According to the father of psychology Sigmund Freud, there are three parts of the
human psyche: the ego, the id and the superego. These are originally Latin terms
meaning 'I', 'it' and 'upper-I'. In his 1915 paper the Unconscoius, Sigmund
Freud used an iceberg as a metaphor for this triple structure of the mind. The part
of the iceberg above water corresponds to the conscious parts of the mind. On the other
hand, everything beneath the surface is unconscious.
The ego is above the water; the id is beneath. The superego is a bit above and a bit
below?-partly conscious and partly unconscious. Each part has its own nature and role
within the mind. The conflicting interests of these three are the driving force of all
human conflicts. Id/ 'the it'
In the beginning, there was the id. It is the only one of the three parts we are born
with. The others two elements of the mind develop
later out of this id. This part of the mind is all nature and no nurture. Down here all
the physiological, animal drives, impulses and instincts run wild.
You can think of the id as the animal in you. Its voice is loud when you are hungry,
when you are horny or anytime you see red. It contains libido which is the primary
instinctual energy. ? The id is not organised according to logic.
You can have contradictory impulses existing side by side without cancelling each
other out. Take for example a hungover person who wants to drink and also wants not
to move. These impulses contradict each other but they are both coming from the
same place. The organising principle of the id is the
pleasure principle?-it works by what feels good. What society thinks doesn't matter;
reality doesn't matter. The id is about desire and pleasure. Everything else is irrelevant.
According to psychoanalyst Bruno Bettelheim, there is a quirk to the original German
word for the id that got lost in translation. The original German term 'das Es' is neuter.
That is to say that unlike der Mann?-the man?-or die Frau?-the woman?-das Es is
neither masculine nor feminine. The same goes for the German word for child 'das
Kind': Thus in German the word' child' (das Kind)
is of neuter gender. During their early years all Germans have the experience
of being referred to by means of the neuter pronoun 'es' (Latin: 'id'). This
fact gives the phrase 'das Es' a special feeling, reminding the German reader that
this is how he was referred to before he learned to repress many of his sexual,
aggressive, and otherwise asocial impulses [...] it reminds him of a time when
his entire existence was dominated by the 'it'. These memories, even when one
is not conscious of them, permit a much more immediate empathy with what Freud
meant when he used this term for the unconscious.
We often think of the powerful impulses which overwhelm us as the devil on our
shoulder. It is difficult to have sympathy for the devil. Making a devil and an 'it'
of the unconscious is not the foundation of a great
relationship. But this connection between the id and the
child helps. When a child throws a temper tantrum in the sweets and confectionery aisle,
we don't think of them as evil. We say they don't know better. That is a helpful
attitude to cultivate towards the id. It is not trying to derail you and it is not
scheming against you. The id is pure nature burning inside of you. It's a furnace of desire.
Those desires may not align with the agenda of the superego or reality, but that's
not the concern of the id. The tantrum-throwing child isn't evil. That's
not to say you should indulge them. It means their inability to control their desire
is understandable. Okay so let's take a look at a few Traits
of the id. It is an Engine of desires, impulses, and drives. It's Pleasure-seeking. It's Unresponsive
to demands of reality and social mores. We find that contrary impulses can
exist side by side in the id. It is Selfish and
wilful. It is characterised by Strong emotions and by Short-term thinking? and seeking
of instant gratification. It is the the inner child/devil on your shoulder. It is governed
by The pleasure principle and it is the Home of libido.
The mechanism of the id is Desire and temptation i.e. if you want it badly enough, you
will do it
Superego/ 'the upper-I' Where the id is 'I want', the superego is
'I should'. The superego is the counterbalance to the id in the psyche. It has two parts:
the conscience and the ego ideal. The conscience is the integrated shoulds and
should-nots of our culture. It is the moral code internalised from our parents and society.
If we fail to adhere to this moral code, the superego punishes us with feelings of
guilt and shame. When the id says I don't want to go to bed,
the superego says 'you must go to bed, and not only that but you must brush your teeth
as well'. The second aspect of the superego is the ego
ideal. This is the inner vision of your best self. Aligning with your ego ideal leads to
feelings of pride, value and accomplishment. The superego is not concerned with instant
gratification like the id. This part of the mind turns on long-term thinking. Everything
it does is an attempt to align you with your ideal self and to steer you away from
bad behaviours. It's always trying to move you towards what you should be. You can think
of the superego as the angel on your shoulder.
The traits of the superego include: Striving to act in a socially acceptable manner,
charactersied by feelings of Guilt, shame and inadequacy. It is the voice of authority
Internalised from your parents and society. It is characterised by long-term thinking
and you can think of it as the Inner parent/angel on the shoulder.
The mechanism of the superego is using negative emotion to slam on the brakes. It
makes you feel bad to curb your enthusiasm. The logic is that if you feel bad enough,
you will take heed of it. On the flip side with the ego ideal side of
the superego the mechanism is positive emotions such as pride and feelings of value
and accomplishment as you align with it more and more.
Ego/'the I' The ego has got an even worse reputation than
the superego. It has become a slur and a punching bag for everything that's wrong in
the world. One reason for this is due to the translation
of Freud's concept into English. In the original German, the ego is 'das Ich' which
means 'the I'. Unlike ego, it is not a foreign or a technical word but something a German
would hear and use every day of their lives. The disconnection between the term
ego and everyday language paved the way for the errant evolution of the term in English-speaking
countries. But this reputation shows a lot of ingratitude.
The ego is nothing more or less than the 'I' of the individual. It is your conscious
thinking mind that you identify with. And it
has a tough job. The ego has to serve three masters. It has
the should of the superego and the impulses of the id to contend with as we know. And
as if holding its ground between this rock and that hard place wasn't complicated enough,
it also has to serve reality. These three masters lead the ego around in
a loop. Sometimes the id and reality tug one way and superego tugs the other way?-think
of youth culture and peer pressure. Sometimes reality sides with the superego
but the id is determined to go the opposite direction which is a common situation in crime.
The ego is the balancer. Ideally, it is the judging faculty evaluating which course to
take. Sometimes it's just the slave to the loudest voice?-be it id or superego.
Consciousness itself was born out of this conflict of interests. The id in you bubbles
up with impulses, and the superego tries to tug
you the other way. Out of this conflict, the ego arises. The ego's job is to adjudicate
between the many demands in the psyche and the world. The ego casts the deciding vote.
The Traits of the ego are that it is the reality principle. It serves three masters: id,
superego and external world. Its task is to find balance between the internal drives and
the external reality while satisfying the id and superego. And it is characterised by
Judgement, decision-making, conscious thinking and evaluation
These are the three parts of your mind according to Freud. The id tells you what you
want, the superego tells you what you should do, and your ego makes the final call.
The happiest days are when your superego and id are in alignment with reality, and
everything moves swimmingly. As we all know, such days are rare. The journey in life
is learning to find the biting point where everyone at the table leaves content.
That's everything for this episode of the living philosophy. If you've enjoyed it please
give the video a thumbs up down below and if you have any thoughts insights of
feedback I'd love to hear from you down in the comments otherwise I shall see you
next time thanks for watching