Structure of Personality (Freud) Flashcards
Freud divided human personality into 3 significant components:-
Intro
- id
- ego
- superego
Conflicts among these 3 structures & our efforts to balance their desires
Intro
determines how we behave and approach the world.
Balance between our biological aggressive and pleasure-seeking drives vs. our socialized internal control over those drives
Intro
determines how the conflict between two overarching behavioral tendencies resolves in a situation.
Conflict within the mind
Intro
According to Freud, job of the ego is to balance
- the aggressive/pleasure-seeking drives of the id
with - the moral control of the superego
Conflict within the mind Diagram
Intro
Id acts according to the pleasure principle,
Id
demanding immediate gratification of its needs regardless of external environment.
Freud called the pleasure principle
Id
through its concern with tension reduction
Id is the reservoir for
Id
the instincts and libido.
libido - the psychic energy manifested by the instincts
Id as the reservoir of the instincts,
Id
directly related to the satisfaction of bodily needs.
Id is powerful structure of the personality
Id
because it supplies all the energy for the other two components.
ego and superego
Id functions to increase <> and avoid <>.
Id
increase pleasure and avoid pain.
Id has no awareness of
Id
reality.
The Primary Process thought: childlike thinking
Id
by which the id attempts to satisfy the instinctual drives.
Ego: the secondary process thought- the growing child is taught (1)
Ego
to deal intelligently and rationally with the outside world
Ego: the secondary process thought- the growing child is taught (2)
Ego
to develop
- the power of perception,
- recognition,
- judgement and
- memory,
the powers adults use to satisfy their needs their abilities are called secondary process thought.
Ego: the rational mastery/aspect of a
personality
Ego
responsible for directing and controlling the instincts according to the reality principle.
Reality principle: the principle by which the ego functions
Ego
to provide appropriate constraints
on the expression of the id instincts.
The ego serves two masters- the id and reality
Ego
constantly mediating striking compromises
between their conflicting demands.
The Super Ego-third set of forces
Super Ego
- a powerful and largely unconscious set of dictates or beliefs that we acquire in childhood,
- our ideas of right and wrong.
Basis of the moral side of the
personality
Super Ego
- learned by the age of 5 or 6 and
- consists initially of the rules of conduct
- set down by parents, through praise and punishment.
Example
Super Ego
Children learn which behaviors
their parents consider good or bad.
One part of super ego: Conscience (Example Contd)
Super Ego
Behaviors for which children are punished from the
conscience.
2nd part of super ego: ego-ideal (Example Contd)
Super Ego
- contain the moral or ideal behaviors for which
a person should strive. - consists of good, or correct, behaviors for which children have been praised.
Anxiety: a threat to the ego
Anxiety
Freud
- described anxiety as an objectless fear, it’s source cannot be pointed to a specific object that induced it.
- made it an important part of personality that is fundamental to the development of neurotic and psychotic behavior.
Reality anxiety
Reality anxiety
- a fear of tangible dangers
- Eg: Fears of fires, hurricanes, earthquakes.
Neurotic Anxiety
Neurotic Anxiety
- involves a conflict between id and ego.
- Its origin has some basis in reality.
Moral anxiety
Moral anxiety
- results from a conflict between the id and the superego.
- It is a fear of one’s conscience.
- When we are motivated to express an instinctual impulse that is contrary to our
moral code, our superego retaliates by causing us to feel shame or guilt.
