn’t necessarily be any closer to understanding how they function (Freud, 1938/1949). As with levels of consciousness, it is inappropriate to think of the id, ego, and superego as actual structures within the brain, rather they are constructs to help us understand the psychodynamic functioning of the mind. In addition, these three structures begin as one, the ego develops from the id, and later the superego develops from the ego. It is difficult to discuss the two concepts, levels of consciousness and the psychical apparatus (a term Freud used for the id, ego, and superego), without intertwining them. In The Ego and the Id (which also discuss the superego, despite not including it in the title Freud, 1923/1960), Freud begins with a chapter on consciousness and what is unconscious, then follows with a chapter on the ego and the id, and then a chapter on the ego and the superego. It is no accident that our discussion of the id, ego, and superego follow immediately after our discussion of the levels of consciousness. Reproduced from The New Dictionary of Kleinian Thought by Bott Spillius, E., Milton, J., Garvey, P., Couve, C. They are considered to be different from the ordinary early severe superego, which is based on predominantly fused instincts capable of modification.ĭebate continues about the degree to which change can occur in the superego, about the exact nature of its constituent parts, and on the question of whether it is best conceptualised as a structure or as a function. Whether or not considered as superego, these extreme internal objects are thought by Klein and others to be associated with extreme disturbance and even psychosis. Klein came to think of these defused part-objects as separate from the superego, whereas others consider them as forming an abnormally destructive superego. In pathological development, the early severe superego does not become modified and, in extreme cases, the terrifying and idealised defused aspects of the primary objects are split off by the ego and banished into an area of deep unconscious. The early superego is very severe but, in the process of development, becomes less severe and more realistic.

id ego superego meaning

In Klein’s view, the superego starts to form at the beginning of life rather than with the resolution of the Oedipus complex, as Freud theorised. If all goes well, the internal objects in both ego and superego, which are initially extreme, become less so, and the two structures become increasingly reconciled.

id ego superego meaning

The superego and the ego share different aspects of the same objects they develop in parallel through the process of introjection and projection. It acquires both protective and threatening qualities. In Kleinian thinking the superego is composed of a split-off part of the ego, into which is projected death instinct fused with life instinct, and good and bad aspects of the primary, and also later, objects. An internal structure or part of the self that, as the internal authority, reflects on the self, makes judgements, exerts moral pressure, and is the seat of conscience, guilt and self-esteem.









Id ego superego meaning