Module 11 - Mental Health Issues

Handout - Personality Development

Id Ego

HD 11-1

SuperEgo

Levels of Awareness
Conscious
Awareness of surroundings, what is happening and able to control thoughts and behaviours
Composed of biological, instinctual drives Innate (born w/ it) Seeks immediate, indiscriminate gratification Source of all mental energy Obeys the pleasure principle: pleasure is good and - nothing else matters Gratifying urges returns body to homeostasis

Organized, rational, realityoriented system Develops first 2 years of life as infant experiences reality Holds Id in check until suitable object is found Helps Id achieve gratification within confines of reality Prevents Id drives from violating superego principles Obeys the reality principle: behaviour takes into account the external wotld

Learned Inhibits (or brakes) Id urges Strives for perfection Irrational, operates on extremes - good or bad Ego ideals - the person wed like to be Developed through rewards Conscience - Right and wrong Developed through punishment

Sub Conscious
Memories, past experiences and thoughts that can be recalled by the person

Unconscious
Experiences and feelings that cannot be remembered

Libido - biological force/ energy underling pleasureseeking activity

Freuds Structural Model

Freud believed that personality has three structures: the id, the ego, and the superego. The id is the Freudian structure of personality that consists of instincts, which are an individual's reservoir of psychic energy. The Id In Freud's view, the id is totally unconscious; it has no contact with reality. As children experience the demands and constraints of reality, a new structure of personality emerges- the ego, The Ego The Freudian structure of personality that deals with the demands of reality. The ego is called the executive branch of personality because it uses reasoning to make decisions. The id and the ego have no morality. They do not take into account whether something is right or wrong. The SuperEgo The superego is the Freudian structure of personality that is the moral branch of personality. The superego takes into account whether something is right or wrong. Think of the superego as what we often refer to as our "conscience." You probably are beginning to sense that both the id and the superego make life rough for the ego. Your ego might say, "I will have sex only occasionally and be sure to take the proper precautions because I don't want the intrusion of a child in the development of my career." However, your id is saying, "I want to be satised; sex is pleasurable." Your superego is at work, too: "I feel guilty about having sex before I'm married." Remember that Freud considered personality to be like an iceberg; most of personality exists below our level of awareness, just as the massive part of an iceberg is beneath the surface of the water. Freud believed that most of the important personality processes occur below the level of conscious awareness. In examining people's conscious thoughts about their behaviors, we can see some reections of the ego and the superego. Whereas the ego and superego are partly conscious and partly unconscious, the primitive id is the unconscious, the totally submerged part of the iceberg How does the ego resolve the conict among its demands for reality, the wishes of the id, and constraints of the superego? Through defense mechanisms, the psychoanalytic term for unconscious methods the ego uses to distort reality, thereby protecting it from anxiety. In Freud's view, the conicting demands of the personality structures produce anxiety. For example, when the ego blocks the pleasurable pursuits of the id, inner anxiety is felt. This diffuse, distressed state develops when the ego senses that the id is going to cause harm to the individual. The anxiety alerts the ego to resolve the conict by means of defense mechanisms. Repression is the most powerful and pervasive defense mechanism, according to Freud; it works to push unacceptable id impulses out of awareness and back into the unconscious mind. Repression is the foundation from which all other defense mechanisms work; the goal of every defense mechanism is to repress, or push threatening impulses out of awareness. Freud said that our early childhood experiences, many of which he believed are sexually laden, are too threatening and stressful for us to deal with consciously. We reduce the anxiety of this conict through the defense mechanism of repression. ! 1 of 1 Source: www.essortment.com