Q.How does Freud explain the structure of personality?

According to Freud, personality has three structural elements that reside in the unconscious as forces: the id, the ego and the superego (they are concepts, not physical structures).

• Id — the source of instinctual (largely sexual and aggressive) energy; it seeks immediate gratification of primitive needs and works on the pleasure principle, ignoring morality and reality.
• Ego — grows out of the id and satisfies the id's needs realistically; it works on the reality principle, directing the id towards appropriate behaviour.
• Superego — the moral branch that internalises parental authority through socialisation and tells the id and ego whether gratification is ethical. …

Freud's structural model

According to Freud's psychodynamic theory, the primary structural elements of personality are three: id, ego and superego. They reside in the unconscious as forces and can be inferred from the ways people behave. Freud stressed that id, ego and superego are concepts, not real physical structures. In terms of individual functioning, he thought of the unconscious as composed of these three competing forces; in some people the id is stronger, in others the superego, and the relative strength of the three determines a person's stability.

Id

The id is the source of a person's instinctual energy. It deals with the immediate gratification of primitive needs, sexual desires and aggressive impulses. It works on the pleasure principle, which assumes that people seek pleasure and try to avoid pain. The id does not care for moral values, society or other individuals. Freud considered much of a person's instinctual energy to be sexual and the rest aggressive. For example, the id of a boy who wants an ice-cream cone tells him simply to grab the cone and eat it.

Ego

The ego grows out of the id and seeks to satisfy the individual's instinctual needs in accordance with reality. It works on the reality principle and often directs the id towards more appropriate ways of behaving. In the ice-cream example, the ego tells the boy that if he grabs the cone without asking he may be punished, so the best way to achieve gratification is to ask for permission. Thus, while the id is demanding, unrealistic and works on the pleasure principle, the ego is patient, reasonable and works by the reality principle.

Superego

The superego is best understood as the moral branch of mental functioning. It tells the id and the ego whether gratification in a particular instance is ethical. It helps control the id by internalising parental authority through the process of socialisation. In the example, if the boy asks his mother for the ice-cream, his superego indicates that his behaviour is morally correct, so obtaining the ice-cream this way will not create guilt, fear or anxiety.

Instinctual forces and consciousness …