Freud's The Unconscious

Freud did not invent the idea of a conscious and unconscious mind; he merely popularized it. He likened his theory of the unconscious to that of an iceberg, the conscious mind being the miniscule, exposed half, the tip of it. Whereas the unconscious mind is made up of the massive submerged half. The unconscious mind contains all of our biologically based instincts Eros and Thanatos, our primal urges for sex and aggression respectively. These instincts and primitive impulses our repressed, however, Freud believed that these impulses are always dormant.

by Joël, Evelyñ, François

The unconscious is composed of three structural elements within the mind: the id, ego, and superego. The id is the equivalent to the devil one’s shoulder, representing the instinctual primitive impulses and instant gratification. It is characterized as disregardful to external forces such as time and reality; it has no care for the needs of others, only its own satisfaction. The id is most dominant during childhood, specifically from birth. Children have raw senses and at that age, the pleasure principle is bliss for them; the id wants whatever feels good at the time. When a child is hungry, the id wants food, and then the child cries. Whatever the child needs are at the time, it will cry, whether it’ll be needing a change, in pain, hot, cold, or neglected, it will cry until its needs are met.

In the next few years, when the child is around three or four, the second part of their personality will once they’ve interacted with the world long enough: the ego. Then, when they turn five and reached the end of the phallic stage of their development, they would have begun developing the superego personality. The superego is the conscience, the angel on one’s shoulder, the moral center to counteract the id and keep it in check.

However, the superego is also social acquired, given that it takes a few before a child can understand social conventions and morality. Because of this, the previously unacceptable and immoral behaviors that used to be exhibited by the id are now repressed; it’s one of the most fundamental defense mechanisms in regulating behaviors it deems reprehensible. Unacceptable thoughts, emotions, and memories are never destroyed; they are only repressed and stored in the unconscious. Because of this, these unacceptable thoughts and emotions of symbolic significance occasionally resurface via slip of the tongue or the ‘Freudian slip’.

The ego serves as the mediator between the superego and the id, and is considered the strongest personality in a healthy person. It assesses the situation of satisfying the needs of the id and not upsetting the superego, however, it must also ensure that it maintains balance between the two personalities lest one dominates the other. If the id becomes too strong, the person would lead an impulsive life of self-gratification, or if the superego were dominant, the person would be unbending, judgmental, and driven by rigid morals.