james strachey argued that the psyche contained three components called the id ego and super-ego.
james strachey argued that the psyche contained three components called the id ego and super-ego.
who argued that the psyche contained three components called the id ego and super-ego?
james strachey
id, ego and super-ego









































the id, ego, and super-ego are three distinct, yet interacting agents in the psychic apparatus defined in sigmund freud's structural model of the psyche.









































the three parts are the theoretical constructs of how the activity and interaction in our mental life is described. according to this freudian model of the psyche, the id is the set of uncoordinated instinctual trends; the super-ego plays the critical and moralizing role; and the ego is the organized, realistic part that mediates between the desires of the id and the super-ego.
id, ego and super-ego
the ego is the organized part of the personality structure that includes defensive, perceptual, intellectual-cognitive, and executive functions. conscious awareness resides in the ego, although not all of the operations of the ego are conscious. originally, freud used the word ego to mean a sense of self, but later revised it to mean a set of psychic functions such as judgment, tolerance, reality testing, control, planning, defense, synthesis of information, intellectual functioning, and memory. the ego separates out what is real. it helps us to organize our thoughts and make sense of them and the world around us. "the ego is that part of the id which has been modified by the direct influence of the external world. ...the ego represents what may be called reason and common sense, in contrast to the id, which contains the passions...in its relation to the id it is like a person on horseback, who has to hold in check the superior strength of the horse; with this difference, that the rider tries to do so with their own strength, while the ego uses borrowed forces." still worse, "it serves three severe masters...the external world, the super-ego and the id." its task is to find a balance between primitive drives and reality while satisfying the id and super-ego. its main concern is with the individual's safety and allows some of the id's desires to be expressed, but only when consequences of these actions are marginal. "thus the ego, driven by the id, confined by the super-ego, repulsed by reality, struggles...[in] bringing about harmony among the forces and influences working in and upon it," and readily "breaks out in anxiety—realistic anxiety regarding the external world, moral anxiety regarding the super-ego, and neurotic anxiety regarding the strength of the passions in the id." it has to do its best to suit all three, thus is constantly feeling hemmed by the danger of causing discontent on two other sides. it is said, however, that the ego seems to be more loyal to the id, preferring to gloss over the finer details of reality to minimize conflicts while pretending to have a regard for reality. but the super-ego is constantly watching every one of the ego's moves and punishes it with feelings of guilt, anxiety, and inferiority.
id, ego and super-ego