![]() ![]() (We apologise for the predictable gender roles in this examples: if you prefer, think of the superego as the stern father who sees himself not just as a father to the id but as a head of the household, responsible for ensuring his wife behaves herself too. If the ego is the realist, the superego is the moralist, the strict mother who is also a moral wife who wants to make her husband a better person, as well as her child. The superego must also try to persuade the ego to be more than realistic in its goals, but to try to be moral too. For the superego doesn’t just have the task of managing the id and checking its worst impulses (e.g. Indeed, this analogy of two parents and a child can be taken further when it comes to understanding the function of the superego. And, aptly, Freud conceived of the id as infantile and immature, because it is the only thing our psyches are made up of when we’re very young.) The ego is the soft touch who tries to appeal to the id’s reasonable side the superego is the strict parent who simply tells the id what’s happening and will brook no disagreement. (Happily, given their shared use of ‘ego’, the ego and superego already sound like they could be married with a kid – sorry, id. ![]() When this fails, the superego steps in simply disciplines the id, telling it it’s not getting what it wants and that’s that. Think of the ego and superego as like the two parents to an unruly kid (or unruly id): one is the chummy one, the parent who tries to make the id see reason about why it can’t always have what it wants. This is where the superego can step in and help to check the more extreme impulses of the id. But the id is impulsive and doesn’t care. The ego tries to reason with it and convince it that this would not, as a long-term plan of action, be a good idea. When you’re angry, your id may be out for blood and want you do murder someone. The superego is free#And it’s important that the id isn’t allowed free rein to get what it wants, in many cases. The ego is the foil for the id, designed to keep the id’s wilder impulses in check.īut sometimes the ego isn’t able to reason with the id. But as we grow up and start to develop, we come to realise that we can’t always get what we want, and that instant gratification might not be good for us. These basic needs and wants are what drive the newborn. When a baby cries, it’s usually because it’s hungry and wants feeding, or because it’s uncomfortable because its nappy needs changing. Instant gratification is the name of the game for the id. The id wants us to achieve pleasure at any cost. How we can best define the superego and its function is something that becomes easier if we first summarise or recap what the id and the ego are.įreud believed that all babies are born with their minds composed purely of the id: that primal, instinctive part of us which is governed by passions and basic needs. But the superego is a little different from both. ![]() What is the superego? Previously, we’ve introduced the id and the concept of the ego as Freud formulated them in psychoanalysis. ![]()
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