Id, Ego, Superego

Sigmund Freud
Sigmund Freud (1856-1939)

-Austrian, doctor
-father of psychoanalysis
One of the first psychologists to study
human motivation
-Psychiatry vs. Psychology
-up until 20th century frontal
lobotomies were performed on patients
Nature vs. Nurture
Freud-believed that mental illness is a
result of nurture, not nature.
He asked the question:
“What makes people do things?”
Answer: MOTIVATION
Needs motivate human behavior
(food, shelter, clothing…)
Being deprived of a need arouses a feeling called a
DRIVE OR DESIRE. Animals respond
instinctively, humans learn various ways to respond.
Human motivation explains the reasons why people
behave the way they do.
People have DRIVES OR DESIRES in the back of
their minds
ie: Will to live, will to die
Some of these desires cause people to behave
irrationally.
People are born with a certain number
of instincts or DRIVES (human
instinctive behaviour)
The human mind has 3 aspects which
influence behaviour:

Ego

Superego

Id
ID- unconscious part of the
mind
(this part of the mind seeks to
bring us pleasure)
-primitive parts of our personality
including
aggression and sexual drives
EGO-conscious part of the
mind (Rational Self). Decides
what action to take for
positive means and what to do
based on what is believed is
the right thing to do. Aware of
reality.
SUPEREGO- unconscious part
of the mind that
acts as our conscience.
Reminds us of what we should
do.
 The ID and the SUPEREGO are in
constant conflict. Your DRIVE tells you to
do one thing , while SOCIETY tells you to
do something else.
Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis, compared the human
mind to an iceberg. The tip above the water represents consciousness,
and the vast region below the surface symbolizes the unconscious
mind. Of Freud’s three basic personality structures—id, ego, and
superego—only the id is totally unconscious.
 Lord of the Flies is an Allegory

Allegory: A story that

operates on two levels,
the literal and the
symbolic.
 Jack
Jack: Dictator/Anarchy/Desire for
Power/Id/ Savagery/ Instinct,
Freedom
 THIS IS PRESENT AT BIRTH. THE ID OPERATES
ACCORDING TO THE PLEASURE PRINCIPLE I.E. IT SEEKS
PLEASURE AND AVOIDS PAIN. IT IS OUR INSTINCT. IF WE
WANT TO DO A PARTICULAR THING WE WILL DO IT. FOR
EXAMPLE, IF WE ARE IN A LESSON AND WE WANT TO GO
TO SLEEP, WE GO TO SLEEP.
 Piggy
Piggy:
Intelligence/Reason/Intellectual/
Knowledge/Superego
 THIS IS THE MORAL PART OF THE PERSONALITY; A PRODUCT OF
SOCIALIZATION. THE SUPER EGO IS DIVIDED INTO TWO PARTS; THE
EGO-IDEAL AND THE CONSCIENCE. THE EGO-IDEAL IS THE STANDARDS
OF GOOD BEHAVIOR THAT WE ASPIRE TO. THE CONSCIENCE IS SEEN AS
AN "INNER VOICE" THAT TELLS US WHEN WE HAVE DONE SOMETHING
WRONG.
 THE DEMANDS OF THE ID ('I WANT IT, I WANT IT NOW') AND THE
DEMANDS OF THE SUPEREGO ('NO IT'S WRONG') FREQUENTLY
CONFLICT. THE EGO DEALS WITH THIS CONFLICT.
 Ralph

Ralph:
Democracy/Order/Leadership/Civilizing
Impulse/ Organized Society/Moral
Integrity/Ego--EGO
THE EGO HAS TO DECIDE BETWEEN THE DEMANDS OF
THE ID AND THE SUPEREGO.
 Identify the Id, Ego, and
Superego
 On your half sheet of paper, list the
three main characters in Lord of the
Flies
 Write what role they have (id, ego,
superego) and write one piece of
evidence that supports that character
filling that specific role
 If you don’t resolve this conflict between
the ID and the EGO, you may experience
unhappiness or mental distress.

Thus, in order to understand motivation,

you must understand what is in your
unconscious memory. This is the basis for
PSYCHOANALYSIS.
“Psychoanalysis has as its core the idea
that each of us has an unconscious part
whose existence, activities and thoughts
are hidden behind a mental barrier that we
cannot voluntarily remove. Behind this
barrier are repressed and psychologically
dangerous thoughts that give rise to
unconscious conflicts, which in turn, can
result in psychological and physical
symptoms.”
- Plotnik, p. 514
How do you get this out?

1) FREE ASSOCIATION
-ink blot pictures, word association
(Way of “tricking” you to lull your
conscious mind to sleep to bring out
the unconscious).
2) HYPNOSIS
- Freud was one of the first to use this.
This is a way of freeing the
unconscious mind or opening up
drawers to remember vivid details of
the past.
3) DREAMS
- Freud believed dreams were your
unconscious mind talking to you.
Dreams were very symbolic and difficult
to analyze.
Eg: driving a car
(driver) means you feel in control of your life
(passenger) –someone else is in control of your
life
Horses –symbolize freedom
MEDITATION
– some Buddhist monks meditate for
15 hours a day!
Bibliography
•http://users.rcn.com/brill/freudarc.html
•http://www.utm.edu/research/iep/f/freud.htm
•http://www.allpsych.com/psychology101/ego.html
•Introduction to Psychology 4th edition. Rod Plotnik.
•http://encarta.msn.com/media_461543697/The_Mind_as
_an_Iceberg.html
•http://www.inkblottestwallpaper.com