Freud's Structural Model of Personality

Theory introduced to this world by the founder of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud. It was his view on identity; a personality is composed of three major components which are the ego, superego and id.

This model resembles the proverb angel on the right shoulder and devil on the left; this dictum represents the fight between good and evil. Or in this context what the child within wants (ID) vs. what is socially acceptable (Superego) and the ego’s role to be the median. It is there to balance the superego and the Id so they can both be satisfied, you can almost say it’s the referee.

Let’s look at them individually:

In the opinion of Sigmund Freud we come into this world with the Id and it is there at our birth. A good way to understand how he got to this conclusion is to look at a babies behaviour. When a child is hungry, the id wants food, and therefore the child cries. If the child needs attention, the id cries. When the infant is ill-at-ease, too hot or too cold, the id speaks up until his or her desideratum’s are met. To recapitulate, the id is based on our pleasure principle; in other words, the id wants whatever feels good at the time, with no consideration for the reality of the situation. When the id wants something, nothing else is important.

Sigmund Freud believed, that by three years of age we develop an ego. It is like mentioned above, the conciliator which is the middle ground between two antonyms. Its basis is the reality principle; the ego is understandable to other individual’s needs and desires. It is what makes us figure out that recklessness or selfishness can hurt us in the long run. We can say that without the ego the Id would take control, transform and most of humanity would convert to narcissism. The ego is the middle where both side compromise!

At five years of age the last part arrives, thus starting the battle of social approval vs. individual happiness. The superego is empathy, consciousness; that voice that makes you feel sympathy. The Superego is the moral part of us that develops because of restraints placed on us by our caregivers. It is the container that holds in place what we believe and think of the subject of right and wrong. The superego is the reason we are a social species!

According to this theory a healthy personality is the following; the Ego is the strongest and like this it can satisfy the Superego without aggravating the Id. It must also be capable of doing this while maintaining the reality of the situations. If the Id gets too strong, narcissistic tendencies will appear along with self gratification, impulses and pure selfishness which would take over the life of that person. If a person has a powerful superego it wouldl be an antonym.

"Transference neuroses correspond to a conflict between the ego and the id; narcissistic neuroses, to a conflict between the ego and the superego; and psychoses, to one between the ego and the external world."

—Freud, Neurosis and Psychosis (1923)

written by: Tarek Benzouak