Its the ego's job to meet the needs of the id, while taking into consideration the reality of the situation.īy the age of five, or the end of the phallic stage of development, the Superego develops.

The ego understands that other people have needs and desires and that sometimes being impulsive or selfish can hurt us in the long run. The ego is based on the reality principle. Within the next three years, as the child interacts more and more with the world, the second part of the personality begins to develop. When the id wants something, nothing else is important. They have no care for time, whether their parents are sleeping, relaxing, eating dinner, or bathing. If you think about it, babies are not real considerate of their parents' wishes. The id doesn't care about reality, about the needs of anyone else, only its own satisfaction. When the child is uncomfortable, in pain, too hot, too cold, or just wants attention, the id speaks up until his or her needs are met. When the child needs to be changed, the id cries.

When a child is hungry, the id wants food, and therefore the child cries. In other words, the id wants whatever feels good at the time, with no consideration for the reality of the situation. Freud believed that the id is based on our pleasure principle. The id is an important part of our personality because as newborns, it allows us to get our basic needs met. Structural Model (id, ego, superego)Īccording to Freud, we are born with our Id. He also believed that different driving forces develop during these stages which play an important role in how we interact with the world. Sigmund Freud's theory is quite complex and although his writings on psychosexual development set the groundwork for how our personalities developed, it was only one of five parts to his overall theory of personality.

Chapter 3.6: Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral Development.

Chapter 3.5: Freud’s Ego Defense Mechanisms.

Chapter 3.4: Freud’s Structural & Topographical Model.

Chapter 3.3: Freud’s Stages of Psychosexual Development.

Chapter 3.2: Erikson’s Stages of Psychosocial Development.

Chapter 3.1: Motor & Cognitive Development.

Freud superego