Freud sought to understand personality dynamics by distinguishing what he called Id, Ego, and Superego processes. In this lesson, we will examine the Id, Ego, and Superego in detail. The Id consists of innate biological drives that seek immediate gratification. The Id, unable to grasp reality, cannot engage in the planning and action necessary to gratify itself. However, the tension created by ungratified drives is the source of power for all mental functions. The mental functions that reason, plan, and use actions to reduce drive tensions constitute the Ego. The superego consists of the parental and societal values—rules about what is good and what is right—that were internalized during childhood. While the ego can learn and adapt to changing circumstances, both the superego and the id are for the most part unconscious and extremely difficult to change. And this leads to perpetual conflicts between the id, the ego, and the superego. For better and for worse, the dynamics of our personalities arise in large part from those conflicts.

Freud - 1937