In psychology, discussions about the workings of the conscious mind have expanded, as have discussions about the workings of the subconscious mind. Believing in the existence of the subconscious mind, psychologists considered the subconscious mind to be the determinant of all human behavior. As a result of analyzing the behavior and characteristics of mentally disordered people, a special branch of psychology has been established, which is now called the Psycho-analytic School. The name of Sigmund Freud can be mentioned as the founder of this doctrine.
STRUCTURE OF MIND
If we were to compare the human mind to an ocean, pond or a river, then the upper layer or the surface would represent the conscious mind, the main bed would be identified with the subconscious, and the bottom would form the unconscious.
Freud, in parallel with his field classification, also divided the dynamic aspect of the mind into three levels. He said, the human mind works on three levels.
The three levels are – Id, Ego and Super-ego.
ID:-
Id is completely unconscious. But the most fundamental. It is the origin of all of humanity’s primal instincts. Its purpose is to satiate every innate urge of humanity. These needs enter a person’s life in two different ways.
First, the individual is born with certain tendencies.
Second, We have already said that the source of these innate tendencies is that various needs arise in personal life.
It isn’t always possible to link them to societal constraints. As a result, we repress these needs and desires in our subconscious. These natural demands and suppressed needs don’t stay dead in the subconscious. A ‘complex’ is formed between them. Because of this dynamic, According to Freud, these wants are constantly driven by the pleasure principle. always seeks to satisfy the mind’s ravenous cravings. And he values his happiness. However, interacting with the outside world is important to satisfy the varied demands of ID. One must overcome or succumb to the outside world. However, unconscious subconscious entities like the id cannot accomplish this.
EGO:-
Freud believed that early childhood encounters with the outside world, especially through socialisation, are what cause the ego to grow. It is essential to both the formation of personalities and the preservation of psychological stability.
According to Freud, the ego pursues realistic and socially acceptable means of sating the id’s cravings in accordance with the reality principle. It acts as the logical and conscious part of the mind, handling conflicts between the id, superego, and outside demands by utilising defence strategies like denial and suppression.
The id gives rise to the ego, which functions as a mediator between the three sets of forces—the superego’s etical and moral demands, the facts of the outside world, and the instinctive, irrational demands of the ID.
SUPER-EGO:-
The moral and ethical side of the psyche is represented by the super ego, which is the exact opposite of the id. It’s called “conscience,” or the judgement from within, and it often appears in children around the age of five. It is rooted in the unconscious, just like Id, but it is not controlled by man’s innate impulses or primal tendencies. Its nature is idealistic, and perfection—rather than destruction or the pursuit of pleasure—is its objective.
To affect behaviour, the superego interacts with the ego and other aspects of the psyche. It frequently clashes with the id, which is driven by primal cravings, and resolves these conflicts with a range of coping techniques and defensive mechanisms such as Denial, Projection, Regression, repression, etc.
