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Calling all freudians

Okay this is a real research question that I personally need to know, so please help me I may be exploring a lot of emotional resilience related subject matter.

Can someone explain the Superego, the ego, and the Id I’m layman’s terms according to Freud? is there this viewpoint in other realms of psychology? how does knowing these aspects of self help someone?

2 answers1 reply

3 Comments

Eve Fritz

Mar 03, 2022

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I've seen it used in ways that are productive...relationship trauma is complex and I feel his framework for the superego mind and how others have effected us is key to unlocking a lot about ourselves. The appetites area of ourselves, and then the higher aspirations and values side of the superego and then the ego navigating between the two. I feel parents have influence on these aspects and kids Superego's may veer as they get older towards being hypervigilant as a survival tactic, whereas parents who are not as strict might end up with a sloppy kid who just eats a lot, watches TV, doesn't shower, and plays video games all day. A healthy balanced ego is in a state of self-care and growth. I also feel like the Superego can branch into areas such as OCD, hyper vigilance, over achieving, anorexia and other issues with and around control. The ego is there to tell the Superego to calm down, but this isn't always working and the Id can come in and say "let's go get drunk I'm tired of being so stressed out!" I think that if there isn't a healthy balance of these things to begin with in childhood, that it can lead to all sorts of problems later on in life.

Daniel Sumner

Mar 03, 2022

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Replying to

That's really interesting and I like the use of different scenarios.

Those are really great points - but I think highlight a really important issue (flaw) about Freudian paradigms. No matter the scenario, a Freudian will be able to explain it in terms of Freudian paradigms, and thus concepts like ego, Id, and superego can never really be falsified. Thus it's difficult to know whether we are truly approaching psychological truth or falling into confirmation bias.

The antidote to confirmation bias is falsifiability, if a paradigm is capable of being proven wrong but it stands up to aggressive testing and scrutiny then I think we're a little safer to assume its validity. That's why I could never classify myself as a Freudian - but one thing is for sure, he has had an absolute astounding impact on thought both psychologically and to the general perception of psychology.

Perhaps if one were to instead think of ego, Id, and superego as metaphors, then one might be a little safer instead of assuming these are 'true' subdivisions of the mind. In the same way, I can imagine a distant generation looking back at us and wondering how we ever treated the concept of 'I' or 'self' seriously. Perhaps, even suggesting that we treat those words as metaphors rather than being ground in physical reality. 😮🤓

Daniel Sumner

Mar 02, 2022

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Hi Eve,

I see no one has attempted to answer this yet - so I'll try and have a go.

I must confess that I'm definitely no Freudian, I'm more in Anna Freud's camp based upon her work with children and her philanthropic approach to research.

Personally, I sit well within the confines of cognitive psychology (over the top of which is shaken a little behaviourism as condiment)

However, I can provide some insights on the various facets of psychoanalysis you mention. I have with me 'Gross psychology' as a reference to make sure I don't stray. Now in its eighth edition would definitely reccomend.

ID Please!

The Id as Freud understands it, is that most primative and primal part of ourselves. It is wholly concerned with basic drives, sex, food etc. It has no inbuilt moral or ethical guidance. The id is in a sense concerned wholly with the biological needs and gratification of the moment.

Healthy Ego?

The ego attempts to rein in the impulses of the Id. Where the Id resemebles the passions of the soul, the ego represents something akin to reason. The ego represents an ability to postpone gratification until an 'appropriate time is reached'. The ego contains something called the reality principle - and this refers to the ability to delay gratification.

Supersized Ego

It is the development of the superego in which the adult reaches moral maturity. The entirety of a moral and ethical dictionary becomes internalised via social norms. Where the parents once were repsonsible for the monitoring of behaviour (ego) the superego takes over (Freud, 1923 as cited in Gross Psychology [seventh ed] pg. 590). Easy way to think of the superego is sitting upon the shoulder of the ego acting as a Jiminy Cricket type of character. There to assure the more compass of the ego is working as it should.

Glass half empty

Freud's theory is deeply and philosophically pessimistic towards the nature of humanity. It implies the undying conflict between the self and others. A constant battle that can never be truly conquered. So it would be extremely unlikely that the individual could help themselves without the aid of a psychotherapist.

It must have been a breath of fresh air when Maslow came on to the scene to provide a counterbalance to the pessimisitic determinism of Freud.

I think you may enjoy a couple of fictional books that feature psychoanalysis in the context of crime: 'The interpretation of murder' and 'The death instinct' written as a series and by the American author Jed Rubenfeld.