responsible for much of your everyday behavior. Understanding the influence
of the unconscious, particularly on what might be termed “abnormal behav-
ior,”is the key to appreciating the psychoanalytic perspective.
The Structural Model
Freud soon discovered that the topographic model provided a limited descrip-tion of human personality. He therefore added the structural model , which
divides personality into the id, the ego, and the superego. Just as you oftensay,“One part of me wants to do one thing, and another part wants to do
something else, ”so did Freud conceive of the personality as being made up
of parts often not at peace with one another.
Freud maintained that at birth there is but one personality structure, the
id. This is the selfish part of you, concerned only with satisfying your per-
sonal desires. Actions taken by the id are based on the pleasure principle. In
other words, the id is concerned only with what brings immediate personal
satisfaction regardless of physical or social limitations. When babies see some-
thing they want, they reach for it. It doesn’ t matter whether the object be-
longs to someone else or that it may be harmful. And this reflexive action
doesn ’t disappear when we become adults. Rather, Freud maintained, our id
impulses are ever present, held in check by the other parts of a healthy adult
personality.
Obviously, if the id were to rely only on reflexive action to get what it
wants, our pleasure impulses would be frustrated most of the time. There-fore, Freud proposed that the id also uses wish fulfillment to satisfy its
needs. That is, if the desired object is not available, the id will imagine
what it wants. If a baby is hungry and doesn ’t see food nearby, the id imagi-
nes the food and thereby at least temporarily satisfies the need. As discussed
later in this chapter, Freud argued that our dreams also are a type of wish
fulfillment.
As shown in Figure 3.1, Freud described the id as buried entirely in the
unconscious and therefore outside of our awareness. Indeed, because manyid impulses center on themes of sexuality and aggression, it is probably good
that we are not aware of this unconscious material.
As children interact with their environment during the first 2 years of life,
the second part of the personality structure gradually develops. The actions of
theegoare based on the reality principle. That is, the primary job of the ego
is to satisfy id impulses, but in a manner that takes into consideration the re-
alities of the world. Because id impulses tend to be socially unacceptable, they
are threatening to us. The ego ’s job is to keep these impulses in the uncon-
scious. Unlike the id, your ego moves freely among the conscious, precon-
scious, and unconscious parts of your mind.
However, the ego ’s function is not simply to frustrate the aims of the id.
Freud maintained that human behavior is directed toward reducing tension,such as the tension we feel when impulsive needs —even unconscious ones —
are unmet. Very young children might be allowed to grab food off their par-
ents’plates and thereby reduce tension. But as infants mature, they learn the
physical and social limits on what they can and cannot do. Your id impulse*Excerpts from Collected
Papers, Vol. III by
Sigmund Freud. Author-
ized translation under
the supervision of Alix
and James Strachey.Published by Basic Books,
Inc. by arrangement with
the Hogarth Press Ltd.
and The Institute of
Psycho-Analysis, London.“In its relation to the
id, [the ego] is like a
man on horseback,
who has to hold incheck the superior
strength of the horse,
[but] is obliged toguide it where it
wants to go. ”
Sigmund Freud*44 CHAPTER 3 The Psychoanalyt ic Approach