Map of the Mind: Freud's Id, Ego, and Superego
“The ego is not master in its own house.”
Image Taken From: http://web.lemoyne.edu/~hevern/nr-theorists-efg.html
Part of the Self
Id
What does it represent?
The Unconscious (Biology)
What does this really mean?
This is the part of you that is biologically driven. Your instincts,
drives, and wishes (motivational forces) reside here and you seek
to satisfy these needs (pleasure principle).
Ego
The Individual (Reality)
This is the part of you that attempts to satisfy the needs of the id.
Superego
The Conscience (Society)
These are the obstacles that the ego may encounter when trying to
satisfy the needs of the id. The superego may communicate with
the ego through feelings of pride or shame/guilt. These feelings
will either encourage you to act on an instinct or ultimately repress
your wish.
Image Taken From: http://www.mtholyoke.edu/~mlyount/MySites/ForensicPsychology/Theories.html
Q: How does the ego deal with the struggle between the id (the unconscious) and the superego? A: The feeling
of being overwhelmed by this struggle manifests itself in ANXIETY…
Form of Anxiety
1. Realistic Anxiety
Definition
External threat; fear
2. Moral Anxiety
Internal threat from superego
3. Neurotic Anxiety
Fear of being dominated by impulses residing in the id; “nervous” anxiety
Information Taken From: http://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/freud.html
Map of the Mind: Freud's Id, Ego, and Superego
“The ego is not master in its own house.”
Q: How does the ego handle this anxiety?
A: The individual may engage in the following DEFENSE MECHANISMS…
Defense Mechanism
Definition
1. Denial
Refuse to experience a certain situation
2. Repression
“Motivated forgetting”; failure to
remember a traumatic event
3. Compensation
Striving to make up for unconscious
impulses or fears
4. Isolation
(Intellectualization)
Removing emotion involved with
difficult/painful experience
5. Displacement
Redirecting impulse on a symbolic
substitute
6. Reaction Formation
Changing desire into its opposite
7. Undoing
Use of rituals you believe will remove
unpleasant thoughts or feelings
8. Introjection
(Identification)
Incorporating personality
characteristics of someone else into
your own personality in order to deal
with a specific situation
9. Projection
Unconscious attributing one’s own
unacceptable thoughts to another
person
10. Regression
Revisiting/returning to a
mental/psychological time when you
were faced with stress or conflict
11. Rationalization
Distorting facts to make an event or
desire less threatening
12. Sublimation
Transforming an unacceptable impulse
into a socially acceptable one
Example
Information Taken From: http://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/freud.html