This means that it responds immediately and unconsciously (or involuntarily) to the needs, urges and desires of the body. Moreover, id constitutes the unconscious part of personality. However, as far as the id alone is concerned, it only cares about tension reduction. This does not necessarily mean that all human behaviours (caused by id) would involve socially unacceptable ways of goal achievement because there are two other mechanisms (ego and superego) that regulate the expression of id. This means that id is only concerned about the reduction of tension without carrying whether the route to goal achievement is right or wrong. For instance, if an individual feels hungry, he will experience a state of tension which drives him to eat something to reduce the state of tension.Īccording to Freud, id may not care about logical or rational considerations but only wants to reduce the state of tension caused by instinctual drives. In order to reduce this state of tension, the instinct compels an individual to engage in a pleasure-seeking behavior. When an instinct is not fulfilled, it creates a state of tension or pain. This is because an instinct is basically a drive that needs to be met. Similarly, the expression of aggressive behavior is because of the inborn instinct for aggression.Īccording to Freud, id work on the pleasure-seeking principle. An individual shows a desire (libido) for sex because it is his inborn instinct. For instance, sex and aggression are two instincts. According to Freud, an individual is born with certain instincts and biological drives which influence his behaviour throughout his life. It also has the function of persuading the ego to turn to moralistic goals rather than simply realistic ones and to strive for perfection”.Id is the primary part of the personality which consists of instincts and innate biological drives (e.g., hunger, thirst, sleep, sex, to be relieved from pain). “The superego’s function is to control the id’s impulses, especially those which society forbids, such as sex and aggression. for the potential whistleblower) may not necessarily be the action we believe is right (blowing the whistle). For example, in business ethics what is pragmatic (and causes least pain – think e.g. There can be a conflict between values and desires (id) or with the reality principle (ego) at any time with the human psyche. The superego is idealistic and led by values (even if the values prove to be imposed by our upbringing, and irrational). So in a sense the superego can be in conflict with either ego or id, but seeks to create some moral order on both (and any conflict between them). neurotic) only be liberated from unconscious (repressed) desires or suppressed feelings by therapy. However, as it is a product of parental and social ideas of right and wrong it can also be the source of irrational guilt, for example, about sexual feelings or behaviours, and correspond to an ‘immature conscience’. As the superego is our moral controlling mechanism (Freudian origin of conscience), it seeks to reconcile contradictory feelings, desires and goals within the psyche. It is pragmatic (in a utilitarian sense, consequentialist).ģ. In this sense ego and id are in conflict, as in the two horses of Plato’s chariot (passions verus ideals) which may pull in opposite directions in behavioural terms. The ego is trying to impose some rational order on the id. The ego comprises an idea of self or a projection of our self identity (who am I?) – where the pleasure principle is moderated by ‘the reality principle’ (in a sense determining ‘what we can live with’), as the attached weblink expresses it “working out realistic ways of satisfying the id’s demands, often compromising or postponing satisfaction to avoid negative consequences of society”. The ego is ‘like a man on horseback, who has to hold in check the superior strength of the horse.’” ( see weblink below)Ģ. “Freud made the analogy of the id being a horse while the ego is the rider. Freud used a related horse analogy (a bit different for the charioteer) There is actually a conflict also within the id between eros (creative life instinct) and thanatos (destructive death instinct) – an intriguing idea when we consider the way society misuses and misunderstands the role of eros in the psyche. The picture is of the screaming and demanding infant that needs to be taught/develop self-control. It represents the unruly passions – one of the horse’s pulling Plato’s chariot in the analogy of the charioteer. As the id is primitive (infantile), and in a sense compulsive part of the psyche, and driven by the ‘pleasure principle’.
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