Freud’s superego is the component of personality that delivers mental reward or punishment for a person’s actions.
Inpsychology, the superego is one of three components of Freud’s theory of personality.
This article explores Freud’s superego and how it interacts with the other components of personality.
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These behaviors include those that are approved of by parental and other authority figures.
Obeying these rules leads to feelings of pride, value, and accomplishment.
Breaking these rules can result in feelings of guilt.
The Conscience
Theconscienceis composed of the rules for which behaviors are considered bad.
When we do things that our conscience considers bad, we experience feelings of guilt.
In Freud’s theory ofpsychosexual development, the superego is the last component of personality to develop.
The id is the basic, primal part of personality; it is present from birth.
The ego begins to develop during the first three years of a child’s life.
Finally, the superego starts to emerge around age five.
It also tries to force the ego to act morally rather than realistically.
Finally, the superego strives for moral perfection, without taking reality into account.
The superego is also present in all three levels of consciousness.
Because of this, we can sometimes experience guilt without understanding exactly why we feel that way.
When the superego acts in theconscious mind, we are aware of our resulting feelings.
The Superego vs. “We then say that the two coincide, i.e.
Its outlines become clear only when it confronts the ego with hostility or at least with criticism.”
The symptoms occur when the ego tries to regain control from the superego or the id.
Freud’s therapeutic approach, called psychoanalysis, sought to uncover repressed emotions or memories in the subconscious mind.
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Kupfersmid J.Freud’s clinical theories then and now.Psychodyn Psychiatry.
2019;47(1):81-97. doi;10.1521/pdps.2019.47.1.81
