A Scientific Theory On Personality
Sigmund Freud introduced the Psychoanalytic theory of personality. If you don't know him, just consider him the important person in the field of psychology.
He introduced lot of theories in psychology. Some of them are controversial.A common man can't accept some of his theories. We can put all those history to a side.
In The Psychoanalytic Theory of Personality, Freud says Personality is composed of three elements.Id, Ego and Superego are those. The dynamic interaction of these three elements follows a personality.
Now we can dive into each of those for clarity
- The Id
Id comprises the instinctive and primitive behaviours. It's the component present from the birth of one person. So it's consists of the basic desires of one. These desires need immediate fulfilment.
As I said it's the part of personality from the beginning, A newborn child's desire is mainly about the fulfilment of the desire of hunger. So it cries until it get satisfied. Telling him 'It's not a time for dinner' doesn't make a sense.
So as this example implies, Id is not related to reality or logic. It's just about the fulfilment of a impulsive desire in a unrealistic way. - The Ego
Ego develops from the Id and works out in realistic way to satisfy id's demands. Ego is based on on reality principle. It connects the unrealistic Id and the external world. So that lead us to be a social being.
In a society we need to follow some rules or some manners. That all are coming from ego. If you feel hungry the Id want you to grab some food and eat. But ego helps to act according to the situation. If you are in a meeting or some kind of important job, ego analyse this reality and postpone the desire gratification.
Freud compared the id to a horse and the ego to the horse's rider. The horse provides the power and motion, yet the rider provides direction and guidance.
Without its rider, the horse don't have a direction. So it will do whatever comes to it's mind. The rider instead gives the horse directions and commands to guide it to fulfil his or her wants and needs. - Superego
Superego emerges around the age of five. Superego is one more step above ego. It acts upon idealistic standard rather than upon realistic principles.
Superego is all about moral standards and ideals that we acquired from both our parents also from the society. Our judgements are always based on these moral standards.
Whatever falls outside these standard will be treated as wrong and other as right. Superego rewards and punishes us according to our behaviour. If one does something which is against his idealistic standards he will fell guilt. It's a kind of punishment from Superego.
At the same time superego rewards us with pride when the acts falls inside the moral standards. If one's ideal standard is too high it will lead to lot of guilt and feeling of failure.
A sound personality is a balance between the id, the ego, and the superego.Imbalance between these elements would lead to a maladaptive personality.