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For other uses of ego and id, see EGO and ID.

The id, ego, and super-ego are the divisions of the psyche according to psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud's "structural theory". The id contains "primitive desires" (hunger, rage, and sex), the super-ego contains internalized norms, morality and taboos, and the ego mediates between the two and may include or give rise to the sense of self. eGO is a company that builds electric motor scooters which are becoming popular for urban transportation and vacation use. ... Look up ID, Id, id in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... The neutrality of this article is disputed. ... Sigmund Freud Sigmund Freud (May 6, 1856 – September 23, 1939; (IPA pronunciation: []) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of the psychoanalytic school of psychology. ... It has been suggested that Convention (norm) be merged into this article or section. ...

"Tip of the Iceberg" — Structural and Topographical Models of Mind

Image File history File links Structural-Iceberg. ... Image File history File links Structural-Iceberg. ...

History

Most people who identify with the contemporary school of ego psychology place the theory's beginnings with Freud's 1923 book The Ego and the Id, in which he firmly established his structural theory. However, the first traces of the theory appear in his essay Beyond the Pleasure Principle (1920), in which it was introduced due to his dissatisfaction with his topographic scheme (i.e. the conscious, preconscious and unconscious). The Ego, the Id, and the Ideal of the Ego were then used in Group Psychology and Ego Analysis (1921); Freud would later replace the "Ideal of the Ego" with the Super-Ego. Ego psychology is a school of psychoanalysis that originated in Freuds ego-id-superego model. ... Sigmund Freud His famous couch Sigmund Freud (May 6, 1856 - September 23, 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of the psychoanalytic school of psychology, a movement that popularized the theory that unconscious motives control much behavior. ... The Ego and the Id was written by Sigmund Freud in 1923. ...

Freud's structural theory

Id

The id ("das Es", cf. Latin id, English it, German es) is the system "which behaves as though it were the Unconscious", in effect, the reservoir of need-gratification impulses such as the primitive instinctual drives of sexuality and aggression. Freud believed that the id is inborn, operating on the dynamics of the primary process mode of thinking. The drives of the id are said to work according to the pleasure principle, requiring immediate gratification or release without concern for external exigencies. Though hunger itself may be seen as a pure id desire, the crying of the hungry infant is already an instinctive attempt to relate, that is, to communicate that need to the object of the drive in question, namely, one who can help to satisfy that need. Thus drives are linked to object relations, as Freud observed in his 1895 essay "Project for a Scientific Psychology". Latin is an ancient Indo-European language originally spoken in Latium, the region immediately surrounding Rome. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... The unconscious mind (or subconscious) is the aspect (or puported aspect) of the mind of which we are not directly conscious or aware. ... Gratification is the positive emotional response (happiness) to a fulfilment of desire. ... The suckling of a newborn at its mothers nipple is an example of an instinctive behavior. ... This article is about the issues and phenomena pertaining to human sexual function and behavior. ... The pleasure principle and the reality principle are two psychoanalytical terms coined by Sigmund Freud. ... Look up Drive in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Object relations theory is the idea that the ego-self exists only in relation to other objects, which may be external or internal. ...

Freud may have borrowed the term das Es from his advocate and personal acquaintance Georg Groddeck. Groddeck, a pioneer of psychosomatic medicine and self-proclaimed "wild analyst", published Das Buch vom Es (roughly, "The Book of It") several weeks before Freud published The Ego and Id (1923). German readers would have been aware of Nietzsche's previous use of "it" to describe that which is impersonal and subject to natural law within us.. Georg Groddeck (October 13, 1866 Bad Kösen – June 10, 1934 Knonau, near Zurich) was a physician and writer. ... A psychosomatic illness is one with physical manifestations and supposed psychological cause, often diagnosed when any known or identifiable physical cause was excluded by medical examination. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

Ego

In Freud's theory, the ego mediates among the id, the super-ego and the external world. Its task is to find a balance between primitive drives, morals, and reality while satisfying the id. Its main concern is with the individual's safety and allows some of the id's desires to be expressed, but only when consequences of these actions are marginal. Ego defense mechanisms are often used by the ego when id behavior conflicts with reality and either society's morals, norms, and taboos or the individual's expectations as a result of the internalization of these morals, norms, and taboos. Sigmund Freud His famous couch Sigmund Freud (May 6, 1856 - September 23, 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of the psychoanalytic school of psychology, a movement that popularized the theory that unconscious motives control much behavior. ... In psychoanalytic theory, a defence mechanism is an unconscious way to protect ones personality from unpleasant thoughts which may otherwise cause anxiety. ...

Although in his early writings Freud equated the ego with the sense of self, he later began to portray it more as a set of psychic functions such as reality-testing, defence, synthesis of information, intellectual functioning, and memory.

The word ego is taken directly from Latin where it is the nominative of the first person singular personal pronoun and is translated as "I myself" to express emphasis. Latin is an ancient Indo-European language originally spoken in Latium, the region immediately surrounding Rome. ... The nominative case is a grammatical case for a noun. ... In linguistics and grammar, a pronoun is a word that usually takes the place of a noun or noun phrase that was previously mentioned (such as she, it) or that refers to something or someone (I, me, you). Pronouns are often one of the basic parts of speech of the...

Super-ego

The super-ego is a symbolic internalization of the father figure and cultural regulations. The super-ego tends to stand in opposition to the desires of the id because of their conflicting objectives, and is aggressive towards the ego. The super-ego acts as the conscience, maintaining our sense of morality and the prohibition of taboos. Its formation takes place during the dissolution of the Oedipus complex and is formed by an identification with and internalization of the father figure after the little boy cannot successfully hold the mother as a love-object out of fear of castration. "The super-ego retains the character of the father, while the more powerful {sic} Oedipus complex more rapidly succumbs to repression (under the influence of authority, religious teaching, schooling and reading), the stricter will be the domination of the super-ego over the ego later on — in the form of conscience or perhaps of an unconscious sense of guilt" (The Ego and the Id, 1923). The concept of super-ego has been subject to criticism for its sexism. Women, who are considered to be already castrated, do not identify with the father, and therefore form a weak super-ego, apparently leaving them susceptible to immorality and sexual identity complications. In Sigmund Freud's work Civilization and Its Discontents (1930) he also discusses the concept of a "cultural super-ego". The super ego operates off of the morale principle, which means that if the needs of the super-ego are not met, then we feel guilty. The Oedipus complex or Oedipus conflict is a concept developed by Sigmund Freud to explain the origin of certain neuroses in childhood. ...

Jung's definition of ego

Jung and Freud, psychiatrists who collaborated between 1906 and 1913, developed theories that were motivated foremost by their attempts to understand and cure neuroses. Both used the terms ego, consciousness, and unconscious. Both were compelled to recognize and try to explain causal forces in the unconscious that manifested dramatic opposition to the conscious attitude. However, Jung defined "ego" his way, and did not use the terms "id" or "superego". Carl Jungs autobiographical work Memories , Dreams and Reflections, Fontana edition Carl Gustav Jung (July 26, 1875 – June 6, 1961) (IPA: ) was a Swiss psychiatrist and founder of analytical psychology. ... A neurosis, in psychoanalytic theory, is an ineffectual coping strategy that Sigmund Freud suggested was caused by emotions from past experience overwhelming or interfering with present experience. ...

For Jung, the ego has only conscious contents. The ego forms "the center of the field of consciousness" (Jung, 1969: par. 1). "Despite the unlimited extent of its bases, the ego is never more and never less than consciousness as a whole" (Jung, 1969: par. 7).

While Jung defined consciousness as virtually synonymous with the ego, he recognized that what he considered someone's unconscious behavior others may attribute to consciousness.

It should not be imagined that the unconscious lies permanently buried under so many overlying strata that it can only be uncovered, so to speak, by a laborious process of excavation. On the contrary, there is a constant influx of unconscious contents into the conscious psychological process, to such a degree that at times it is hard for the observer to decide which character traits belong to the conscious and which to the unconscious personality (Jung, 1971: par. 576).

He does not see the positive man, but only his shadow. And the shadow proves the judgment right at the expense of the conscious, positive man (Jung, 1971: par. 268). This article is about the psychological concept. ...

So not only does Jung restrict the ego to conscious contents, he further refines what he considers truly conscious. Jung's distinct definition of "ego" can be a source of confusion.

References and further reading

• Burger, J.M. (2004), Personality, Thompson-Wadsworth, . Belmont, CA.
• Freud, Sigmund (1910), "The Origin and Development of Psychoanalysis", American Journal of Psychology 21(2), 196–218.
• Freud, Sigmund (1920), Beyond the Pleasure Principle.
• Freud, Sigmund (1923), Das Ich und das Es, Internationaler Psycho-analytischer Verlag, Leipzig, Vienna, and Zurich. English translation, The Ego and the Id, Joan Riviere (trans.), Hogarth Press and Institute of Psycho-analysis, London, UK, 1927. Revised for The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud, James Strachey (ed.), W.W. Norton and Company, New York, NY, 1961.
• Gay, Peter (ed., 1989), The Freud Reader. W.W. Norton.
• Jung, C.G. (1969). Aion, Collected Works, Volume 9ii, Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-01826-X.
• Jung, C.G. (1971). Psychological Types, Collected Works, Volume 6, Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-01813-8.

• Myers, D.G. (2004), Psychology, Worth Publishers, New York, NY.

See also

People

Karl Abraham (3 May 1877 - 25 December 1925) was an early German psychoanalyst, and a correspondent of Sigmund Freud. ... Alfred Adler (February 7, 1870 – May 28, 1937) was an Austrian medical doctor and psychologist, founder of the school of individual psychology. ... Sándor Ferenczi (1873-1933) was a Hungarian psychoanalyst who came to believe that his patients accounts of sexual abuse as children were truthful, having verified those accounts through other patients in the same family. ... Ernest Jones (1879-1958) was arguably the best-known follower of Sigmund Freud. ... Carl Jungs autobiographical work Memories , Dreams and Reflections, Fontana edition Carl Gustav Jung (July 26, 1875 – June 6, 1961) (IPA: ) was a Swiss psychiatrist and founder of analytical psychology. ... Melanie Klein Melanie Klein, (1882 - 1960), Austrian psychotherapist, built on the work of Sigmund Freud, particularly in the area of child psychology. ... Cover of Elisabeth Roudinescos biography of Lacan Jacques-Marie-Émile Lacan (April 13, 1901 – September 9, 1981) was a French psychoanalyst, psychiatrist, and doctor. ... Jean Laplanche (b. ... Jane Loevinger (born 1918) was a developmental psychologist who developed a theory of personality which emphasized the gradual internalization of social rules and the maturing conscience for the origin of personal decisions. ... Dr. Wilhelm Reich Wilhelm Reich (March 24, 1897–November 3, 1957) was an Austrian-American psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, and a member of Sigmund Freuds inner circle. ...

Related topics

Alter Ego has multiple meanings: Alter Ego is a game for the Commodore 64 computer. ... Ego psychology is a school of psychoanalysis that originated in Freuds ego-id-superego model. ... Collective unconscious is a term of analytical psychology originally coined by Carl Jung. ... Consciousness is a quality of the mind generally regarded to comprise qualities such as subjectivity, self-awareness, sentience, sapience, and the ability to perceive the relationship between oneself and ones environment. ... Egolessness is a concept sometimes studied in psychology, for a emotional state where one feels no ego (or self); of having no distinct being apart from the world around oneself. ... The suckling of a newborn at its mothers nipple is an example of an instinctive behavior. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article may require cleanup. ... The self is a key construct in several schools of psychology. ... In psychoanalytic theory, the unconscious refers to that part of mental functioning of which subjects make themselves unaware. ...

External links

• American Psychological Association
• Sigmund Freud and the Freud Archives
• Section 5: Freud's Structural and Topographical Model, Chapter 3: Personality Development Psychology 101.
• lacan dot com, Jacques Lacan in the US
• Sigmund Freud
• Formatia Ego