Freud's Ego Stages

[PSYCHODYNAMIC]

The Structure of the Personality

1. Freud suggested that personality comprised of three interrelated parts: Id, ego, superego

1. The Id (sexual energy; aggressive energy). Pleasure principle.
2. The Superego: incorporates norms and values.
3. The Ego: mediates between the Id, the world, and the Superego. Reality principle.

ID: fundamental component of personality (it)
- reservoir of instinctual energy, or libido, and is completely unconscious
- provides the energy, power for the operation of the whole personality
- closely related to bodily processes from which it derives its energy
- contents of the id are repressed, kept from reaching conscious level
- operates by the pleasure principle: discharges increases in tension (if energy builds up due to environmental stimulation or internal changes, then it tries to discharge this energy as easily and quickly as possible)

Ego (I)
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