So our ID demands we do something else, our super ego demands something else and our ego is like the middle person between the two. Our ego is the one that comes up with the answer that suits use at that time.
There are advantages to Freud’s theory; it is that there are different therapies, such as family and social therapy, child therapy, group therapy etc. Freud’s theory remains and important part of the psychodynamic model. It has been adapted over the years by different psychodynamic therapists. It is still used today but it cannot be scientifically tested.
Looking at each stage in more detail and researching it further I have found out the following.
The ID effects our motivation and our behaviour. It is the selfish side of our personality. The ID side creates urges and impulses that makes use feel the need to satisfy that urge e.g. if we have the urge for chocolate then we satisfy that need by eating chocolate. Our OD develops continuously from birth. It is like the childish side of our mind and we don’t grow out of it. This tells use that in life we need pleasure; it’s our unconscious side of our minds.
As we go from infants to adolescents you can see the progression our mind makes through various stages of the psychodynamic model, we know this as a development. In infants ID is the strongest stage. It controls our basic drives like our drive for food, water and comfort. Our libido drives our ID. So if a person is selfish and expects the world to evolve around them, that means there ID is the strongest side of there mind. If there needs are not satisfied then they feel anger, annoyed or upset. This could lead to conflict in a family or partnership.
Our ego as I said is the conscious part of our mind. The ego side of our mind is the more mature side of our mind. It rationalises our ID as it has experience of the real world and understands limitations. Our ego kind of keeps us on track. It’s the side of our mind that stops use from doing things we don’t want to do. For example if someone asks you to rob a bank our ego would tell use that’s not the right thing to do and so we wouldn’t do it. It is said our ego develops within the first two years of our life. We know when ego is developing in children because they may show signs of resistance e.g. to food or colours. His shows they are making the own decisions. Before this they would accept what they are given. This is all to do with the conscious part of our minds.
When the ID has impulses to get something our ego will try and reason with it displaying out its advantages and limitations. It will try to come to a compromise so that the satisfaction is achieved. If the ID is that strong and the desire is that high then it will override the ego in order to gain that satisfaction.
Super ego judges the demands of the ID and the ego and tries to rationalise the thoughts and create a balance between right and wrong, morals and values which come from there parents. We learn this during childhood. Hence if we do something wrong we feel the sense of guilt because we know that it’s wrong. We learn this from the age of five upwards.
Our ego and super ego controls situations we find ourselves in. They help us to decide what to do and what is the correct thing to do; do the right thing and it’s appropriate to the situation. For example a man finds a persons wallet on the floor when walking along the street. Our ID would tell us him to keep it but the ego and super ego would join together and work out that’s not the best thing to do and that he should hand it in to the police. I suppose it is like a fight ID vs. EGO and super ego.
To briefly summarise, our ID is the first side and is our personality, this develops from birth. Our ego then develops which is based on conscious experiences of the real world. Our super ego is the last to develop and is the balancing entity between the ID and the ego.
As we grow up we all develop a personality. To develop a personality we use our ID, ego and super ego. We go through stages during childhood; Freud said it’s like having five completely different personalities.
There are oral, anal, phallic, latency and genital. The oral stage is the first stage of Freud's stages of psychosexual development, lasting from birth to 18 months. According to Freud, the mouth is the primary erogenous zone through which pleasure is derived. The major conflict issue during this stage is the weaning process, during which the child is forced to become less dependent upon caretakers. A fixation at this stage can result in problems with dependency or aggression. The anal stage is the second stage in Sigmund Freud’s theory of psychosexual development, lasting from age 18 months to three years. According to Freud, the anus is the primary erogenous zone and pleasure is derived from controlling bladder and bowl movement. The major conflict issue during this stage is toilet training. A fixation at this stage can result in a personality that is too rigid or one that is too disordered. The phallic stage is the third stage of Freud’s stages of psychosexual development, lasting from age three years to six years. According to Freud, the genitals are the primary erogenous zone and pleasure is derived from genital stimulation. The primary conflict at this stage is a desire to possess the opposite-sex parent. Completion of this stage results in identifying with the same-sex parent. The genital stage is the fifth and final stage of Freud’s stages of psychosexual development that begins during puberty. During this stage, the individual develops a strong interest in the opposite sex. If the other psychosexual stages have been successfully completed, the individual will develop into a well-balanced, warm, and caring adult.
Each one of theses stages will present us with a challenge. Each stage we achieve and tick of means that we mature that little bit more and it matures into full personalities.
Fixation is when a child experiences problems achieving a certain stage of development. If a child fails to overcome this challenge then this can lead to regression which will affect our behaviour making us more immature.
According to Freud conflict can arise between the three stages of our mind and apparently everyone at some time in there life will experience this. This happens when the ID demands the need for something. Our ego has to balance theses demands with the super ego. Sometimes our demands can be declined because of the morals and values which we learnt from our parents and people around us. This is where conflict is caused between our ID, ego and super ego. Freud believes that we will all go through this stage of conflict at some time. It is of high importance that we do resolve conflict though. There are three common defence mechanisms theses are repression, denial and projection. A mechanism that protects you from impulses or any ideas that might cause an impulse is repression. Denial is a defence mechanism which a person is faced with a fact that is too uncomfortable to accept and rejects it instead, insisting that it is not true despite what may be overwhelming. Projection is defence mechanism against anxiety or guilt.
We feel better in ourselves if all three stages of the psychodynamic model are working in harmony with each other. We can function peacefully without stress or anxiety.
Previous experiences can affect our minds and can lead to an imbalance because we are unsure how to handle theses situations and experiences.
Freud developed a number of forms of psychodynamic therapy to help people with conflicts. It has been proven to be of benefit and has helped to restore harmony between the ID, ego and super ego.
So emotionally as long as each stage of the mind is balanced and satisfied we will be at peace, worry and stress free. An imbalance in the stages will affect use emotionally maybe make us anger or upset for example. It will also affect our behaviour. Freud’s theory has been of great benefit to us and even though it isn’t scientifically proven it has helped psychoanalysts to develop this research and theory further.
Reference:
Freud for Beginners (2003), By Richard Appignanesi, Pantheon Books
The Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud: Two Case Histories (2001), by Sigmund Freud, Vintage.
The Ego and the Id (1962), By S Freud, W. W. Norton & Co.
