Sigmund Freuds Personality - Essay Example

According to Sigmund Freud, the structure of personality is composed of three elements that each work together in order to produce the complex behaviors of human beings. The first is the id, which includes the functions in the irrational or emotional part of the mind. The second is the ego, which includes the functions in the rational part of the mind. The third is the superego, which includes the functions in the moral part of the mind. Taken together, these different segments of the mind produce human psychology.

Inherent to this psychology is the existence of conflict as an intrinsic and chronic piece of human experience.The psychoanalytic theories of Freud and others hypothesize that the conflict between the id and superego, which are negotiated by the ego, is the most fundamental conflict in the human psyche. This struggle between a person’s primitive, irrational urges and their attention to moral and social values culminates in most of the commonly observed problems for individuals. Freud thought that psychoanalysis, by dealing with this essential conflict, would help individual people cope with their conflicts and perhaps even resolve them through time.

While the id develops from birth and is an embodiment of an individual’s primitive, animalistic desires, the ego develops subsequently with the realization that one cannot always get what he or she wants at a basic level. Instead, the ego recognizes the need for compromise and negotiation with other individuals. In this manner, the ego rejects instant gratification and instead seeks the highest degree of satisfaction, even if that requires waiting and planning. Ego-strength refers to how well the ego copes with the conflict with the primitivism of the id.

The superego, which comprises the moral part of an individual’s personality, is based on social and moral values. It is divided between the rules that regulate good, valued behaviors and those behaviors that are what society or other influences describe as bad behaviors. A superego that is too strong produces constant guilt and is psychologically unhealthy to psychoanalysts.