Structure of Personality

The Structure of Personality
Sigmund Freud is the considered the founding father of psychoanalysis, as he was the first person to take on the task of exploring the human personality. His theory on the structure of personality is depicted as an iceberg, in which a small portion is visible representing consciousness while the all-encompassing unconscious mind lies beneath the water. Freud constructed a theory in which the total personality is conceived as a trinity composed of the id, superego, and the ego. These three entities constantly wage war against each other but must find a common ground which they must work together to create a balance in the whole person. In his book, A Primer of Freudian Psychology, Calvin S. Hall noted that the purpose of these complex transactions is the, “fulfillment of man’s basic needs and desires,” (p. 22). We will examine the characteristics of these three entities that construct personality in depth and how Freud interpreted them.
Our unconscious mind is solely made composed of the id, which is where our most basic instincts lie and pushes for an instant gratification. The id’s initial function, as explained by Hall, is to, “fulfill the primordial or initial principle of life…which is called the pleasure principle,” (p.22). Instilled from birth, the id is where our sexual, physical, and emotional pleasures are withheld and exploited without any rational thought behind our actions. Freud introduced the pleasure principle to further explain what drives the id, which is to avoid tension and stress or to somehow alleviate it while promoting pleasure and satisfaction. As a result of our basic instinct, we always try to do what will gratify and satisfy ourselves with intentions to avoid any type of pain. The consequences for our actions are disregarded. An example of this would be a hungry child finding a way to satisfy their hunger suddenly they come across a birthday cake; the child knows that the cake is not for them but driven by the id, the child indulges in the cake without taking into consideration of who it is intended for or the consequences that will come of this abrupt action. Through this action, the child eliminates hunger through the gratification of consuming the cake and exploiting feelings of pleasure from him or her indulging in the cake. Not only is the id composed of primitive behavior, this is where the unconscious mind stores repressed memories, claims Phillip Zimbardo author of Psychology Core Concepts (2012). The unconscious mind is a powerful weapon; it stores information deep within a person. Often times these memories creep into our conscious minds, which drives the id even more to subside pain and displace it with any of the three basic pleasures.
According to Zimbardo, within our conscience mind resides a “virtual parent” called the superego. This is where our morals are stored and put into action. The superego represents the ideal as opposed to the reality of situations, causing an overly rational reaction in situations and does not take into consideration that pleasure is not presented to satisfy one’s self. When Freud initially composed his structure of personality without the superego, through much thought and evaluation it was then added as the inheritor of the Oedipus complex, as introduced by James Grotstein who wrote Notes on the Superego. The Oedipus complex is where males feel an attraction to their mothers and feelings of hatred towards their father. As the male matures they begin to identify with the father and displace the mother with another female who they find attractive. This theory helps further explain the previously stated “virtual parent” Zimbardo referred to. The ego ideal focuses purely on what is good and the type of person an individual should strive to become, which again makes pleasure inferior to our morals and what is right. A child learns what is good and bad through familiarity with punishment (Hall, p. 31). If the child is constantly getting in trouble for being untidy, these actions will result in the child understanding being dirty is bad and not morally acceptable in their superego mind. The superego can be associated with classical conditioning, due to the nature of how every action will have some type consequence whether it is good or bad. The preconscious mind is associated with the superego, because certain information is stored in neither the unconscious or conscious mind therefore Freud developed the preconscious mind as storage for such ready-to-use information (Zimbardo, p. 327). The ego is at the tip of the iceberg; it represents our conscious mind and acts a as a mediator between the id and the superego. Hall states that ego is the executive of the personality and that it, “controls and governs the id and the superego and maintaining commerce with the external world,” (Hall, p. 28). The conscious mind is responsible for being rational and finding a balance between our morals and desires. James E. Marcia, author of Ego Identity and Personality Disorders, goes on to explain that the balance of the ego serves its purpose through furnishing a coherent picture of the developments of personality (p. 577). In contrast to the pleasure principle of the id, the reality principle is focused on the situation at hand and provides a reasonable response. This response may either result in an alternative solution or waiting to exert energy until there is an object to satisfy the need. Goals become more tangible and obtainable through this process, because energy is not exerted quickly or from not being applied at all. According to Marcus West, writer of The Narrow Use of the Term Ego in Analytical Psychology; the ‘not I’ is also who I am, states how Freud was interested in ‘the ego system’; the ego system is capable of growing and developing, while functioning as a mediator between individual and reality (p. 370). An example of how the ego operates is an adult finding a wallet in a supermarket. The id wants to keep it and see if there is any money, while the superego wants to drop it and walk away since it does not belong to the person who found it. The ego decides to look at the driver’s license to either identify the person or take it directly to an authority figure within the establishment. With this concept of Freud’s structure of personality, the external world can be perceived accurately and with precision (Hall, p. 29).
Freud is considered a radical figure in psychology and often times criticized, due to the fact that he was a pioneer and introduced a new school of thought in psychology and conceived the structure of personality. “Freud stood for a philosophy of life that is based on science rather than on metaphysics or religion,” (Hill, p. 20). Like Freud, I too base theory and philosophy from science, due to its nature of concrete evidence and the ability to conduct further research. Today, he is often criticized and attacked for his theories, yet many other psychologists have adopted his ideas into their own work. Freud was inspired by Jean Charcot’s demonstrations with hypnotism, while many others continue to be inspired by Freud’s theories and developments. The structure of personality is the perfect breakdown of how the different levels of our consciousness operate and interact with each other. His theory of how the id and superego constantly act against each is fascinating in its own nature and is similar to the analogy of having an angel on one shoulder and the devil on the other. There are these two opposing forces fighting to gain total control of a personality, but one has to look within oneself and weigh out the pros and cons to find the best solution that neither satisfies nor disappoints. A sacrifice must be made in order to keep a personality sane, because an excess of satisfaction to the id can become detrimental to the preservation of a healthy personality and deprivation through the superego can cause withdraw from society as a result of its stern nature.
As the id and battle each other for the control of a personality, it is ultimately up to the go to decipher what is best for itself. Without the existence of the personality complex, a person’s basics needs would not be met or fulfilled; the id, superego, and the ego bring a balance through all of the chaos created by each ones struggle to dominant the personality. Considering he was the first to explore this development, Freud created a theory that is remarkable accurate and still holds value after almost a century of its development. Many have tried to displace his original work, but it has been impossible considering the logic Freud put behind the structure of personality and dared to explore the unknown mind.