The Ego and the Id

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Over the years, people have wondered what goes on in a person's mind that guides them to meet their needs. Sigmund Freud developed a system of personality that boldly attempts to explain the course of personality and what was it origins. Freud theory assumes that one's personality is shaped and some powerful inner forces motivate one's behavior. According to Freud, personality differences commence from the different ways in which people deal with their underlying drives. By picturing a continuing battle between antagonistic parts of personality, Freud was able to develop three systems that make up the total personality. The three systems of personality are the id, ego, and the superego. If the three systems work together in harmony and unite together to form one complete organization, it enables one to create a positive transaction with the environment. If the systems are fighting with each other, one is said to be dissatisfied with himself or the world. By examining the ego, the id, and the superego, one should see how these three systems of personality play an important role in the development of one's personality. In doing so one should understand what conscious and unconscious, and the functions of the id, ego, and superego. Freud did not invent the idea of the conscious versus the unconscious. However, he was responsible for making it popular. What you are of aware of at any particular moment is called being conscious. By being conscious you are aware of certain things such as your present perceptions, memories, thoughts, and fantasies. All of our knowledge is bound up with consciousness. Consciousness is the surface of the mental The Ego and the Id 3 apparatus. All perceptions, whether it is received from both within and without, are conscious. Freud (1960) said \"that very powerful mental processes of ideas exist which can produce all the effects of the mental life that ordinary ideas do, though they themselves do not become conscious\" (p. 4). This is an indication that there are other parts of the mind in which thoughts occur. According to Freud (1960), \"the state in which the ideas existed before being made conscious is called by us repression\" (p. 4). It is by the theory of repression that the concept of the unconscious is obtained. The unconscious is the largest part of the mind. All the things that are not easily available t... ... middle of paper ... ...e or feelings of guilt or inferiority the superego will take on the role of the parents. It is the super ego that inner restraints on upon lawlessness and disorderly, thus enabling a person to become a law abiding member of society. The ego struggle to keep the id happy. The ego meets with obstacles in the world. It occasionally with objects that actually assists it in attaining it goals. The ego keeps a record of the obstacles and aides. It also keeps a record of punishments and rewards administered out by the two must influential objects in the world of a child, its mom and dad. This record of things to avoid and strategies to take becomes the superego. As stated earlier the primary function of the id is to satisfy its immediate instincts, drive and urges it superego that links the mind to society and reality. As Freud (1960) states \"superego is however, not simply a residue of the earliest choices of the id; it also represents an energetic reaction formation against those choices\" (p.24). The id, ego, and superego play a vital role in a person's development of their personality. If thy work together in harmony a person will grow up to be a be a healthy mentally person.

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