Freudian Personality: Id, Ego, Superego

Hello everyone. This post will be written within the scope of Freudian thinking. I would not consider myself a Freudian however all information regarding this specific topic is provided through this lens, so I will follow suit. The topic of this post will be on the Freud’s understanding of personality, specifically the Id, Ego, and Superego.

Personality

Personality has been the point of many conversations throughout our life, whether we want to believe it or not. If it wasn’t we wouldn’t have countless personality tests that can be taken at any given time to explain our personality in various contexts. You may want to know how your personality would impact what house you would be a part of in Harry Potter or maybe you want to know what character from How I Met Your Mother your personality matches the most with. No matter the case, this topic comes up time and time again in various forms. However, I want to explore personality today at the base level. In future posts I will build upon what is discussed today as well as the theory that this explanation comes from.

Id

The Id is explained to be the more instinctive aspect of the personality. This is where your primitive and sexual desires manifest. There’s no right or wrong when it comes to this specific part of your personality. All that matters are your desires and how you plan to make those desires a reality. To make a real-life example, think of a newborn baby. Freud explains that at this stage in a person’s life, they are all id. When a baby wants something, it would cry until it receives what they were looking for. Doesn’t matter the consequences of this action, they just know they want something and the best way for them to reach this solution is to cry until they receive it. That’s how the id operates. It wants its desires filled by any means necessary. This is explained as the Pleasure Principle by Freud.

Superego

Now the superego is explained as the moralistic aspect of an individual’s personality. It’s also responsible for the emotional rewards of an action. For example, say you see a homeless person on the street and you help them with some money and food. Your superego would make you feel proud for helping that person. However, using that same example, say instead of helping them you ridicule them for being homeless. Your superego would reward you with shame and guilt. This aspect of your personality acts like a checks and balances for the id. Seeing as the id is impulsive, the superego is like the militant parent to make sure that the id is staying in line. You could also think of the superego as your conscience or the voice in your head keeping you in check.

Ego

Lastly, we have the ego. This is the most realistic part of the personality. Think of the ego as the referee in a boxing match. It’s a longstanding rivalry in this fight. In the right corner we got the Id wearing the blue trunks and in the left we got the superego wearing the red trunks. The ego acts as the mediator between these two parts of the personality and the output is the personality that we show to the world. You could even think about the ego as the modified id. The id has been there since birth. But due to external factors it had to grow. Think of the nature vs. nurture conversation. This topic is always debated in reference to the determination of fate. However, I believe that it is a combination of the two. Your environment plus your upbringing will determine how you come out in the long run. The same thing can be said about your personality. Your surroundings combined with your family structure and general upbringing will determine who you are at the end.