Freud not only theorized about how personality developed over the course of childhood, but he also developed a framework for how overall personality is structured.
In the 1890s, Freud proposed a theory that distinguished between three different levels of consciousness.
According to Freud, the basic driving force of personality and behavior is known as the libido. Freud proposed that the id was the source of the libido (Libido is influenced by biological, psychological, and social factors.), a source of energy for the entire psyche.
This libidinal energy fuels the three components that make up personality: the id, the ego, and the superego.
The ideas of id, ego, and super-ego were an attempt to describe important components of the psyche (PSY-kee). The psyche was conceived as the overall universe of the mind, while the id, ego, and super-ego were (to Freud) divisions or functions of the psyche.
Freud described the id as "chaos, a cauldron full of seething excitation" dominated by impulses of sex and aggression.
Freud described the mental activity generated by the id as primary process thinking. Primary means first.
- The id is the aspect of personality present at birth. It is the most primal part of the personality and drives people to fulfill their most basic needs and urges. The first developing part of the psyche, in Freud's theory, was the which means "it." the id was a dark, unknown part of the mind that controls us but remains outside our awareness.
- Freud described the ego drawing power from the id while attempting to control it like a rider on a horse. In this metaphor the horse represents the id: a primitive, animal-like source of energy. The rider represents the ego. It may be weak or strong, clumsy or skillful.
The ego was not equivalent to consciousness in Freud's scheme. He called the ego an agent of adaptation. Some of those adaptations were unconscious (for example, defense mechanisms).
Freud described the ego drawing power from the id while attempting to control it like a rider on a horse. In this metaphor the horse represents the id: a primitive, animal-like source of energy. The rider represents the ego. It may be weak or strong, clumsy or skillful.
If the rider is uncoordinated or lacking in skill, the horse goes whatever
direction it pleases, and the rider must hold on for dear life. This is like a
person whose impulses are out of control, poorly coordinated by the ego.
In the other hand, if the rider is an expert, the horse becomes like an extension
of the rider's willpower, making the rider swifter and more powerful than a
human on foot. Similarly, in Freud's view, the id provided raw energy, and the
ego (if skillful or well controlled) used this energy to do remarkable,
positive things.
What is ego strength?
To Freud, having good ego strength was not the same thing as being egotistical, conceited, or vain. Having good ego strength meant being able to remain in control in stressful situations, or being able to persist in directing energy toward long-term goals, despite short-term problems.Freud said the ego develops in early childhood. Little children discover that id-impulses cannot be gratified immediately. The pleasure principle produces frustration.
To get what they want, children must learn rational or realistic strategies, and sometimes they must tolerate a delay in gratification. The ego develops as a result of this clash between desires of the id and realities of the world, Freud said.
With the development of the ego comes conscious, rational thinking. Freud called this secondary process thinking because it occurred later in development and modified the animal-like primary process thinking.
Freud suggested that primary process thinking was dominated by the pleasure
principle, whereas secondary process thinking–controlled by the ego–was based
on the reality
principle. The reality principle was the ability of the ego to make
plans that take reality into account, even if it meant postponing pleasure or
denying fantasies.
The Super-Ego
The superego is the final aspect of personality to develop and contains all of the ideals, morals, and values imbued by our parents and culture.
The super-ego was a
third function that Freud hypothesized. The word super means above,
and the super-ego is like a supervisor of the psyche, monitoring activity and
making value judgments that lead us to feel good or bad about our behavior.
Freud believed we learn morals and values from the people who take care of us in childhood. These values are internalized or taken inside us, and the result is the super-ego.
Freud said the super-ego, as an "internalization of parental values," was responsible for both pride and guilt. Because of this two-edged quality, one psychoanalyst (Schecter 1979) referred to the loving and persecuting super-ego.
According to Freud, the super-ego was partly unconscious. We could be aware of
parts of it, but we could also be surprised by guilt or pride.
Freud believed the id generates urges and impulses in accordance with the pleasure principle: pursuit of immediate gratification. The pleasure principle can be summarized as "I want what I want when I want it."
Freud believed babies were all id when
born. When a baby is hungry or lonely, it cries and demands immediate relief.
When it experiences pleasure, it is a pure, self-satisfied pleasure.
Even children three or four years old have a hard time waiting more than a few minutes for something they want. They operate on the pleasure principle; they want immediate gratification.
What was the unconscious like, according to Freud?
In general, Freud said, the unconscious is infantile. It is not necessarily evil, but it is childlike. It is innocently good or bad depending on circumstances, reacting with immediacy to events as they happen.
In the unconscious, Freud believed, we all have a desire for immediate gratification and low tolerance for frustration. Only the development of more mature, controlling parts of the mind helps us avoid expressing id impulses and acting like babies when we are grown up
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