3. The Id
This aspect of personality is entirely unconscious and includes the instinctive and
primitive behaviors.
Is driven by the pleasure principle, which strives for immediate gratification of all
desires, wants, and needs. If these needs are not satisfied immediately, the result is
a state anxiety or tension.
However immediately fulfilling these needs is not always realistic or even possible.
If we were ruled by the pleasure principle, we might find ourselves grabbing the
things that we want out of other people’s hands to satisfy our own cravings. This
sort of behavior would be both disruptive and socially unacceptable.
4. The Ego
Is the component of personality that is responsible for dealing with reality.
Functions in both the conscious, preconscious, and unconscious mind.
Operates based on reality principle, which strives to satisfy the id’s desire in
realistic and socially appropriate ways.
The reality principle weighs the costs and benefits of an action before deciding to
act upon or abandon impulses. In many cases, the id’s impulses can be satisfied
through a process of delayed gratification-the ego will eventually allow the
behavior, but only in the appropriate time and place.
5. The Superego
The aspect of personality that holds all our internalized moral standards and ideals
that we acquire from both parents and society-our sense of right and wrong.
Provides guidelines for making judgments.
The superego begins to emerge at around age five.
There are two parts of superego:
The Ego ideal – includes the rules and standards for good behaviors.
The Conscience – includes information about things that are viewed as bad by parents
and society.
The superego acts to prefer and civilize our behavior.
7. ORAL (0-1 yrs. Old)
During this stage, the mouth is the pleasure center for development. Freud
believed this is why infants are born with sucking reflex and desire their mother’s
breast. If a child’s oral needs are not met during infancy, he or she may develop
negative habits such us nail biting od thumb sucking to meet this basic need.
8. ANAL (1-3 yrs. Old)
During this stage, toddlers and preschool-aged children begin to experiment with
urine and feces. The control they learn to exert over their bodily functions is
manifested in toilet-training. Improper resolution of this stage, such as parents
toilet training their children too early, can result in a child who is uptight and
overly obsessed with order.
9. PHALLIC (3-6 yrs. Old)
During this stage, preschoolers take pleasure in their genitals and, according to
Freud, begin to struggle with sexual desires toward opposite sex parent (boys to
mother and girls to father). For boys, this is called the Oedipus complex, involving
a boy’s desire for his mother and his urge to replace his father who is seen as a
rival for the mother’s attention. At the same time, the boy is afraid his father will
punish him for his feelings, so he experiences castration anxiety.
10. LATENCY (6-12 yrs. Old
During this stage, sexual instincts subside, and children begin to further develop
the superego or conscience. Children begin to behave in morally acceptable ways
and adopt the values of their parents and other important adults.
11. GENITAL (12+ yrs. Old)
During this stage, sexual impulses reemerge. If other stages have been
successfully met, adolescents engage in appropriate sexual behavior, which may
lead to marriage and childbirth.